Wanting a bigger cam

[03MopaRamman]

Ok Back Home. Can answer that. Tensioner ...... This is why, It wears out and could break and fall off the tensioner plate meaning the stationary outside guide piece attached to the plate in (Pics 1-2-3). This was at 120K miles. If you order just a plate/tensioner from say RockAuto for a 6.1 as per their drop down menu you will get a 5.7, you have to order a full SRT 6.1 Timing Chain for say an 06 Charger to get what you want (Dealer is Best). The difference is 4 steel bands bent in behind the piece shown vs two on the 5.7 and keeps things tighter (can be seen held in my hand and pinned at Pic 3) and also shows chain wear over time (Pic 4). I have heard the 6.1 Bakelite is white also vs black as per my pics. IMO a new 5.7 chain and tensioner is all you need if higher mileage. On my other Motor in my Car it had 42 K Miles when I cammed it and showed small amount of wear on the sliders so I just changed out the tensioner (plate and sliders) for $16 bucks. I am told my new motor has the true 6.1 timing chain assy and being a heads cam combo its a good idea.






If you like I have a pic of the two oil pumps side by side and another pic of what happens to the mating surface where the water pump attaches even after 42K miles and 5 year proper coolant changes (what I am saying is gasket change recommended and can be bought alone). Danny

 

[justadodgeman]

03MopaRamman thanks you did a great job at explaining the advantages. well I plan to start on all this in a month when I get off the barges and ill do a few DIY threads of everything I do.

 

[Gecko]

Ok Back Home. Can answer that. Tensioner ...... This is why, It wears out and could break and fall off the tensioner plate (Pic 2). This was at 120K miles.
If you order just a plate/tensioner from say RockAuto for a 6.1 as per their drop down menu you will get a 5.7, you have to order a full SRT 6.1 Timing Chain for say an 06 Charger to get what you want. The difference is 4 steel bands bent in behind the pieces shown vs two on the 5.7 and keeps things tighter (can be seen again in pic 2). I have heard the 6.1 Bakelite is white also vs black as per my pics. IMO a new 5.7 chain and tensioner is all you need if higher mileage. On my other Motor in my Car it had 42 K Miles when I cammed it and showed small amount of wear on the sliders so I just changed out the tensioner (plate and sliders) for $16 bucks. I am told my new motor has the true 6.1 timing chain assy and being a heads cam combo its a good idea.






If you like I have a pic of the two oil pumps side by side and another pic of what happens to the mating surface where the water pump attaches even after 42K miles and 5 year proper coolant changes (what I am saying is gasket change recommended and can be bought alone). Danny

There you go, thats my answer

Haha but for real thats pretty much what my installer said and I seem to have forgotten

 

[justadodgeman]

No offence but I would put a 6.1 in my truck if you paid me too. I go by track times and results of others out there, in a quad cab the sidewinder is probably my the best and most proven cam out there for a off the shelf cam. Look up silvrram or randtx, and my truck for a example. Only cam I would go up from there would be a hellfire but you couldn't make one idle in a 03. Fastest QC in the nation is running it. And mine being the fastest NA 03 QC both run it and my old lady takes it to the grocery store when I'm not home. Very streetsable and doesnt require custom tuning or major supporting mods.

just got one more question so from what I understand I need to get:
-16 6.1 exhaust valve springs
-32 valve locks(is that the same thing as the retainers)
-8 6.1 intake or exhaust pushrods?(kinda confused on that)
-and a 6.1 timing set
can you hook me up with a website or part numbers or something please and am I missing anything?. I plan on ordering all this before I get off of work so ill have 14 day to work on it.

 

[RonJon '06]

Are you doing the valves yourself? If you have a lot of miles I would replace the valve seals. 16 6.1L pushrods, 8 intake and 8 exhaust and they are different lengths. I would also replace the oil pump as mentioned earlier. Have you checked out Moe's performance in the vendor section? They could set you up with everything you need. Have fun and good luck.

 

[justadodgeman]

Are you doing the valves yourself? If you have a lot of miles I would replace the valve seals. 16 6.1L pushrods, 8 intake and 8 exhaust and they are different lengths. I would also replace the oil pump as mentioned earlier. Have you checked out Moe's performance in the vendor section? They could set you up with everything you need. Have fun and good luck.

im doing everything myself hopefully all on my 14 days off I will definitely get a hold of someone from moes when I start the build and im sure they will help me out on everything I need

 

[03MopaRamman]

Re use your retainers and have a small pen magnet to get ahold of the keepers. Def spend the extra on a set of felpro valve seals and when you have each spring off just pull with your thumb and index on the valve seal and pull off. Place a small dab of white grease inside the seal end in a circular motion using an arstist brush then place them on there. When seated place an approprita sized deep socket that clears the stem but same time sits nice on the flat surface at the bottum of the seal and give it just a small couple taps with small ballpeen. Easy job with each set of valves being kept in place from the air you have in the cylinder from a compressor so those are two tools you need (small compressor and fitting hose from a compression tester kit).

Valve seal kit was only $53 up here in Canada so less for you. Buy your Rods from a Mopar outfit like the Supercenter or a vendor on here. For oil pump buy one for a 6.1 motor (06 charger SRT-8). IMO the higher reving motor will be sure to get lots of oil when reving higher than stock 5.7, and since you have no MDS and don't use 5w20 it saves having that discussion/debate which is another story. All 3 of my Hemi mills have them including the Truck and one with MDS working great and the 3rd with MDS deactivated.

 

[ST-8]

I should of done the oil pump when we did my cam. Eh I'm sure one day will be in there again. Danny If you get a chance post the pumps please

My cam swap was at 87k an I swapped out the chain tensioner, water pump, an then all the seals an gaskets besides the head gaskets

 

[KGBIGCOUNTRY]

Yall will take some looking to find the 6.1 oil pumps like I mentioned before. They are currently on a nation wide backorder from Mopar.

 

[03MopaRamman]

I just sold one for $60 bucks shoulda kept it. Will post pics of pump and gaskets, gimme some time though as I got 35 pages of photobucket to check first if not gottem on my Laptop somewhere in a file. Danny

 

[Redtruck-VA]

I would recommend installing the High Idle Mod and PCS1-003 before doing the cam. This take the drama out of the install.