I may be doing a sts build on a buddies 05 dodge ram ext cab. it has the 5.7l hemi. i hear the pistons are weak. in fact sts said don't go over 6psi in the thing. so i would like to know how strong are the stock rods? how much power has been made with good pistons and stock rods? or does everybody just replace both? he doesn't want to put too much money in the motor if he don't have to, so if pistons will do the job for 550hp or so that would be great. maybe some rod bolts.

 

yes ring lands are very brittle in those things, they will go way before the rods do. and if your doing pistions why not rods at the same time, and crank= stroker
if i rem correctly rotating 392 stroker kits arent incrediably that expensive anymore..

 

he didn't want to spend $3000 on top of the $5000 for the turbo kit.

 

well i would suggest u stick with sts's recomendation then. sharadon performance is the best imo with the new hemis, get ahold of them see if they can answer your questions..

 

I saw hot rod magazine do an article about the new hemi but they used a crate motor... They pushed 700 hp on a stock hemi short block at 7000 rpm... But that was just on an engine dyno.

 

Also watch the crank trigger on the earlier hemis. They have a tendency to let go past 6000 rpm especially with a power pulley.

I don't know if they corrected the tuning issues yet, but that was the biggest reason I went with GMC. No matter what Diablows or even the ISE3 thingy can get **** blocked by the factory computer at some point.

 

haha your post is all to familar, i had my toner ring explode on my 03, and i too sold my dodge for a gmc.. and the toner ring issue was only with 03s and early 04s i believe, tuning has gotten way better from what ive herd, well besides 03s..

 

well if he does anything (money) we put together a list.

wiseco pistons $619
k1 connecting rods $485
6.1 stock forged crank and fixes the bad reluctor wheel problem $3XX VS. $8XX+
patriot performance spring kit for heads (valve float) $289
sts kit with gt67 upgrade, new fuel injectors, tune, FMIC. $5,000
this should yeild at least 6XXwhp.

 

The stock fuel pump ('04+) and fuel rail crossover will support around 425-450 RWHP max. If I remember correctly, STS rates their kit at 419 whp at low boost. With meth injection the stock pistons will do around 8-9 psi for a while. The stock powdered rods will last up to 12 or so. (Only one breakage I can think of). The O/D, U/D clutches barely last with stock engine power, but the hardparts are very tough and built comparable to the 4l80e. Nearly all failures on the tranmissions are from the 3rd rate Chrysler programming.

 

how do you know the cross over is a limiting factor? he will run meth for sure. i was told sunco IIRC has a kit for like $800 that will make the trans very strong. need to look it up. have you heard anything on this?