5.7 Drop Into A 3.6 Info/help/advice

[Williams RT 71]

Somehow the fact Goehner is encouraging this is making me nervous

who is Tony

my thoughts about doing a 5.7 also had to do with the rest of the car. since the trans is the same 3.6 to 5.7....along with the rear, suspension, and brakes, I wouldnt have to change that stuff right away.....if I went to the 6.1 or 6.4 I see that those srt cars come with a bigger rear which I would assume means basically everything from the trans yoke back right to the wheels is different. Although I think the very first year srt challengers used the 215 rear

you should just do it, you have convinced your self you have an RT now without the 5.7 engine and you can just slap the 5.7 in the car with ease for 2500.00.

[GARRETTECH 5]

you should just do it, you have convinced your self you have an RT now without the 5.7 engine and you can just slap the 5.7 in the car with ease for 2500.00.

actually just the opposite....if I really had convinced myself I would have just done it, then posted the pics here and said look what I did....then let you all tell me what a tard I was ....and its not that I convinced myself about the rt stuff in the car, its dodge that told me it was rt stuff....and i dont mean a dealer........when i ordered it and researched it once dodge put the 3.6 in and you got the ss package there was no difference between that and the rt except motor....if there are other differences I would love to know

[Jay6spdRT 46]

I think it's a great project - it's a drag racing tradition to take a car and put a bigger engine in it. There's a guy that races locally at Empire with an old Chevy Chevette with a monster V8 dropped in it.

I think the Hillbilly Challenger started life as an SE before getting a blown Hemi dropped in 'er.

In the grand scheme of things, it would be more practical to trade in for an R/T - but again not sure what your trade in value is, what you'd lose on the deal, and what the final cost would be. Upgrading to a performance 5.7/392 with no VVT or a 6.1 based built ebgube will be better than a factory R/T. And you may spend less money than a new 392 and end up with more performance- maybe.

If you're really serious, you should get some preliminary info from Eric (Hemi31) or Andy (PWR). Those are both great guys, super knowledgeable and will give you good advice.

Do. It.

[NTMID8R-R/T 44]

well, I will chime in on this as I was wanting to do the same thing a couple of years ago when I bought my first Challenger which was a 2009 SE. bout the only thing that you could do to that engine was do a turbo to it and maybe change the rear end and some other stuff, Hemi woman did it to her 2010 SE and had that thing in the 14's but it didn't go with out the cost.

I thought about trading it off around where I live at the local dealers for a used RT. most of the used ones on the lots were still going to over $30,000 which is ridiculous.

but I kept looking, one dealer where I lived had a black RT that was pretty much loaded and they wanted $30,000. the best they would give me for my car trade was $14,000. I still owed $19,000. no way was I going to make that deal. they were full of shit. I had just about stopped looking for a RT when Tony(Demon) sent me a link to a dealer in New Jersey(1300 miles north of me)

2009 White RT with Cervini shaker hood and scoop, old style go wing, nav radio, 33,400 miles. they wanted $29,995

Tony sent me the info to the dealer salesman he had talked to. I sent emails back and forth with the salesman, even sent him my cardomain site addy so he could take a look at all the pics of my car.

basically what it came down to was the trade in price.

Not only did he beat the trade that I was offered down here where I live , but he beat it by $1000. He offered me $20,000 for my car. I even told him that if I was to make the deal, that my car wold have 41,000 miles on it by the time I got to Jersey.

He told me barring that my car looked like a train wreck and didn't look as advertized on my car domain site that I was getting $20,000 for my trade in, he told me to print out the email he sent as proof to use when I got to the dealer.

needless to say my wife and I made the trip the following weekend to Vineland New Jersey)(Vann Dodge)

Left Rosepine Louisiana on a Thursday evening and got to my sister's place Friday night in West Grove PA. Saturday went to the dealer to get the car and the rest is history, now my payments?

SE $450 a month

RT $475 a month, my payment only increased by $25, something I could afford, the best the payment I was offered down where I live was $650 for a used RT with my trade.

now I have a Hemi and have a smile on my face every time I drive it, except when I fill up the tank...

only real problem I have with the car is keeping an alternator in it. all of a sudden I have gone through 2 of them since last august. but that will eventually get fixed as to what the real problem is. I think that would be a lot cheaper than trying to spend the big $$$$ on what a swap might be.

