I've been working on making my engine bulletproof since mid November of last year, thought I'd share the experience and some lessons learned for anyone else crazy enough to do this!
My truck is a RCSB 2018 4x4 Sport. I bought it a little over two and a half years ago.
Mods going in:
-JG .5 HL Cam package w/mds delete and hellcat lifters
-ARH LT/Catless 1 7/8" headers
-Fastman TB
-BAP
-Torqstorm Supercharger @6-8 pounds boost
-Some suspension upgrades/leveled
My goal was to bullet proof the engine, maybe get a few more HP out of it, but not push the stock trans/driveshafts/axles etc beyond the breaking point and still have a good daily driver. I blew a headgasket (my fault and in another post) and used the opportunity to upgrade.
I found a local machine shop here in the St. Louis area, Precision Engine in Granite City. Don the owner is renowned in this area for building some of the best engines used over at the local speedway. At the time he only had about two weeks of backlog and I figured I'd be putting this thing back together over the Christmas break at the latest.
Covid has basically fubared the supply chain. Getting parts was tough, and I ended up waiting on the engine until about two weeks ago when I brought the short block home.
Don did a complete re-do on the block. He dunked and cleaned, line honed, bored, and assembled the short block for me. They have the right torque plates and equipment and have lots of experience with mopar blocks and 5.7-6.1 hemis. I went with a Scat forged rotating assembly using the SCAT crank, ICON pistons and H-beam connecting rods (I think they're SCAT branded). Upgraded to ARP main bolts and all of the other bearings/rings etc that came in the kit. Cost for the parts was around $2,500 WITH ARP Rod/Crank bolt upgrade. Machine shop work/labor cost about $1,500 and we went with a .030 overbore (which I know people say is too much but if you see how much metal is in these cylinder walls I'm not concerned). Based on the compression ratio I was looking for @ 10.1:1 I went with a setup that got me to 382 CI. I could have done the 392 everyone else does, but I was a little worried about long term reliability/piston speed on those 392 strokers, I guess it's not that much different than what I ended up with, but I didn't have to mess with shaving the heads/deck/thicker head gasket and soak issues to get the specs I wanted so I was good with it.
My heads were OK, but I figured while I had them out, might as well get them cleaned up. Unfortunately with all that time on my hands, I ended up convincing myself to get them ported and refresh the valve seats... Found a phenomenal shop over in St. Louis called stiegemeier porting that ported my heads and cleaned up the intake/exhaust ports. Cost was about $1,500. Did a really good valve job also, no I didn't go with bigger valves and stayed stock, but with these heads and a supercharger velocity was more important than volume.
I worked with Jay on suggesting injectors, went with Fuel Injector Clinic 650s. My old setup was rough on startup, the FI650's are much better and can be dialed in more closely.
My fuel system is a stock pump, stock fuel lines, stock rails, and a Kenne Bell Boost-a-pump, and from going through the latest round of tuning where Jay has had to dial back the mixture I'd say it's working fine.
Still running a torqstorm SC, now only about 6 pounds of boost.
Also added a CircleD torque converter with a 3,200-3,400 stall.
Upgraded head bolts to ARPs and a complete felpro gasket set.
Lessons learned:
-Engine install was really not that bad. My help backed out on me so did it myself. I have a lift which made things about 1000 percent easier. I pulled the hood which made it easier to get it in and out. I ended leaving the engine mounts on the frame rails and setting the engine on them, it gives you a cradle you can set the engine down in and still skooch/shimmy in place to mount up to the transmission. Using the hoist and a pry bar it was one of the easier engines I've done. I made up a center lift point using two bolt holes in the middle of the block in the area under the intake manifold and a beefy bracket made with some angle iron I had laying around.
-Torque converter install really simple. Fill with fluid and set on the spindle, takes some back and forth wiggling but eventually just pops into place
-Mounting up trans/engine. This was a PITA. Mostly just getting the flex plate mounted to the torque converter. DON'T TIGHTEN THE BOLTS DOWN until they're all in and started. It's a really close tolerance and you'll kick yourself if you seat them first. Ask me how I know. CircleD kit came with red loctite which I'd strongly encourage folks to use. After getting two lower engine/trans bolts started eventually by tightening them down the trans and engine popped into place. The torque converter has an alignment nub that settles into the center of the flexplate, that was the final bit of resistance.
