2006 Charger R/T 5.7 I have been looking into the thought of the 6.1 cam and lifter swap. But, then again I've heard that the 5.7 has some nice cam and lifter upgrades as well. I'm not sure which way to go here. Anyone have any advice either way? I will be doing the work myself and just take it in for a tune if necessary afterwards. Oh and how much can you actually pull out of a tune or dyno tune. I hope not to get any hate here. I know what I'm doing under a hood I just don't know all of the in depths parts and I hoped that this forum would help. I picked the car up for $1,000 had to replace both heads, some pistons, had a few collapsed lifters, and the rear seal was blown. And I'm proud to report she's up and running strong and I wanna pull more power out of it as I can spare the money. Married with 5 kids lol. So just a simple upgrade every now and then. I appreciate any advice in advance.

 

Only limited by your budget and how far down the rabbit hole you wanna go. So:
First: what is your budget?
Second: do you actively use MDS or care about fuel economy?
Third: just more power, or a more balanced ride?

I had an 06 R/T and let me tell you, it snowballs quickly lol. Unfortunately someone wrecked it for me. Ended up with a '12 SRT to replace it.

 

That SRT upgrade sounds sweet. I'd love to pull that kind of power. Budget wise I'll have about 2,500 ish to throw at it about mid March. I'm not really concerned with fuel economy I'd rather have the power if it's there for the taking. I guess I'd like to start with the chunk I'll have to throw at it then work on the Christmas list through the year. I know alot of people might say just sell it and get an SRT but I've had my heart set on a charger for years and I got this one for a steal so I just want to work with what I have. Thank you in advance

 

It was. I'm finding that the automatic MDS equipped 392 is hands down the best trade off of fuel economy and power. The added displacement and power allow it to use MDS more often where it counts....as long as the grade isn't too steep, mine will stay in MDS going uphill at 80+mph.
So, cams selections are damn near unlimited by this point. Inertia has been at this game probably the longest, they have some well known and used cams. They recommended a Spartan Plus to work with the eagle heads I was gonna use; this cam can still use MDS (if you want it).



This cam will still work just fine with your stock heads, you would just need 16 6.1 exhaust springs and a full set of 6.1 intake & exhaust pushrods (aftermarket cams use the 6.1 base circle, which is different than the pre-eagle 5.7's). An intake manifold upgrade usually goes well with it. I'll outline what I had planned for mine to give you some ideas:
What I did performance wise:
SRT Brembo conversion - larger SRT size 20x9 wheels are then possible without spacers
SRT springs/shocks - lowers about an inch and vastly improves handling, complete bolt in factory parts with no alignment required
Police front and rear sway bars w/Bwoody links - these were the biggest factory bars available until the Hellcat came out.
3.06 Getrag - stock ratio is 2.82 in an open rear. SRT's the same vintage also had open rears. They finally got smart later on, 3.06 in an aluminum case with an actual mechanical LSD. Other ratios available as well.
Mopar TCM - Mopar Performance created a performance calibrated TCM for the trans

What I planned (part 1):
Eagle heads
Eagle intake manifold (then later a 392 active intake manifold)
Spartan plus cam
392 manifolds (basically factory shorty headers)
Required custom tuning


Then the plan changed a bit lol (part 2)
Instead of bothering with a high mileage 5.7 I figured out dropping a later 392 would be child's play. You can get an adapter harness to make a VVT engine work in a non-VVT car but you lose some functionality; for starters the cruise control. I do long distance travel so I like having that. So I was going to pull the crank, change the tone wheel and lock the VVT. Even with the stock cam and no VVT, with those amazing heads and the extra displacement that should've been good for at least 440-450hp (down from 470 with a ps pump) with room for more.

 

By the way, I still have the following if you are interested, if so send me a pm because they get bitchy on here if they even think a transaction is going on in the main forum lol (usually before it even has a chance to move to pm):
Eagle heads
Eagle intake manifold (complete with injectors)
2016 SRT 392 manifolds with mid-pipes/cats (about 10k miles on them)
Mopar Performance TCM
Full Brembo conversion including spindles, calipers, hoses & rotors
Front and rear police sway bars (front is used, rear is new)
Possibly the SRT springs/shocks (haven't looked at them yet)
Taillights for both 06-08 and 09-10 Chargers (pic below I had converted to the newer ones)
Rear valence for an R/T Charger
Magnaflow catback exhaust for an R/T (valence & exhaust are visible below)


Also have a complete retrofit kit to put a newer nav MyGig in:



For the right price I might have a Grant steering wheel to part with (these are hard to find anymore):