Yes back in the good old days of hot rods I have done engine swaps from 6 bangers to v-8's, and even built some straight 6's that would haul ass on the dirt track.......but back then we didn't have to worry about computers and a wiring harness that would fit the space shuttle.

so the secret is , shop around , hit the internet, you just might find the one you want and you may get the deal of the century, I finally did.

oh btw, tony told me that the salesman told him that he made $50 on the sale of the RT and the Dealer made $14. a month later they sold my SE for $25,000.

that is where they made their money back.

I kinda live by my Dad's philosophy, there are 3 people he dislikes

1. politicians

2. insurance salesmen

3. car salesmen

why? because all 3 will lie to your ass.

with this salesman, I made a good friend and still email him and send hiim pictures of the car, he prints them up and displays them in his office according to tony.

[70Barracuda 28]

I think the 5.7 as I've said before will bolt to the transmission just fine, but I'm guessing you will need a new torque converter, an ECU for a 5.7 and appropriate engine wiring harness. Check with Chrysler and find out if the K frame is different, if it is as mentioned it may need to be swapped and I think that should be most of it other than the labor.

You probably also should look to see if you need a different radiator, not sure if the V6 vs the V8 is different or not. I'd make a list of all the parts from the transmission forward then try to find someone in the parts department of a dealership that could assist you in looking all the parts up. Find out which parts may be the same and which are different for the V8, that will at least tell you what you may be getting into.

This swap has been done, so the information is out there and I've seen a number of shops on line that actually offer to do this swap. It can certainly be done, whether it is worth the work and expense or not is up to you, good luck if you go for it.

[70Barracuda 28]

Well I was reading a few posts today on another forum by a guy that updated his SE to a 6.1 and he was talking about what all was involved and there was no mention of either changing the K frame or radiator. What he did change was basically the whole drive train including the transmission and rear end along with the exhaust system.

Now his case is somewhat different from what you are trying to do, because he went with the 6.1 and he said the bell housing on his transmission won't bolt to the 6.1.but I believe he also had the old 4 speed transmission to begin with. He also was saddled with the 198mm differential. You don't have any of these problems so you should avoid a lot of the aggravation he had.

The big items he needed were the correct ECU and a custom wiring harness.

He got the items needed from a company called something like Plum floored, which by the way sells kits that include a 5.7 motor and differential etc for 5-6.5K. The kit also includes the wiring harness that is needed and lists things like rotors. I don't know seems like they are including a lot of parts for the money, but in any event if they can sell you all the parts you need for that price then there must not be all that much to the swap. Heck a lot of the items they are talking about in their kit you wouldn't even need.

I think I also saw where Modern Muscle performance group can do this swap for a reasonable amount of money. So again the swap sounds like something that if you like to turn wrenches should not be all that difficult to manage.

If I were doing it I'd think the big items to acquire are probably the custom wiring harness and correct ECU, after that I'm thinking most of the rest of it should be pretty straight forward.

I can't really tell you anything about the afore mentioned company or vouch for how good their kit is, but this should give you some ideas and a direction you can research in before making up you mind.

[GARRETTECH 5]

Awesome in fo fellas....havent been on here in days....i was going to start with a buddy of mine who run a dodge parts department at a dealer and see exactly what parts are different including finding out if the trans has the same part number from a 3.6 to a 5.7 and take it from there....plus the radiator and k memeber

[70Barracuda 28]

Awesome in fo fellas....havent been on here in days....i was going to start with a buddy of mine who run a dodge parts department at a dealer and see exactly what parts are different including finding out if the trans has the same part number from a 3.6 to a 5.7 and take it from there....plus the radiator and k memeber

Let us know what you find out, I'm starting to suspect this swap may not be as bad as some think. I could see it being a popular swap at some point in the future similar to doing a six cylinder to big block V8 in a Duster.

Be carefull on the parts numbers as Chrysler seems to be going crazy on them. I've noticed that they keep changing part numbers on some items that I'm pretty sure are the same part (I'm sure your guy in the parts dept. can cross reference the numbers). Also I notice they list different part numbers and prices on items like half shafts for the 6.1 SRT and the 5.7 manual, but as far as I can figure out they should be the same (both have the 226mm Getrag rear).

Anyway, keep us posted.

[runner2go 13]

Dont fucking do it. Sell it and buy this. http://modernmoparfo...arged-for-sale/

Unless of course you don't like orange, then do it.

Ya that would make more sense than swapping out a 3.6... paint it Blackberry.

Actually I saw Tony was selling this the other night and showed it to my wife, she smirked that she should buy it.

Seeing as how Tony's old front Sway bar is under her car now.... she said the next logical step would be to buy the rest of the car.

Fortunetly for all the other racers on the track... her purse is not up to the task.

