Building Up a New 6.4L Gen III HEMI For Reliable Muscle Car Power

(Pat)>> You're watching Powernation

(Pat)>> Watch out LS. The gen three Hemi is quickly becoming a very popular street engine with plenty of aftermarket support.

(Frankie)>> Today on Engine Power we build one from the block up, and then hammer down on the dyno.

(Pat)>> That's pretty nasty right there! ♪ ♪

(Frankie)>> Hey everyone, today one Engine Power we're gonna be building an engine that has grown in popularity in the last several years, the gen three Hemi. Now since this engine has come to rival even the LS Holley has gone ahead and created an entire line of parts specifically for it. Everything from induction, to fabricated valve covers, oil pan swap kits, accessory drive components, but most importantly stand along fuel injection. Now we've already gone ahead and painted all of our components in our colors of choice, black and purple. So they're all ready to go on our brand new engine.

(Pat)>> For this particular build we wanted to use all new parts. So we contacted our buddy Mike Copeland at Arrington Performance in Brighton, Michigan, and he hooked us up with everything we needed to do the long block. It starts with a factory fully machined 6.4 liter Gen 3 Hemi block. Now these Gen 3's have some pretty racy features right from the factory, like a raised cam tunnel, a very large bore. 4.090, and a skirted block with cross bolted mains. As far as the crankshaft the stock crank is a factory forged unit at 3-7-20 stroke. Combined these two can take a bunch of power in stock form. Moving along we also have a set of 6.4 liter Gen 3 Hemi heads. These heads have a tight chamber, very large valves, and flow around 340 c-f-m, which is as much as some aftermarket offerings for the other brands. One thing we are upgrading over the stock componentry are the rod and piston assemblies. Now there's nothing wrong with them it's a hypereutectic piston and a powdered metal cracked cap rod and they will take some abuse, but we wanted some heavier duty pieces for what we are doing. Arrington has custom pieces made that drop right in a 6.4 without having to rebalance it. That includes a custom Wiseco 26-18 forged piston that has horizontal gas ports and coated skirts. Also a set of Manley 43-40 forged H-beam rods with a 6-200 center to center length. We love working with the folks at Arrington because no matter what level of project you have they have the right parts to get it done, or if you want a complete engine built or go the extra mile and get a complete vehicle they are the ones you want to see if you want to go fast with a Mopar, and the best part about all of this we are going to be giving this engine away to you a lucky viewer. We have teamed up with Holley and we will be giving this engine away after it's all done. So enough with the talking. Let's get to building. ♪ ♪

(Frankie)>> We begin with a fresh set of factory Mopar main bearings. As always we check the clearance on all of the mains. With the ARP fasteners properly torqued the first one comes in at two thousandths of an inch, which is within the factory specifications.

(Pat)>> The rings are filed to fit. We're running them at 25 thousandths on the second ring and 23 thousandths on the top as per Wiseco's spec for our application. We seat them correctly into the cylinder using an ARP ring squaring tool. Then use a feeler gauge to confirm the gap. The gauge should fit into the gap with little effort yet still be tight enough to stay in place under its own weight.

(Frankie)>> We have all the rods numbered, cleaned, and the bearings installed. So we'll go ahead and check rod bearing oil clearance. When you torque down a fastener you stretch that fastener to a certain amount. The ARP digital rod bolt stretch gauge gives you a precise readout of that stretch. After the gauge is zero'ed out we'll torque the rod bolts to 90 pound feet. This stretches the fastener by five thousandths of an inch. Exactly what we're looking for. Rod bearing oil clearance with factory Mopar bearings looks fine as well. All of ours come in between 19 and 21 ten thousandths.

(Pat)>> This Hemi uses a set of oil squirters to cool the bottoms of the pistons. They are a must for high performance street engines. Assembly lube is applied to the main bearings and the crank shaft goes gently into place. Thank you. After getting some ARP Ultra Torque lube the large main cap bolts are torqued to 80 pound feet. The side bolts receive thread sealant to prevent oil leakage and they are torqued to 25 pound feet.

