My first magnum build, advice appreciated

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Dartish

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Bought a 99 Ram 2500 with 5.9 and auto Trans.4x4. Has 120k miles and seems to run fine, just lacking alot of power compared to mystock 5.7 hemi. Planning on a Diablosport programmer, shorty headers, throttle body spacer, cold air intake and good coil and new plug wires for starters, along with free flowing dual exhaust. Sound ok so far? Also thinking of adding a 480"lift had, roller cam and possibly roller tip rockers. Comp says I have to run MP springs with their cams forabout $15 each. Any other spring options out there. Truck will basically be a hunting, fishing, off road work vehicle with occaisional hauling duty. Any other simple mods to getsome reliable snort from this stock motor. Engine is sound. Doesn't burn oil, has good compression, just needs a shot in the arm. Thanks
 
Super charger.......

Sounds like a good plan. For “other” valve springs, Hughes engines has a selection from PAC.
 
Thanks. I was just now looking at a Hughes cam and springs.. Do the simple add ones help much on the magnum engines or is it inevitable to tear into the motor to make them run decent in a truck. Just looking for a reliable truck with enough power to turn my 35" tires in the the snow and mud, and put a smile on my face when I open it up on the highway. This is my first magnum
 
You need low end torque for that truck. Getting the right cam grind is important. Good compression and decent flowing heads and you're ready to have fun! 65'
 
I don’t understand, what do you mean by this?

Do the simple add ones help much on the magnum engines or is it inevitable to tear into the motor to make them run decent in a truck.
Add on one what?
What do you mean is it inevitable? If you want to tear into a magnum, I can’t change is all you’re really going to need. It is already a 9.0-1 engine.
Actually, from where you stand, you can simply copy one of Mopar‘s crate engines.

A good way to go about building a magnum from a good core would be to;

Use a Edelbrock RPM intake, 650 cfm carb, (Holley or Edelbrock) headers and 2-1/2 exhaust, electronic distributor and a cam that suites the need. Use a cam car er 216/218 duration @.050 and you may want to restall your converter. Hughes has cam & tappet packages along with there springs. A new timing chain and tensioner would be good as well.
 
I'm just wondering if the tuner, cold air intake, headers, and simple bolt ones will make a noticeable performance difference over stock, or if im going to have to tear into it deeper. Its an all stock 99 2500 with 4.10 gdeeperIts in good running order, but would like some extra torque without tearing it all apart right away.
 
Sorry, I meant add ons, like programmer, headers, exhaust, cold air, simple stuff for now
 
Sounds promising. Just wanna try the simple stuff for now. See how it works. Then go with a little more cam and maybe throttle body if necessary. Never put a tuner on so didn't know if they work or just hype. I know on my stock 5.7, a cold air intake and exhaust made a noticeable difference for a couple hours work. Didn't know if the 5.9 would respond similarly
 
Yes it would but just not as noticeable since it is a lower hp engine to start with. The newer HEMI engines are more powerful out of the box with heads that flow way way better than the old stock la heads did.
 
First thing I would do if it’s all stock is make sure that the plenum gasket on the bottom of the intake is not leaking. Very very common problem on the factory keg intake. If it hasn’t been replaced, I’d almost bet it’s leaking. Open throttle blades and look into the bottom of the intake and if you see a lot of oil or puddling it’s leaking. It will use oil, cause crappy mileage, valve ping and a loss of power.
 
I have a 5.9 in a 03 Ram 1500 regular cab with 4.56 gears. I added SCT tuner, flowtech shorty headers, K&N Cold air intake, Hughes EFI intake, and 52mm throttle body.
It all helped .... some.... but not the power and torque I was expecting.

So right now this is still in the works:

IMM Engines 408 build

By the way if you go with a tuner don't get the SCT from Hughes Engines. The guy that sets up the tuner is a complete fool. He took over 3 months to get my tuner up and running. I had to contact FlynRyan to get it all straightened out. Ryan told me he has fixed a bunch of the other guys mistakes.

Take my advice and us Ryan... FRPTuning / Flying' Ryan Performance
 
I was looking at the Edge CS2 tuner and either Flow tech or summit shorties. Did yours fit well? About the plenum gasket, my dad was a eat mechanic for 30 years and said the something you did about the leaks so ill check that out before anything..
 
Wow!!! Thatv4O8 your building should scare women and children off the sidewalk when you go by!!!
 
Hey Mullinax, is this the intake you used from Hughes? Was it a straight forward installation? If so im putting in my order on one. I've never really researched the Efi stuff and didn't know there were intakes out there for magnums that kept the EFI.looks like theyre back ordered a couple weeks, no biggie though. Thanks everyone for your input. LA carbureted motors I can do in my sleep, never tried adding power to a fuelie, so please excuse my ignorance

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I don't think Diablosport supports the Magnum engine trucks. SCT is the one you need like mullinax95 said. Hughes does not do their own tuning, they farm it out to a shop on the east coast. For these Magnum trucks, do a custom cam and keep your stock lifters, Hughes spring and retainer kit, and if the budget allows do the Hughes FI intake and headers. If keeping the stock intake, forget the spacers and fab or use a bottom plate like Dubob said. None of the bolt-ons alone will be magic, but Magnums respond well to cam, intake, and headers, and when keeping fuel injection an SCT tuner from someone good is required. The tuner also takes out some of the torque limitting programming.
 