-Engine Assembly. Nothing crazy here. When you upgrade the crank, and install it into a 3rd gen hemi, you must order a special spacer for the end of the crank outside the block that sets the crank timing gear and water pump into the right spot. Also, as many know, the reluctor wheel/gear (crank position sensor wheel) on the 3rd gen stock 5.7 is a 58 tooth 3 bolt setup. Stroked and stock 6.1 cranks are 4 bolt so you need a new gear/reluctor. The damn gear and spacer don't come with the rotating assembly. Ask me how I know... I ordered on MMX both parts, and was really disappointed at the service from them. Overall my experience with them for various parts and support over the last few months has been awful. Ended up having to go to Manley and re-ordering the reluctor because the MMX part DOESN'T COME WITH BOLTS! And they're a strange size, sort of counter bored but not tapered. Just get the damn part from Molnar Rods directly. And Molnar was awesome to work with, excellent customer service and support. Finally, I ordered a new upgraded timing set. I don't think there's a double chain timing set available for third gen hemis; there's not enough space for it to fit. But with the upgraded chain guide I don't think it's necessary anyway unless you're really spinning up the RPMs. Also upgraded to the hellcat oil pump, got a stroker oriented windage tray, and new ARP oil pan bolts. Also went with a Lokar 24" dipstick tube. THE DIPSTICK TUBE FIT IS LOOSE. There's no bracket to bolt on/hold it in place either, just an o-ring that's barely too small for the application. I ended up carefully using some Permatex black gasket sealant and after it cured the dipstick appears to be good to go (and hasn't leaked yet). On the oil pump, in the end I don't think it's necessary. My oil pressure is too high now and I have to take the freaking oil pan off to change out the spring soon. Stick with the stock pump.
-Wiring Harness/Sensors. Nothing significant here, I left the harness in the truck and worked around it. If I end up having to do this again I think I'll pull the harness. Would have been easier with the engine out, ended up having to re-pull the starter wire bundle out and back through the engine mount to keep it away from the ARH headers. Keep an eye on those grounds, there are two beefy ground wires, one by the upper/rear/passenger side area by the hood shock and one that should mount by the strut tower area on the driver's side. I ended up relocating it closer to the front of the engine for header clearance. Also relocated the emergency neutral transmission cable to further rearward by the firewall. If you miss one of these big grounds your engine won't start and you'll get all sorts of errors.
There is a lot more to the install and little issues that came up but these were the big ones. My impression of the truck now as i'm close to getting it dialed in with Jay is that I'm really happy with this upgrade. The circleD doesn't really affect the driveability, and it feels like it's shifting in the right powerband. My transmission oil temps are a few degrees higher. I'm not chirping in second or third like I've read some other guys are, but the butt dyno tells me I've added HP and torque. I also lost about a pound or two of boost with the head work, sort of surprised but it's what I've experienced. I lowered the rear 2" and added much beefier swing arms and hellwig sway so it plants pretty well, on some roads from a rolling start I break the rear end out without much effort and it's a beast if I'm just mashing it on the backroads.
I'll get the truck dyno'd at some point, still need to finish up a few items and get the A/C recharged. It was a long ordeal but I guess I learned some things and the truck puts a grin back on my face so it was worth it.
My truck is a RCSB 2018 4x4 Sport. I bought it a little over two and a half years ago.
Mods going in:
-JG .5 HL Cam package w/mds delete and hellcat lifters
-ARH LT/Catless 1 7/8" headers
-Fastman TB
-BAP
-Torqstorm Supercharger @6-8 pounds boost
-Some suspension upgrades/leveled
My goal was to bullet proof the engine, maybe get a few more HP out of it, but not push the stock trans/driveshafts/axles etc beyond the breaking point and still have a good daily driver. I blew a headgasket (my fault and in another post) and used the opportunity to upgrade.
I found a local machine shop here in the St. Louis area, Precision Engine in Granite City. Don the owner is renowned in this area for building some of the best engines used over at the local speedway. At the time he only had about two weeks of backlog and I figured I'd be putting this thing back together over the Christmas break at the latest.
Covid has basically fubared the supply chain. Getting parts was tough, and I ended up waiting on the engine until about two weeks ago when I brought the short block home.
Don did a complete re-do on the block. He dunked and cleaned, line honed, bored, and assembled the short block for me. They have the right torque plates and equipment and have lots of experience with mopar blocks and 5.7-6.1 hemis. I went with a Scat forged rotating assembly using the SCAT crank, ICON pistons and H-beam connecting rods (I think they're SCAT branded). Upgraded to ARP main bolts and all of the other bearings/rings etc that came in the kit. Cost for the parts was around $2,500 WITH ARP Rod/Crank bolt upgrade. Machine shop work/labor cost about $1,500 and we went with a .030 overbore (which I know people say is too much but if you see how much metal is in these cylinder walls I'm not concerned). Based on the compression ratio I was looking for @ 10.1:1 I went with a setup that got me to 382 CI. I could have done the 392 everyone else does, but I was a little worried about long term reliability/piston speed on those 392 strokers, I guess it's not that much different than what I ended up with, but I didn't have to mess with shaving the heads/deck/thicker head gasket and soak issues to get the specs I wanted so I was good with it.
My heads were OK, but I figured while I had them out, might as well get them cleaned up. Unfortunately with all that time on my hands, I ended up convincing myself to get them ported and refresh the valve seats... Found a phenomenal shop over in St. Louis called stiegemeier porting that ported my heads and cleaned up the intake/exhaust ports. Cost was about $1,500. Did a really good valve job also, no I didn't go with bigger valves and stayed stock, but with these heads and a supercharger velocity was more important than volume.
