Gen iii/iv aftermarket heads synonymous?

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taman86

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Hey all, it’s been some years since I’ve been on here but I have a friend that is gathering the necessary parts to do a mds delete on his 2012 Ram. He asked me about heads this morning and I can’t seem to find much for the gen iv engine but a bunch for the gen iii. Are they one and the same for the aftermarket? I know factory they’re different. He isn’t wanting the truck to be down long, in fact we’re trying to have it done in a weekend, so sending the stocks for porting isn’t in the cards. I’d say his budget for heads are around 1500. He already has the mds delete kit with supporting hardware. Thanks for any help. God bless
 

Wild one

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Hey all, it’s been some years since I’ve been on here but I have a friend that is gathering the necessary parts to do a mds delete on his 2012 Ram. He asked me about heads this morning and I can’t seem to find much for the gen iv engine but a bunch for the gen iii. Are they one and the same for the aftermarket? I know factory they’re different. He isn’t wanting the truck to be down long, in fact we’re trying to have it done in a weekend, so sending the stocks for porting isn’t in the cards. I’d say his budget for heads are around 1500. He already has the mds delete kit with supporting hardware. Thanks for any help. God bless
All hemi's since 03 are "Gen 3" hemi's,has nothing to do with the trucks "Gens".For 1500 bucks he's not getting much in the way of ported heads,he's gonna have to bump that number up,unless he's sending in his own heads to be ported.The heads changed in 09 so he wants the later Eagle heads,but the engine is still called a Gen 3 Hemi

 
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taman86

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All hemi's since 03 are "Gen 3" hemi's,has nothing to do with the trucks "Gens".For 1500 bucks he's not getting much in the way of ported heads,he's gonna have to bump that number up,unless he's sending in his own heads to be ported.The heads changed in 09 so he wants the later heads,but the engine is still called a Gen 3 Hemi

Ok. So what about the afr black hawk heads? I was under the impression that gen Iv hemi was 09+ with mds and eagle heads. I wasn’t too sure about block and intake fitment issues between the two. Gen iii is 03+ regardless of years? So all these aftermarket head castings marked as gen iii will fit any year 5.7 hemi? I’m just trying to gather as much information I can to help make the best informed decisions.
 

Wild one

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Ok. So what about the afr black hawk heads? I was under the impression that gen Iv hemi was 09+ with mds and eagle heads. I wasn’t too sure about block and intake fitment issues between the two. Gen iii is 03+ regardless of years? So all these aftermarket head castings marked as gen iii will fit any year 5.7 hemi? I’m just trying to gather as much information I can to help make the best informed decisions.
All Hemi's since 03 are called Gen 3 hemi engines. Quit thinking of the trucks body it doesn't apply to the engine.
He has the later Eagle heads .The heads had alot of upgrades in 09 ,so pay attention to the years the heads fit.
Post a link to the heads you're looking at as AFR has several heads they call BlackHawk,most are also sold as a single head,not a pair,so if you're looking at their heads that are in the $1200 range,that's only for "1" head.
It makes it easier for everybody if you post a link to what you're looking at,and the page gets credit.
 

Fast69Mopar

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Ok. So what about the afr black hawk heads? I was under the impression that gen Iv hemi was 09+ with mds and eagle heads. I wasn’t too sure about block and intake fitment issues between the two. Gen iii is 03+ regardless of years? So all these aftermarket head castings marked as gen iii will fit any year 5.7 hemi? I’m just trying to gather as much information I can to help make the best informed decisions.
All HEMI engines built from 2003 to now are considered Gen-3 HEMI's. In 2009 there was a change in cylinder heads and intake manifolds and these engine became known as the 5.7 Eagle. The 6.4 is called the Apache.

Now, for the 5.7 HEMI. The 2009 and later 5.7 Eagle cylinder heads will bolt on the earlier 2003-2008 block but you will need to use the 2009+ intake manifold or purchase a set of adapters for the old manifold to fit. The 2009 and later 5.7 Eagle cylinder heads have a different exhaust port shape that is "D" -shaped. The 2003-2008 exhaust manifolds will physically fit the 2009 and later cylinder heads but the two center ports don't exactly line up but they will seal.

The AFR Blackhawk and Streethawk cylinder heads you referenced are 2009 and later castings in the pics on the website and they are identified by their "D"-shaped exhaust ports.

For clarification the 2005 LX cars were the first with MDS and the 2006 DR trucks with a 5.7 HEMI were the first trucks to receive MDS as well.
 
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HemiLonestar

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Officially all hemis since 2003 are "Gen 3" (Gen 2 being the mighty 426 from the 60's-70's and Gen 1 being the 50's versions). With the engine redesigns that happened in 2009 (5.7) and 2011 (6.4), the later VVT engines became colloquially known as "Gen 4" to differentiate them. I personally like this distinction since they really are different engines and there aren't too many components that swap back and forth between them.
 

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