ive decided im gona swap the cam in my 5.7 hemi for the 6.1. Ive been reading ALOT of posts and articles regarding the valve springs. do i NEED to swap them out? will the 6.1L exhaust springs be ok IF i need to?

i use my truck mainly on the highway. Im interstd in alittle more power but dont want to screw my reliabilty up. I lay into the throttle every now and then but not repeatedly. (trying to post how i drive for best advice) I dont baby the truck but i dont plan on ever tacking it to the track or running it that way Excessively. i want her to last till 130,000 miles with out burning the valves or blowing the motor.

 

The 6.1L Cam is a great mod and being that you can get it for only 130.00 with a NEW crank bolt 4-FREE you cant go wrong. There are several people who have swapped to the 6.1L cam and keept the stock 5.7L valvetrain without any issues reported. BUT the stock 5.7L has a track record of breaking valve springs.... so if its in your budget you may want to consider them. If you have any additional questions please feel free to contact me.

SPEED SAFE, AIR RAM

 

i really want to replace the whole valvetrain with all the parts you offer but its jsut to much for right now. Budgets suck but also keep things more grounded.

But.... what kind of track record are you speaking of? what happens in side the head that breaks after swapping cams? how lon( if you know) did these guys make it before things went south?

 

The 03's had a problem with defective valve springs and it was supposedly fixed with the 04's. There are a couple of guys running the stockers but do you really want to take that chance? You can get a set of 16 6.1L exhaust springs for under a hundred bucks and they will hold up.

 

Its not the cam swap thats to blame for the failure... they have been failing on bone stock HEMIs. But as mentioned above it seems to be tracked to the 03's more then other years.

I have not heard of any spring failures caused by the 6.1L cam and if you wanted to you can use your stock valve springs. Aftermarket springs are just a peice of mind and you dont need to do them.

SPEED SAFE, NICK

 

so to do an entire 6.1 liter cam swap, how much will it cost? valve springs, cam all that. When I do it I want to be on the safe side so what would it ALL cost? how much HP should i expect to gain?

 

6.1L cam - $100 - $150
6.1L Exhaust springs - $60 - $100
Manley Pushrods - $100

Labor, DIY - Free

Total possibly under $300

 

helopilot: where did you find the springs at? i like your set up with the 6.1 L springs and cam and then manley pushrods. did you do it yourself? ive been reading the hemitruck club forum article on the how to swap the cam but it looks Intimidating as far as getting everything lined back up.

any body in N texas interested in a cam party?! dallas is where im located.

 

Im located in Euless, contact me if you need somone to install it for you. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me.

817 800 7760 (NICK)

SPEED SAFE, AIR RAM

 

I just happened to stumble upon the springs from another member.

As far as the install, I did it myself with the help of that article. I didn't even know what a pushrod was and had never seen a valve spring before in my life and I was able to do it. I believe if you have some mechanical ability and do some research you should be able to do it.