(Frankie)>> Coming up, the Hemi receives high performance valvetrain upgrades, fresh engine accessories, and an e-f-i system.

(Pat)>> Then it's time for business in the dyno cell.

(Frankie)>> Now that we've got our crankshaft torqued down and fully installed we can move on to our camshaft and timing set components. Arrington Performance also sent us one of their custom ground camshafts that are specific to their engine packages. This is a Comp Cams hydraulic roller with 225 degrees of intake duration at 50 thousandths lift, 235 degrees of exhaust duration at 50 thousandths lift, and 114 degree lobe separation angle. We're also gonna be utilizing our stock cam timing gear because it'll work great at our power level. Now there's a couple of different ways you can approach this, either limiting the phaser travel or completely locking it out like we chose to do. This is gonna help eliminate any problems later on with piston to valve clearance when the engine is running. Then when we degree the cam we can set the intake center line wherever we want with a multi keyway crank sprocket. First the phaser spring is compressed using the specialty tool that comes with the lockout kit. [ drill humming ]

(Frankie)>> The cover is removed and the expanding wedge, which locks out the phaser, drops into position. The pipe plug is tightened to keep everything in place. The cover is torqued back down and the clamp is removed. ♪ ♪ Thanks for that.

(Pat)>> I wasn't wearing my glasses. So this center one is stock position and these other two are two and four degrees advanced either way.

(Frankie)>> Yeah advanced and retarded. We're gonna start in the middle and then go from there.

(Pat)>> I like that. What kind of water won't freeze?

(Frankie)>> What?

(Pat)>> What kind of water won't freeze?

(Frankie)>> I don't know.

(Pat)>> Hot water!

(Frankie)>> Are you running out of jokes? ♪ ♪ We put together just one rod and piston assembly for now so we can degree the cam.

(Pat)>> Chamfer arrow directional. These are directional because they have a little bit of a pin offset. There you go.

(Frankie)>> It comes in at 109.5 degrees of intake center line, which is 4.5 degrees advanced.

(Pat)>> With the rest of the rod and piston assemblies in place we break the bolts loose one rod at a time for final torque. ♪ ♪

(Frankie)>> Break these loose before you measure them.

(Pat)>> Even if they're just tight a little bit it will effect it right down to the ten thousandth of an inch.

(Frankie)>> We snug them up so we can turn it over but it's really important to loosen them back up before you measure them for stretch. ♪ ♪ My boots are sliding.

(Pat)>> After the rod bolts are torque to 90 pound feet we have 53 ten thousandths of rod bolt stretch on this one, perfect! Once the rest of the bolts are torqued and checked the rotating assembly is complete. A new o-e-m oil pump comes next. We use three two thousandths thick shims to ensure that it's perfectly aligned before tightening it down. ♪ ♪ The timing chain gets a good coat of valvetrain assembly spray before we install a brand new car timing cover. ♪ ♪ Followed by an ATI super damper, which is held in place by an ARP balancer bolt.

(Frankie)>> The factory non-MDS hydraulic roller lifters are pre-assembled, lubed, and then put into position. ♪ ♪

(Pat)>> We are upgrading to Comp Cams' conical valve springs and steel retainers. We are setting the springs at an installed height of 1.985, which puts our seat pressure around 141 pounds and our open pressure around 409 pounds. The Intercomp digital valve spring compressor from Goodson makes this job a snap. [ drill humming ]

(Pat)>> This valve spring installation tool from Powerhouse can be used in or out of the vehicle for easy spring changes. Up next, rock solid reliable front accessories get this Hemi ready for dyno testing.

