So, I just bought a 543...

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T-Fish

T-Fish

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I’ve been looking pretty hard for a big block stroker short block and happened to stumble upon a complete 543” stroker with not much time on it. I felt it was a pretty good deal and I jumped on it. There is one aspect of the engine I don’t like, and that’s the choice of heads this person used. He had a set of Edelbrock E-Street heads on it. Even with those, I felt his asking price was more than fair. After doing some digging and a call to Edelbrock, I found the casting for those heads and the RPM heads are the same and it’s just the hardware that’s different between them. After searching countless threads, it seems this engine almost should even run with those heads. Yes, I’m being a little sarcastic. I have a set of RPM heads on my 440 that I was thinking of swapping over, but the threads on here seem to say it’s a waste of time.

Here is the build. Please give me your thoughts good, bad, and/or harsh.

-The rotating assembly is from 440source.
-The cam is a solid roller from Hughes. Lift is .632 and duration is 256°.
-Cylinder heads are Edelbrock E-Street, untouched from the box. They do have dual springs installed. The rockers are 1.6 Hughes
-The intake is a 4500 series Mopar M1
The guy I got it from ran it on alcohol.

My thought, as I mentioned above, was to toss my RPM heads on it along with my RPM intake and a carb and call it a day. Bad idea? I’d like to get a set of Trick Flow 270 heads and an Indy intake, but as we all know, the heads are a couple of months out. I talked to them today and they said it’s the valves they are waiting on. I’m not looking for a world beater.

Anything I left out? Questions? Concerns? Complaints?
 
Yes, it has a girdle. Main caps appear to be cast. I’m not sure about studs.
 
I am a firm believer in running what you have, rather than wait, or spend big money to try to get "right". I wouldnt bother to change e-streets for rpm, they are the same head. Either is "too small" for a 543. Will it keep it from running hard? Nope. Will it be better with tf 270s? Yep. Can you have fun with it for months if you run it with e streets while it waiting for 270s? You tell me.
 
33IMP said:
I am a firm believer in running what you have, rather than wait, or spend big money to try to get "right". I wouldnt bother to change e-streets for rpm, they are the same head. Either is "too small" for a 543. Will it keep it from running hard? Nope. Will it be better with tf 270s? Yep. Can you have fun with it for months if you run it with e streets while it waiting for 270s? You tell me.
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Your thought process is similar to mine in this situation. I can always get the TF 270 heads and an intake later when things are more readily available. Can I have fun with it the way it is as long as it runs? I can have fun cruising around in my /6 Duster, so yeah, I can.

When I was talking to the Edelbrock tech, he said if I have the RPM heads, he would suggest swapping the springs into them and using them onto this engine. Something about the E-Street hardware isn’t meant to take the beating of a roller cam or something like that. I had a lot of background noise when he was explaining it.
 
I’d probably pop a couple bearings myself just to make sure they’re not hammered. I’ve had pretty bad luck with used short blocks so I take no one’s word.
 
80fbody said:
I’d probably pop a couple bearings myself just to make sure they’re not hammered. I’ve had pretty bad luck with used short blocks so I take no one’s word.
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Especially if he was running alcohol
 
When they first came out with the E-Streets they were using cheaper powdered metal valve seats and weren't recommended for roller cams. Apparently they changed that later on.
 
qkcuda said:
When they first came out with the E-Streets they were using cheaper powdered metal valve seats and weren't recommended for roller cams. Apparently they changed that later on.
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That’s what the Edelbrock guy was talking about! These, and my RPM heads, are the 6091 casting.
 
I would definately run springs that match your cam, whichever head you use. I understood it was running with the e streets, so i would assume (you know what happens when you assume, right?) that it had springs that match the roller.
On the other hand, i,too, would look at the bearings, and determine exactly what the compression ratio is.
 
33IMP said:
I would definately run springs that match your cam, whichever head you use. I understood it was running with the e streets, so i would assume (you know what happens when you assume, right?) that it had springs that match the roller.
On the other hand, i,too, would look at the bearings, and determine exactly what the compression ratio is.
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That is correct. The springs in the E-Street are for the roller and I would indeed be swapping those to the RPM heads. I disassembled the engine (the short block is intact yet) and visually looked things over last Friday and things look well so far. With the pistons in the hole where they are and 84cc heads, the compression ratio should be approximately 11:1 according to the 440source chart on their website.
 
T-Fish said:
That is correct. The springs in the E-Street are for the roller and I would indeed be swapping those to the RPM heads. I disassembled the engine (the short block is intact yet) and visually looked things over last Friday and things look well so far. With the pistons in the hole where they are and 84cc heads, the compression ratio should be approximately 11:1 according to the 440source chart on their website.
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I just mentioned checking c.r. to make sure he wasnt running alcohol for a 14 1/2 to 1 motor, or something like that.
 
33IMP said:
I just mentioned checking c.r. to make sure he wasnt running alcohol for a 14 1/2 to 1 motor, or something like that.
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Ah, okay. Nope, it isn’t anything super high. He thought it was 12:1 (which it may be, as I haven’t done any measuring of any sort yet) but he also thought he had 75cc heads on it. The 6091 casting number says they’re 84cc.
 
33IMP said:
I just mentioned checking c.r. to make sure he wasnt running alcohol for a 14 1/2 to 1 motor, or something like that.
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This engine was in a monster truck, of all things. Maybe alcohol was a fuel they had readily available, I’m not sure.
 
T-Fish said:
This engine was in a monster truck, of all things. Maybe alcohol was a fuel they had readily available, I’m not sure.
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Well, if he thought it was 12 to 1, methanol is a bunch cheaper than race gas!
Just the same, continue doing actual measurements to find out exactly what you have, to avoid any unpleasant surprises.
 
My friend had his 543 dynod with stock unported 906's with a smallish cam 525hp and 625 lb-ft all in below 5,000 rpm.
 
famous bob said:
I think I`d have the rpm heads cnc ported and put them on the biggun !
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I called Hughes last week about that. He told me the porting would be $1,650. It makes more sense to me to use these heads, sell the E-Streets, and buy new TF 270 heads when they’re available. Out of pocket would be very similar and I’d still have the RPM heads to put back on my 440.
 
T-Fish said:
I called Hughes last week about that. He told me the porting would be $1,650. It makes more sense to me to use these heads, sell the E-Streets, and buy new TF 270 heads when they’re available. Out of pocket would be very similar and I’d still have the RPM heads to put back on my 440.
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Would be all in on the 270`s too .
 
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