What to look for when buying an engine.

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elbert79

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Hi, new member on the forum, been lurking around for a while but as I plan to start a G3 swap in my 1971 Dodge Dart Swinger I thought is was time to register.

Anyway my first question is what to look for when sourcing an engine. I'm looking for a 5.7 345hp engine so that limits the selection to 2003 up to 2008 engines. Reason is that a bigger/stronger engine might be difficult to get approval for by our local version of DMV.
So should I look for a truck or a car engine?
What mileage should be the upper limit to have a fair chance of avoiding a rebuild?
Are the 2008 engines better than the earliest with regards to loose valve seats and other potential issues?
See there are a lot of engines on ebay sold by wrecking yards etc. Would they be a good place to get the engine from? Buying a wreck to pull the engine is not an option as I'm located in Norway and there aren't many Hemi cars around here in the first place.
 
Start here at post #29315 and read for a couple of pages for some tips.... We were talking about it a couple of days ago in the coffee thread...

Stop on in for a cup of coffee

Poast #29322 is a good point also....
 
Sticking with the original 904 for now, so seems like that is another reason to use 2008 or older.
 
Car vs truck doesn't matter too much aside from accessory positions and intake. Otherwise they are effectively the same. You can swap parts freely between them, though I understand you might have a harder time finding parts to swap. Typically the truck engine accessories are easier to work with and require less potential modifications (no frame trimming for alternator, more standard water pump inlet and outlet), but they don't look as nice and the intake inlet is pretty much right on top of the engine. The car intake mounts at the front, so it's a little nicer looking, but with the tradeoff of the accessories being in different places.
 
Not having to trim the frame is a big plus as the authorities don't like frame modifications around here. Could you use a car intake while still retaining the truck accessories mounting?
 
Things to look for in a running engine include how the oil looks and smells. Make sure it's clean and fairly transparent. That's a good indication it's been changed frequently. Also, take a vacuum gauge with you. Get a vacuum reading at idle, if you can. The stronger the better. Over 20 inches is good. Also, remove the oil cap and check for blowby. All these things are good indicators of the engine's overall health, regardless of mileage.
 
I know I have seen some installs that didn't require any frame clearancing. It seems to be a bit of a random thing. It's not necessarily the frame itself as much as a flange where two pieces come together that are spot welded. I think you might be able to swap in a different alternator with a slightly smaller body as well, but I've never really looked to see what all was out there.
 
the truck alt is up top and works best. car alt has 2 different locations one is further outwards than thebother by an inch or less. most wont notice the differences of that.
truck works best or custom front cover
 
Hi, new member on the forum, been lurking around for a while but as I plan to start a G3 swap in my 1971 Dodge Dart Swinger I thought is was time to register.

Anyway my first question is what to look for when sourcing an engine. I'm looking for a 5.7 345hp engine so that limits the selection to 2003 up to 2008 engines. Reason is that a bigger/stronger engine might be difficult to get approval for by our local version of DMV.
So should I look for a truck or a car engine?
What mileage should be the upper limit to have a fair chance of avoiding a rebuild?
Are the 2008 engines better than the earliest with regards to loose valve seats and other potential issues?
See there are a lot of engines on ebay sold by wrecking yards etc. Would they be a good place to get the engine from? Buying a wreck to pull the engine is not an option as I'm located in Norway and there aren't many Hemi cars around here in the first place.

Welcome aboard!

Another place where you can find these engines are in the country right to the east of you but not as cheap as they seem to be in America,the ones in Swedish wreckingyards tend to be somewhat expensive but atleast many of them are marked as tested and ok(if we want to trust that is a different story)its alitle anoying to have to check all listings individualy but there may be a way aorund that. Most wreckingyards list there stuff on:
Bildelsbasen.se - Sveriges största utbud av bildelar You can probably figure out the Swedish text, ohh wait its also available in Norwegian,see below:
Bildelsbasen.se - Nye og brukte bildeler

You can also check out Blocket for adds from both private persons and bussines,have seen a few 5.7s for sale on there,most to expensive in my opinion but a few that has been very reasonable priced.
Link directly to search for adds,you may figure out some better searchterm but Hemi have brought up more than a few over the years, even thougth the good priced ones are not as comon.
Hela Sverige > Bildelar & biltillbehör | Blocket
 
Welcome aboard!