(Frankie)>> One of the reasons we love using ARP products is that they pride themselves on both high quality materials and precision machining, but just as important as the fasteners themselves is their proper lubrication and installation. ARP provides specific instructions with each of their kits and if they're followed correctly can help avoid many of the common problems that you can have. The first and most important step is to have all the fasteners and threads completely clean of any oil or debris. Then we can start applying ARP's Ultra Torque fastener assembly lube. This was specifically formulated to provide consistent torquing and clamp loads. We'll apply ARP Ultra Torque directly to the threads and the under head of the bolt. When installing the washer it's important that the chamfer faces the under head of the bolt to clear the large radius. It's also criical that no ARP lube gets on the bottom side of the washer as it can turn it into a bearing like surface, reducing the friction of the fastener and making the torque value inaccurate. We'll go ahead and get the rest of our bolts lubed and prepped, and then we can get our heads on our 6.4. The Holley oil pan kit includes a windage tray and oil pickup assembly. After the pickup is tightened down we'll apply some sealant to the engine block mating surfaces. Finally the oil pan is bolted to the block. It's Holley's mid-sump design, which is great for putting Gen 3 power plants into older vehicles. No gasket is required because the pan has an O-ring seal.

(Pat)>> The factory cylinder heads come next. They have 2.140 intake valve, 1.650 exhaust valve, and a 65cc double quinch hemispherical combustion chamber. With our factory Mopar head gaskets we have a measured compression ratio of 10.18 to one. The heads are torque in three stages to a final valve of 100 pound feet on the large bolts and 28 pound feet on the small bolts.

(Frankie)>> After lubing the factory length push rods they slide into place. We're using the original rocker shafts but we're adding rocker shaft stabilizers and collars. This helps make the valvetrain more rigid, which increases durability especially at higher r-p-m and spring pressures. The valve covers are Mister Gasket fabricated aluminum pieces. They are complimented by these MSD Blaster Series coil packs in black.

(Pat)>> We are very close to getting our 6.4 liter Hemi on the dyno but we still need a few components to finish it out. We need an o-e-m alternator for our Holley swap bracket, and obviously we need a new water pump. We chose the Duralast brand. Duralast is the most chosen aftermarket brand by professionals. Why, because they manufacture and remanufacture parts to o-e quality or better. Starting with our alternator this is a quality remanufactured unit, meaning Duralast goes the extra mile in replacing every wear component inside and it is triple tested at the component, sub-assembly, and finished product to ensure that it meets o-e-m or better specifications. Our car style water pump is made from entirely new components from its precision machine casting, new permanently sealed and lubricated bearings, to its pulley. Also to send accurate data to our e-c-u we picked up some new sensors as well. A new crank, cam, map, and coolant temp sensor. Now even though this water pump looks great in its natural finish we have to paint it to match the rest of the engine. So Frankie's got a job to do. ♪ ♪ First to go in is the cam sensor along with the crank sensor. These are for a 2011 6.4 Hemi. Our e-f-i system can run with sensors from 2009 to 2012 engines. The freshly painted water pump bolts up, followed by the timing pointer. [ drill humming ]

(Pat)>> Holley offers several accessory swap component kits to work with factory car balancers, timing covers, and water pumps. After the Holley alternator bracket bolts down the Duralast o-e style unit gets installed. [ drill humming ]

(Pat)>> The Holley power steering adapter kit with the included power steering pump finishes up the front end. ♪ ♪

(Frankie)>> Up next, free flowing induction along with a high tech e-f-i setup make this Hemi howl.

(Frankie)>> As you can see we've saved the trickest parts for last like our intake manifold and e-f-i setup. This is Holley's high ram intake manifold and we've already gone ahead and pre-assembled it with our painted fuel rails, our 105 millimeter throttle body, and our 42 pound per hour injectors. The great thing about these manifolds is the tops are interchangeable so you can have a forward facing throttle body, a rear facing throttle body. You can put it to the side or you can even run one or two carburetors like we have before. For e-f-i we're using Holley's Terminator-X Max unit. This is great because it's super easy to setup and you can run drive by wire throttle bodies and electronic transmissions. It has built in one bar map or you can use the stock one bar map that comes with a Hemi. This unit comes with a ton of cool features including boost and nitrous control with programmable safeties, and everything you need to get it hooked up. All the programming can be done with the hand held, or if you want to get deeper into the tune-up you can use a laptop and Holley's free tuning software. There you go! The intake studs are torqued in two steps with a final value of 106 pound inches. ♪ ♪

(Pat)>> With our engine hooked up on the dyno and our wiring harness installed we are ready to fire it up. ♪ ♪ Okay everything's hooked up I think.

