Greetings! This was a response to Chris's stroker build post, but I would like to post some pics of the progress and ask questions as problems come up. My son was laid off due to this whole "pandemic" scare, so I decided to kill two birds with one check - give him some of the experience I had as a kid and get my engine rebuilt at the same time. We are in the process of rebuilding my '07 5.7 due to a spun rod bearing. I had the engine rebuilt 3 years ago after I sucked some water into the intake driving through a puddle (turned out to be much deeper than I thought). Paid $2500 for the rebuild, and got exactly what I paid for - the cheapest crap parts money could buy and a quick engine slap together. One of the rod bearings on #3 piston slid under the other one and locked up the crank after chewing .026" off that crank journal. The crank and that rod are trash - I was going to do a 6.1 forged crank, but a stroker kit is similar in cost, so here we go!
The truck is a 2007 4dr 4x4 with a 6" lift and 35x12.50x18's that I bought 10 years ago with 36k miles on it. After much research and flip flop planning, I decided to go through Inertia for a Molnar 4.080 crank, 6.125 molnar rods, and CP Bullet pistons for a 399ci result. Inertia cam, king bearings, hellcat lifters and MDS plugs, Inertia tune (with my Diablo intune i3), custom Inertia pushrods, eagle heads (freshly rebuilt, stock springs and buffers per Stu, not ported or polished), .074" cometic head gaskets, LT headers (not set on this, as Stu @Inertia says they don't offer much gains over shorties, and I am running out of cash quickly on this build).
I spent all morning yesterday reading through all 176 pages of Chris's post. The information therein is invaluable to someone doing this swap! I have some questions. Stu told me I could make a gasket and bolt my pre-eagle truck intake to the eagle heads. I have done some port comparison, and there is about 1/4" protrusion into the intake flow on the head side. The o-ring gaskets in the intake don't match up with the sealing surface on the heads, so a gasket would be required. In order to get the full benefit of the heads with the cam, I really feel the need to use an eagle intake, and I have heard the eagle truck intake works the best for torque. That brings up the problem of the alternator and a/c compressor clearance. MMX has a kit to put a car timing cover on the block and comes with brackets for the alternator and compressor -I have not checked into specifics because it's $1000 and I cannot justify that when the intake is going to cost another $3-500. I'm pretty good at fabbing - I think I can come up with some mounts if I source a car timing cover. I just don't know where they need to be, as there are no pics of that setup I can find online. I did find a pic where someone cut the top bolt holes off the truck timing cover and made a steel plate to mount the alternator and compressor to, but it didn't look nice or reliable enough for me to pursue that solution.
Now that you are up to speed on my situation, here are my questions:
Chris:
If you had it to do over again, would you go the same route with the timing cover and LX accessories/water pump?
What injectors did you use for your build?
(Chris responded that he would absolutely do it this way again, so I purchased a 2005-2009 car timing cover last night for $60 on ebay)
Everyone else+Chris:
*Do I need to swap out my injectors since I will be increasing the displacement by .8l?
*Has anyone used the Holley Sniper intake? Will it clear the truck accessories and/or the accessory mounts on the truck timing cover?
*Does anyone know where to find some eagle valve covers, other than the junk yard? There are no eagle hemi's that I can find in my area. Only other option is Holley Sniper covers, and they are $420.
*How thick are the intake spacers offered by MMX? Is it enough to make the eagle intakes clear the coolant passage in the front of the block? Is there anything else currently offered on the market that will allow an eagle intake to be used on a non-eagle block with eagle heads? I don't want to use a carb - I don't want to modify my OEM FI other than injectors (if necessary).
*Is it necessary to upgrade beyond the stock throttle body when stroking a 5.7 to a 6.5?
*Does anyone have real world experience with a 5.7 based stroker, eagle heads, and long or short headers? Is there enough difference with the LT's to warrant a whole new exhaust system?
*Will eagle headers fit in my truck, or will I have to bastardize an expensive set to make them work?
I'm really looking forward to this build. I have wanted to do some engine mods to this truck for years, but never had the cash or the opportunity to do so. Now I am working from home, and I have some surplus cash... so here we go!
The truck is a 2007 4dr 4x4 with a 6" lift and 35x12.50x18's that I bought 10 years ago with 36k miles on it. After much research and flip flop planning, I decided to go through Inertia for a Molnar 4.080 crank, 6.125 molnar rods, and CP Bullet pistons for a 399ci result. Inertia cam, king bearings, hellcat lifters and MDS plugs, Inertia tune (with my Diablo intune i3), custom Inertia pushrods, eagle heads (freshly rebuilt, stock springs and buffers per Stu, not ported or polished), .074" cometic head gaskets, LT headers (not set on this, as Stu @Inertia says they don't offer much gains over shorties, and I am running out of cash quickly on this build).
I spent all morning yesterday reading through all 176 pages of Chris's post. The information therein is invaluable to someone doing this swap! I have some questions. Stu told me I could make a gasket and bolt my pre-eagle truck intake to the eagle heads. I have done some port comparison, and there is about 1/4" protrusion into the intake flow on the head side. The o-ring gaskets in the intake don't match up with the sealing surface on the heads, so a gasket would be required. In order to get the full benefit of the heads with the cam, I really feel the need to use an eagle intake, and I have heard the eagle truck intake works the best for torque. That brings up the problem of the alternator and a/c compressor clearance. MMX has a kit to put a car timing cover on the block and comes with brackets for the alternator and compressor -I have not checked into specifics because it's $1000 and I cannot justify that when the intake is going to cost another $3-500. I'm pretty good at fabbing - I think I can come up with some mounts if I source a car timing cover. I just don't know where they need to be, as there are no pics of that setup I can find online. I did find a pic where someone cut the top bolt holes off the truck timing cover and made a steel plate to mount the alternator and compressor to, but it didn't look nice or reliable enough for me to pursue that solution.
Now that you are up to speed on my situation, here are my questions:
Chris:
If you had it to do over again, would you go the same route with the timing cover and LX accessories/water pump?
What injectors did you use for your build?
(Chris responded that he would absolutely do it this way again, so I purchased a 2005-2009 car timing cover last night for $60 on ebay)
Everyone else+Chris:
*Do I need to swap out my injectors since I will be increasing the displacement by .8l?
*Has anyone used the Holley Sniper intake? Will it clear the truck accessories and/or the accessory mounts on the truck timing cover?
*Does anyone know where to find some eagle valve covers, other than the junk yard? There are no eagle hemi's that I can find in my area. Only other option is Holley Sniper covers, and they are $420.
*How thick are the intake spacers offered by MMX? Is it enough to make the eagle intakes clear the coolant passage in the front of the block? Is there anything else currently offered on the market that will allow an eagle intake to be used on a non-eagle block with eagle heads? I don't want to use a carb - I don't want to modify my OEM FI other than injectors (if necessary).
*Is it necessary to upgrade beyond the stock throttle body when stroking a 5.7 to a 6.5?
*Does anyone have real world experience with a 5.7 based stroker, eagle heads, and long or short headers? Is there enough difference with the LT's to warrant a whole new exhaust system?
*Will eagle headers fit in my truck, or will I have to bastardize an expensive set to make them work?
I'm really looking forward to this build. I have wanted to do some engine mods to this truck for years, but never had the cash or the opportunity to do so. Now I am working from home, and I have some surplus cash... so here we go!