Another place where you can find these engines are in the country right to the east of you but not as cheap as they seem to be in America,the ones in Swedish wreckingyards tend to be somewhat expensive but atleast many of them are marked as tested and ok(if we want to trust that is a different story)its alitle anoying to have to check all listings individualy but there may be a way aorund that. Most wreckingyards list there stuff on:
Bildelsbasen.se - Sveriges största utbud av bildelar You can probably figure out the Swedish text, ohh wait its also available in Norwegian,see below:
Bildelsbasen.se - Nye og brukte bildeler

You can also check out Blocket for adds from both private persons and bussines,have seen a few 5.7s for sale on there,most to expensive in my opinion but a few that has been very reasonable priced.
Link directly to search for adds,you may figure out some better searchterm but Hemi have brought up more than a few over the years, even thougth the good priced ones are not as comon.
Hela Sverige > Bildelar & biltillbehör | Blocket

Been looking at getting an engine from Sweden, but usually the pre 08 engines have very high mileage and the price is also somewhat high. I will keep an eye open for any deals across the border though, so thanks for the input.
 
For an engine which has rolled around 100k, would it be a good idea to change rings and bearings just to freshen it up, or just keep it as is as long as compression and oil pressure is good?
 
Found out today that I might actually get approval for a newer engine as well 2008+, so might be looking at one of those.
Only issue is that they would require an upgrade to larger brakes based on the following formula:
Rotor diameter = 260+ (0,3 x power in kW) + (axle load in kg – 1000) x 0,05
So I would need 12.5in discs up front...
Started a new thread for the brake upgrade... Although good brakes are cool, it seems a bit over the top?
 
Motor 5,7L HEMI -04 defekt | Älvsborg

And another one no accessorys and is in pieces with a couple destroyed rodbearings,but if that is the only real damage to it i would consider it a fair value considering that its already in pieces making inspection easier.
 
After much thinking I have probably landed on getting a low mileage 2018 5.7 from a truck. Looking at using the PCM P5160105 from the Crate Hemi Engine kit and modify the harness. Some info about it here: Chrysler SKIM Thread 2.0 - Page 2 in post 28.
Looks like the Power Distubution center (PDC) in the kit is part of the harness kit so need to look into a substitute for that one. Still in the planning prosess to see if it can been done this way, and if I would save money on doing it that way...
 
Ended up with the 2018 5.7 from a RAM 1500 but it will take a month or so before I receive it as it goes by sea freight. Will be interesting to see if I did a good or a bad deal on it...
Next step is to decide on the ECU, like I mentioned above, one option is to use the ECU from a crate kit, but as I understand the tune in it is for a challenger engine which is slightly different from a ram engine with regards to intake etc. So if the crate ECU has to be tuned anyway it makes less sense to go that way.
Also been looking at the MS3 gold box, looks like good option and well supported. The 318 in the car already has MS1 to controll a home breewed FI setup and it works ok.

For exhaust it seems like the best fit is to use TTI headers, but they are a bit costly and I really dont need long tube headers. Saw some aftermarket shorty headers for a challenger and they were stainless which is a big plus as the weather around here is wet and cold. Anyone tried going that route? Since they are stainless I could do adjustments to move the outlet without damaging any coating when welding.

Hopefully this will become more of a build thread soon...
 
Not to be a smart *** but $700 for a great set of headers that fit is not a bad deal. How much did you throw at the 2018 motor and you will spend twice the money of the headers for a harness and ecu.
 
Not to be a smart *** but $700 for a great set of headers that fit is not a bad deal. How much did you throw at the 2018 motor and you will spend twice the money of the headers for a harness and ecu.

If I wanted long tube headers then $700 isn't a bad deal. As the car will be more of a daily driver than a race car I don't see the need for long tube headers. I have a set of ceramic coated hedman headers on my truck and they looked terrible after a few months so stainless would be a plus, though TTI hopefully have a better coating than hedman.
Might still go for TTI as I know they fit well, just wanted to look at options. Have looked at getting the jeep manifolds that could fit, but it seems like they are more of a "might fit"
 
If I wanted long tube headers then $700 isn't a bad deal. As the car will be more of a daily driver than a race car I don't see the need for long tube headers. I have a set of ceramic coated hedman headers on my truck and they looked terrible after a few months so stainless would be a plus, though TTI hopefully have a better coating than hedman.
Might still go for TTI as I know they fit well, just wanted to look at options. Have looked at getting the jeep manifolds that could fit, but it seems like they are more of a "might fit"


Yea it depends on the location of the motor. they may work they may not.. I had cooks longtube on my SRT8 Challenger and was very happy with it and it was not even close to being a race car. Yea supercharged with methanol injection but it was such a huge heavy boat it was not a race car to me... I can see the preference of a shorty...To me those are just for getting exhaust out.. not a performance improvement.
 
2010-2011 Jeep 5.7 manifolds WILL fit. Check out pics in my 73 Scamp 5.7 swap thread.
 
The part numbers are 53013858AD/right, 53013857AD/left, 2010 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 4x4. Yes, the oem coupler was too big. If you were to clearance the manifold slightly, it may(?) work. I wasn't going to try it.
 
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