(Frankie)>> It should start right up.

(Pat)>> Well, should!

(Frankie)>> What are you worried about? Gosh you old timers and fuel injection.

(Pat)>> We always get some questions about engine break in. We fully break in things before we start pounding on them. We don't always show that but we do. So the biggest thing on this one obviously with a roller cam you're not gonna break the cam in like a flat tappet, but putting a little bit of load on it, making sure your oil pressure's fine, make sure we don't have anything leaking out. Make sure that the rings establish a wear pattern not only on the cylinder wall but on the ring land as well. So what we've got to do is we've got to get it up to operating temperature so it can start learning.

(Frankie)>> I just love how smooth it is right out of the gate. I mean not even up to full operating temp yet and that unit is already keeping super silky smooth.

(Pat)>> We're like on the freeway in fifth gear right now. It's making a solid 30 plus horsepower. After market e-f-i has come so far in such a very short amount of time.

(Frankie)>> I think I'm kinda spoiled on that front you know. [ engine revving ]

(Pat)>> Look at that.

(Frankie)>> Wow!

(Pat)>> It's still making 375 for torque. [ engine revving ]

(Pat)>> That was a super pull.

(Frankie)>> That was super smooth on load in though for the first load in.

(Pat)>> Look at how flat the torque is. 479 pound feet of torque and it's making 529 horse and it's still going up.

(Frankie)>> Over 400 pretty much 3,000 and up, that's awesome! That'll pull a car along. Air/fuel's tracking nice, oil pressure's spectacular. Alright this engine has good enough valvetrain. We have the stabilizer bars on it. It's got really seat installed, pressures on the spring. Got a nice spring on it. I'm feeling a little froggy here.

(Frankie)>> Crank that up!

(Pat)>> Don't get scared because we're gonna go 3,500 to 7,000. [ engine revving ]

(Frankie)>> Smooth!

(Pat)>> That's pretty nasty right there. 562 horse, 478 pound feet. Okay so where did it make that?

(Frankie)>> Right at 6,900, 7,000.

(Pat)>> Where'd it make 478?

(Frankie)>> 5,200, that's a wide spread.

(Pat)>> That's super wide. The wider you can spread the peak of torque and horsepower the better this thing feels.

(Frankie)>> Yeah when you're driving it.

(Pat)>> Look at that pretty graph.

(Frankie)>> Let's put two degrees in it. It's at 26, pretty safe. Jump it up to 28 and see what it does.

(Pat)>> I like the way you talk. [ engine revving ]

(Pat)>> Might have snuck a little more into it. 564.9, and a little more torque.

(Frankie)>> That's a nice engine.

(Pat)>> This is very, very nice.

(Frankie)>> This is gonna be most likely a street engine. So this is something you could take that to the pump, put 93 in it, and not worry about ever exactly how it sits. So I like that.

(Pat)>> LS better watch out.

(Frankie)>> They're starting to grow on me just because they have a good architecture, they have a great cylinder head like you were saying, and now that you have companies like Holley that are making these really nice parts. They make them super easy to swap, super easy to put in vehicles, and have great clearance, and they look great. I know I painted it but I'm kind bias. I think it looks great.

(Pat)>> Don't twist your patting yourself on the back.

(Frankie)>> They're starting to grow on me.

(Pat)>> The e-f-i, I can't say enough good stuff about something that you literally just plug in and it works. Hats off to Holley and again I've said it before. I am a little jealous of whoever ends up with this thing. Another success story.

(Frankie)>> Another good dyno day!

(Pat)>> Dyno days are the best days.

(Frankie)>> For more information on anything you've seen today head on over to Powernation TV dot com.