Guys - THIS SWAP HAS BEEN ON MY MIND FROM DAY ONE !! There appears to be enough room behind the V6...if u look, its all trans bellhousing - a lot of space wasted.

Over here a 5.7 Hemi goes (relatively new) goes for around 9-10 K. Add to that a T 56 6 speed, and a beefier rear end it would not be a cheap move. But the unique factor cannot ignored.

The Crossfire IS NOT a rice rocket - so ricing it up with turbos and blow off valves (pssshhhhh) although ok, would take away from the character of the car. If MB hadnt dumped the remaining 3.2's on Mother MoPar to get rid of them in the X fire, Chrysler could EASILY had slotted in an EFI crate 360 small block with aluminium heads (350 EASY HP) and backed it with a Viper 6 spd. Al these parts have Mopar part #'s and and are available and can be warrantied.

IMHO, buyers would have been beating a path to MoPar's doors everywhere.....while there is nothing wrong with the MB engine (apart from a lack of decent grunt), it has cost Chrysler sales b/c the vehicle is perceived as German, not an American 2 dr cpe with V8 muscle. They would have sold a heap more Down Under with a V8 - this I know for a fact.

Oh well, guess corporate mergers dont always work the way we'd like, right guys ?

XFYRED