Summit listed a handheld Diablosport tuner for the 99 truck, but I wouldn't be surprised if its a misprint. Is the sct tuner one I can plug in and have it work? Sounds like Mullinax had issues he had to work out. Ill definitely be adding a cam and springs, and I like that Hughes Efi intake too. Those will be a couple months down the road. Is the stock throttle body capable of doing the job with cam and intake or will I need an aftermarket unit? Thanks again for all the advice. Wish I woulda played with these magnums along time ago so I didn't feel so stupid. Stock lifters are ok to use with new cam as long as theyre in good shape?
 
Bought a 99 Ram 2500 with 5.9 and auto Trans.4x4. Has 120k miles and seems to run fine, just lacking alot of power compared to mystock 5.7 hemi. Planning on a Diablosport programmer, shorty headers, throttle body spacer, cold air intake and good coil and new plug wires for starters, along with free flowing dual exhaust. Sound ok so far? Also thinking of adding a 480"lift had, roller cam and possibly roller tip rockers. Comp says I have to run MP springs with their cams forabout $15 each. Any other spring options out there. Truck will basically be a hunting, fishing, off road work vehicle with occaisional hauling duty. Any other simple mods to getsome reliable snort from this stock motor. Engine is sound. Doesn't burn oil, has good compression, just needs a shot in the arm. Thanks

For a good power and torque increase, you can do the beer keg modifications on the intake, SCT Tuner reflash and Summit headers w dual exhaust(if they fit). Changing the cam and springs helps too, but swap in fresh valve seals while you are at it. 120K is just broken in on a Magnum, as long as they changed the oil.

I ran one like this for about a year, but mine had a bad ring pack on cylinder 7. It was still a damm good running motor, regardless. The keg intake is unbeatable for producing low rpm torque. Look on Hughes own site to see that.

I just reused the stock roller lifters, and beat the snot out of them with no issues.
 
What kind of mods did you do to the factory intake?that would save me about $600 I could put in the drivetrain
 
The SCT tuner would have to be purchased through whoever does your tune. If you order tge tuner from Summit, it will be blank with no performance upgrades. If you get it from someone who does the tune, they will build a file to plug in and load into your truck. I see that Summit does have Diablosport listed for Magnum engines. I was under the impression Diablosport only did diesel engines for those trucks, and gas engines for newer Hemi trucks. I got some research to do.
 
I was looking at the Edge CS2 tuner and either Flow tech or summit shorties. Did yours fit well? About the plenum gasket, my dad was a eat mechanic for 30 years and said the something you did about the leaks so ill check that out before anything..

The Flowtech headers fit the engine fine the problem I had was where the headers fit the pipes. The ball and socket did not fit well and had exhaust leak. Took it to a exhaust shop and they opened up the socket part and it is leak free now. Flowtech says that the headers will mount up and work without any mods necessary. The shop guy told me there is always something that needs to be done most of the time to make these "bolt up and work" headers work correctly so I don't have anything negative against Flowtech. I ordered the ceramic coated ones and they work and sound very well.

I could have fixed the plenum gasket with Hughes plenum kit... matter a fact I ordered it and the kit sat here for a little while but decided I wanted to do away with the leak problem for good.... don't have to worry about it with Hughes intake in which does not have the plate on the bottom... I know that will not EVER leak.

Hey Mullinax, is this the intake you used from Hughes? Was it a straight forward installation? If so im putting in my order on one. I've never really researched the Efi stuff and didn't know there were intakes out there for magnums that kept the EFI.looks like theyre back ordered a couple weeks, no biggie though. Thanks everyone for your input. LA carbureted motors I can do in my sleep, never tried adding power to a fuelie, so please excuse my ignorance

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Yep that's the one. I would recommend top quality intake gaskets other than the ones that come with the intake. Mine leaked! I will be using top quality intake gaskets when the 408 gets here... next time.
I would like to mention that you might want to do the cam as you are doing the intake so you don't have to remove the intake twice.
Hipotek has some good cams to offer.

3.9/5.2/5.9 ENGINE - CAMSHAFT - Camshaft Performance - HiPoTek

I was looking at the HPT210XP before I decided to have a engine built for my truck.
 
What kind of mods did you do to the factory intake?that would save me about $600 I could put in the drivetrain

I Googled the Keg manifold mod and did it. Basically you cut down the intake runners from inside the manifold with a sawzall and smooth it out with a burr bit.
 
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