I worked with Jay on suggesting injectors, went with Fuel Injector Clinic 650s. My old setup was rough on startup, the FI650's are much better and can be dialed in more closely.
My fuel system is a stock pump, stock fuel lines, stock rails, and a Kenne Bell Boost-a-pump, and from going through the latest round of tuning where Jay has had to dial back the mixture I'd say it's working fine.
Still running a torqstorm SC, now only about 6 pounds of boost.
Also added a CircleD torque converter with a 3,200-3,400 stall.
Upgraded head bolts to ARPs and a complete felpro gasket set.
Lessons learned:
-Engine install was really not that bad. My help backed out on me so did it myself. I have a lift which made things about 1000 percent easier. I pulled the hood which made it easier to get it in and out. I ended leaving the engine mounts on the frame rails and setting the engine on them, it gives you a cradle you can set the engine down in and still skooch/shimmy in place to mount up to the transmission. Using the hoist and a pry bar it was one of the easier engines I've done. I made up a center lift point using two bolt holes in the middle of the block in the area under the intake manifold and a beefy bracket made with some angle iron I had laying around.
-Torque converter install really simple. Fill with fluid and set on the spindle, takes some back and forth wiggling but eventually just pops into place
-Mounting up trans/engine. This was a PITA. Mostly just getting the flex plate mounted to the torque converter. DON'T TIGHTEN THE BOLTS DOWN until they're all in and started. It's a really close tolerance and you'll kick yourself if you seat them first. Ask me how I know. CircleD kit came with red loctite which I'd strongly encourage folks to use. After getting two lower engine/trans bolts started eventually by tightening them down the trans and engine popped into place. The torque converter has an alignment nub that settles into the center of the flexplate, that was the final bit of resistance.
-Engine Assembly. Nothing crazy here. When you upgrade the crank, and install it into a 3rd gen hemi, you must order a special spacer for the end of the crank outside the block that sets the crank timing gear and water pump into the right spot. Also, as many know, the reluctor wheel/gear (crank position sensor wheel) on the 3rd gen stock 5.7 is a 58 tooth 3 bolt setup. Stroked and stock 6.1 cranks are 4 bolt so you need a new gear/reluctor. The damn gear and spacer don't come with the rotating assembly. Ask me how I know... I ordered on MMX both parts, and was really disappointed at the service from them. Overall my experience with them for various parts and support over the last few months has been awful. Ended up having to go to Manley and re-ordering the reluctor because the MMX part DOESN'T COME WITH BOLTS! And they're a strange size, sort of counter bored but not tapered. Just get the damn part from Molnar Rods directly. And Molnar was awesome to work with, excellent customer service and support. Finally, I ordered a new upgraded timing set. I don't think there's a double chain timing set available for third gen hemis; there's not enough space for it to fit. But with the upgraded chain guide I don't think it's necessary anyway unless you're really spinning up the RPMs. Also upgraded to the hellcat oil pump, got a stroker oriented windage tray, and new ARP oil pan bolts. Also went with a Lokar 24" dipstick tube. THE DIPSTICK TUBE FIT IS LOOSE. There's no bracket to bolt on/hold it in place either, just an o-ring that's barely too small for the application. I ended up carefully using some Permatex black gasket sealant and after it cured the dipstick appears to be good to go (and hasn't leaked yet). On the oil pump, in the end I don't think it's necessary. My oil pressure is too high now and I have to take the freaking oil pan off to change out the spring soon. Stick with the stock pump.
-Wiring Harness/Sensors. Nothing significant here, I left the harness in the truck and worked around it. If I end up having to do this again I think I'll pull the harness. Would have been easier with the engine out, ended up having to re-pull the starter wire bundle out and back through the engine mount to keep it away from the ARH headers. Keep an eye on those grounds, there are two beefy ground wires, one by the upper/rear/passenger side area by the hood shock and one that should mount by the strut tower area on the driver's side. I ended up relocating it closer to the front of the engine for header clearance. Also relocated the emergency neutral transmission cable to further rearward by the firewall. If you miss one of these big grounds your engine won't start and you'll get all sorts of errors.
There is a lot more to the install and little issues that came up but these were the big ones. My impression of the truck now as i'm close to getting it dialed in with Jay is that I'm really happy with this upgrade. The circleD doesn't really affect the driveability, and it feels like it's shifting in the right powerband. My transmission oil temps are a few degrees higher. I'm not chirping in second or third like I've read some other guys are, but the butt dyno tells me I've added HP and torque. I also lost about a pound or two of boost with the head work, sort of surprised but it's what I've experienced. I lowered the rear 2" and added much beefier swing arms and hellwig sway so it plants pretty well, on some roads from a rolling start I break the rear end out without much effort and it's a beast if I'm just mashing it on the backroads.
I'll get the truck dyno'd at some point, still need to finish up a few items and get the A/C recharged. It was a long ordeal but I guess I learned some things and the truck puts a grin back on my face so it was worth it.
