Going to put a 360 magnum from a late 90’s Ram into my 86 W150 Ram. Going to keep the factory port fuel injection and the 4 speed auto from the newer truck.
What would be a good build to use as a daily driver?
I think 350 hp should make it compare to a new half ton considering now they weigh a bit more.
I was thinking to raise the compression from the stock 9:1 to 9:5. I would like to be able to still run 87 octane.
Also will probably get new cylinder heads from eq.
All I have for it now is some long tube headers.
I would like to keep the stock kegger intake. I have no interest in racing it and am mainly interested in torque and power gains at low rpm like you’d see on a regular drive and decent mpg.
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What's the budget?
Sounds to me like you're looking at a basically stock rebuild, with possibly a mild RV cam and tune the JTEC with HPTuners.
Have the heads checked before you invest in new heads- they're not all cracked. The new offshore heads have lots of issues themselves, bad QC with machining debris, valve guides, and the like. By the time you buy them and pay to have them squared away by a competent machinist, you'll be way behind what refreshing your factory heads would have cost- provided they're good to begin with.
The kegger is a decent torque manifold, especially with a few mods to the runners. It'll be out of steam by 5.5K though, but with your intended useage I don't see that being an issue. BUT absolutely make sure you use the updated plenum plate and gasket; it's a known issue with the kegger and easily rectified while the engine is apart.
Upgrading the compression the little bit you mentioned isn't really going to be all that noticeable, and I would check your bores first anyway. Magnums are known to have very little cylinder wear even on higher mileage engines, and many times you can just get away with a dingleball hone and set of rings on the factory pistons.
Call up Ken at Oregon Cam grinders and tell him exactly what you have and what you want it to be- he'll get you set up with a regrind on your existing cam that will be right on the money, and play nice with the factory computer. Reuse your factory roller lifters if they're good, and all you'll need is a set of slightly longer pushrods. No waiting 6 months for a cam company to come up with a roller cam blank to give you an off-the-shelf grind that may not be optimal.
Some slightly bigger injectors may be in your future, dependent on the final tune you end up with on the JTEC.
Your biggest issue will be adapting the Magnum harness to your '86, but don't be intimidated by it. Once down to basics, there's only 5 or 6 connections that have to be made. A pair of FSMs, one for the engine and one for your truck; will go a long way towards getting things sorted out. As well as a trip over to the "Magnum Swaps" section and doing a search there instead of here in the small block section.
