I was waiting at the dealer on Gray being serviced and they had a bunch of hoods opened on the sales lot (balloon day) I call it. Anyway I was looking at the 5.7 in the Durango, Magnums, Chargers & Rams and the engine looks lost in the Rams and fits in a space in the Magnum I swear is as small as the Dak and the Durango also has room. I can’t believe the Hemi 5.7 wouldn't drop into the Daks engine compartment. When I get back from my Cali trip I'm going to measure things. My dream has always been a 5.7 crate engine in Graythang. Has anybody gone and really measured for a 5.7 yet?

 

go to www.dodgetruckworld.com and cruise the dak section. there is a paerson who installed a hemi in his dak and has video and pics of the install.. also for everyone on this forum you should sign up under the chapter section. just pic the state you live in and enroll. cost is nothing and the gtg are alot of fun

 

my service tech at the dodge dealer i go to said it technically could fit in the dakota (but the hassle to get the california DMV to also approve it takes a long time [:@]). The sales reps also told me they were told the dakota was going to come with the hemi option but when it arrived, SURPRISE!

 

yea that sucks, they should make an r/t or srt-8 dak w/ the 5.7 hemi, i think that would be sweet as hell

 

When I was at the dealer shopping for a dakota I asked if they were going to put a hemi in the dakota and the saleman told me it would not fit. The firewall would have to be redesigned.

 

I just read the thread of the 5.7 dakota the other day, it is a second gen and looks real good

 

sounds like what Banks power did to the Cummins powered dakota, pushing the firewall back a few ft to make it fit. I don't know, I'm anxious to know what gray comes up in the way of measurements of the engine compartment.

 

I was told the same thing. But I wasn't surprised when they said that they weren't going to do that.

There was another guy that was working on putting the 6.1 into his 05. DOn't know whatever happened to that.

You should be able to put one in the truck, my guess the mounts would be different, but easily remedied. I found online at a junk yard in Spokane, WA called Spaldings where they had the 5.7 with the tranny and ECU from a Ram for sale, about $5000.00. Wish I had that kind of money.