I hope shit works out and he decides to keep it.

As to the topic here, I agree with nearly everyone else...

If your hell bent to swap out a v6, don't dick around with a 5.7... go bigger!

By the time your done getting it all done you'll have more $$ in it than buying a used SRT.

And in some states like this one... you won't even be able to get the fucker inspected.

Here in PA they have really clamped down on engine swaps for anything new on the grounds of emissions.

5.7 to 6.1 or 392 or stroked is a little easier to hide than..."Dude your VIN shows this is a v6... wtf is that monster!"

It's not like the old days when no one cared if you slapped a hemi into a /6 Challenger.

Now a days.... King Obama and his crazy EPA nuts care!

[70Barracuda 28]

Ya that would make more sense than swapping out a 3.6... paint it Blackberry.

Actually I saw Tony was selling this the other night and showed it to my wife, she smirked that she should buy it.

Seeing as how Tony's old front Sway bar is under her car now.... she said the next logical step would be to buy the rest of the car.

Fortunetly for all the other racers on the track... her purse is not up to the task.

I hope shit works out and he decides to keep it.

As to the topic here, I agree with nearly everyone else...

If your hell bent to swap out a v6, don't dick around with a 5.7... go bigger!

By the time your done getting it all done you'll have more $$ in it than buying a used SRT.

And in some states like this one... you won't even be able to get the fucker inspected.

Here in PA they have really clamped down on engine swaps for anything new on the grounds of emissions.

5.7 to 6.1 or 392 or stroked is a little easier to hide than..."Dude your VIN shows this is a 3.6... wtf is that monster!"

It's not like the old days when no one cared if you slapped a hemi into a /6 Challenger.

Now a days.... King Obama and his crazy EPA nuts care!

Some counties in PA don't have emissions at all (for example Huntingdon) and even if your county does like mine, if you drive less than 5K miles a year you are back to no emission test. In most counties the inspection is just visual, you have cats hanging there, ok check, have a nice day. Only a few around the cities actually have much in the way of emission testing. I've owned my Challenger for about two years now, no emission test yet for it in PA since I only drive it about 4,800 miles a year (it would easy pass though as I haven't done much to it yet).

I think he wants to do the swap because he is getting the 5.7 for cheap and figures he can put it in himself. As long as he doesn't have to change the K frame or anything from the transmission back I don't really see this as being all that expensive. You need a wiring harness and a RT ECU (a few hundred dollars for the ECU from what I've seen) and probably a torque converter.

I'm not saying he should do it, but there are companies out there advertising they can do the swap for 6-8K and that includes the motor. So if you already have the motor and can do the work yourself I just don't see this as being as expensive as many think.

Buying Demons car would probably be the smart way to go, it is certainly a bargain and something I actually thought about doing. The problem for me is I'm one of those people where it would bug me that I didn't build it. I've never bought someone else's completed project car, I guess I need to get over that as it would save me money, time and bloody knuckles.

Anyway some people have the need to do their own project and if that's the case more power to him, but if he wants into a great deal on a car that is already done then he should probably go for Demons car or its equivalent.

[sharkcohen 61]

In all seriousness, if you must swap in a V8, make it worth the while. Talk to Arrington about swapping in a Mopar 392 crate motor, and doing a PCM swap.

http://modernmoparforum.com/index.php/topic/4482-mopar-392-crate-engine-swaps/page__pid__106791#entry106791

If all you want is an R/T, trade in the car.

[GARRETTECH 5]

that would be excellent to do the 392....but not with my 100 mile commute....i wont go bigger than 5.7 unless i get a new job closer to home....especially since I just filled up yesterday with 89 octane for 4.14/gal

[rtr0id 74]

did you talk to the guys at AMP yet about doing a swap?

they've swamped in 392s also

[1FST4DR 85]

Im not a vendor here so I wont go into to much details. But the swap is possible . Ask me how I know And most of the $$ comes from parts. If you can find quality used parts you can save a lot of coin.

[sharkcohen 61]

Im not a vendor here so I wont go into to much details. But the swap is possible . Ask me how I know And most of the $$ comes from parts. If you can find quality used parts you can save a lot of coin.

How do you know???

Of course it's possible to do.

[1FST4DR 85]

How do you know???

Of course it's possible to do.

Because I've done it. A few times.. recently did a 2011 5.7 392 swap. even threw in 3;55 gears..blue tops,fti t/c long tubes. Even retains the varible runner intake. All factory wiring. We have done multiple v-6 to v-8 swaps as well..