5.9 Magnum Torque motor build?

I have a 360 LA motor with Magnum style heads by EngineQuest that wer prepped by IMM Engines in Indio, CA and the engine was dyno'd at about 438 lbs of torque around 2,500 RPM (I'll have to look at the graph to be 100% sure on that but definitely more than 400 lbs). But my build was more than 2,000 bucks.

What you need is a good heads, decent compression, good intake, and a decent cam. You don't have to go too big on cam either. Arguably, you'll be able to get a better cam since the Magnum block uses a roller cam. What you want to do is doable, but I think you need to expand that budget.

As far as budget goes, it also depends on what parts you have on hand already. Also, you need to determine what front cover you're going to run. Are you going to run the LA style front timing cover, or Magnum style with the serpentine belt and accessories?

Are you going to use actual Magnum heads? Remember those have a different intake bolt pattern are are limited to either the factory EFI intake, a CrossWind Air-Gap style dual pattern intake, or the Edelbrock Air-Gap Magnum intake. You can do like I did and run the EQ Magnum heads with the LA intake bolt pattern and use typical LA intakes. I believe my heads were about $1,500 bucks (give or take). That right there eats up most of your budget.

You can find more information here: Magnum Swaps