Wish me luck! Magnum 5.9 engine conversion starting today (hopefully)

[LXguy]

Hey All:

Well, its been a long time getting together, but my Magnum swap into my Dart is finally ready to attempt to start. Picking up the distilled water on the way home, and then I'm firing it up.

Starting point: All stock, plus LD4B and Street Avenger..

Brought the Magnum home:

Some of the extra junk I stripped off of it:

Iron RAM heads on sale!

As it sits now:

This was a long project. I started on it in earnest last fall. To be fair I did also switch to front disks and installed a built 904, converted to dual exhaust, and swapped in an 8.75 while I was at it. Also, the crappy economy kept the spending to a minimum (hence the clutch fan instead of electric, and lack of double pumper).

Still need to get a couple of spark plug wires with 90* boots, check hood clearance, etc.

But anyways, tonight after work I'm filling the radiator, and hoping it works out.

Wish me luck.........

 

[Burntorange70]

Looking good so far. Good luck to you.

 

[yellowdartdave]

Good luck !! Remember that the red line on a stock 5.9 Magnum is 5200 rpm due to the heavy hyd. roller lifters. 350ft./lbs. of torque at 3 grand sure will make up for a bunch of it.

 

[LXguy]

yellowdartdave: Hopefully I can spin it a bit higher than that with the improved valvetrain and custom camshaft. We'll see.

No dice so far. First I had everything hooked up except the dizzy (whoops). Then my Lokar throttle cable decided to take a crap. Sooooo since I hav e no help, I imagine wednesday at the earliest.

Steve

 

[Badart]

I will be watching this one. Good luck.

 

[charger70]

yellowdart
Where did you find out that redline 5200 is based on the stock lifters?
I hadn't heard that before and have been spining mine somewhat higher than that.

 

[Old Geezzer]

Looking good, can't wait to see it finished. :cheers:

 

[Mallachi]

HEY, I'm doin the same exact thing. I have the engine, tranny, computer and everything I think I need out of a 99 Ram and I want to install it all into my 71 Swinger. So I'm very interested in the details of your swap. I'll also be installing a naturally aspirated 360 in my 72.

 

[yellowdartdave]

That is where my Dakota R/T is red lined at. The hyd. lifters are big and heavy.

 

[LXguy]

The lifters are heavy, but, to be fair, the cam in the R/T is pretty much a low-rev deal to begin with.

.385/.401 lift, and 250/264 advertised duration. That's very well suited to a truck, but its definitely not going to rev high. I'm actually surprised you got that much RPM out of it, especially with (I assume) stock valve springs).

 

[charger70]

The reason I ask is that I built a clone of the 390 hp crate motor. got the cam and lifters from Mopar.
I bought the heads thru Hughes and valve springs are what they recomended.
The machine work was done locally in Glendale AZ. Forged pistons, ARP bolts and other good stuff.
the power curve comes on at 3000rpm and goes strong to over 6000.
the guy running the chassis dyno in my avatar, (at Mopars at the Strip, Vegas) said that to get the most out of it I should shift at 6200.
So thats what I've done for the past year.
Does any one know the RPM limit recommended by Mopar Performance for their crate motors?

 

[yellowdartdave]

LXGUY,
That is where the tranny shifts at. The beer barrel intake does not help matters at that RPM but I love the low and mid range torque..exc for towing.

As far as revving it that high, the valve covers have never been off and it has over 150k miles on it.
It is all stock with the exception of 83 Supra seats and a Shaker hood.

 

[memike]

Keeping an eye on ya and hope everything goes good today :cheers:

 

[LXguy]

The reason I ask is that I built a clone of the 390 hp crate motor. got the cam and lifters from Mopar.

Well, yours is going to be different also. I'll bet you've got a lot better quench/compression than the factory motors. Also, the cam for the 390hp motor is a lot better than the stock truck cam for turning RPMs. Also, the carbed intakes (if that's what you're using), are also more RPM capable than the truck intake.

I got my new throttle cable today, so tonight we'll see what it'll really do. I'll try to get a video if it actually runs.

Thanks for the responses guys!

Steve

 

[charger70]

I'm sure your going to have a good time.:-D

 

[LXguy]

Well, it runs pretty decent. Timing is jumping around all over the place though.

Sounds strong, makes great oil pressure. So far doesn't leak a drop of anything. Hopefully tomorrow I can actually get it on the ground and see if the trans is working properly. Then alignment, yada yada yada.

If it runs down the track as good as it sounds, I'll be pretty happy.

Steve

 

[SRT_DSTRHOLC]

what happen to those eddy mags you had?

 

[Bill Dedman]

Have fun with yout Magnum! I've had a lot of fun with mine, so far. It has endured a LOT of abuse.... including my watching the tach needle swing past 6,500 rpm, more than a few times in 1st gear.

However, I must confess that my engine has a mild Hughes cam (but, with .525"-lift) with 300# valve springs (that's 300# open) and aluminum needle-bearing, roller rockers, with thick-walled, heavy-duty pushrods, but stock, hyd. roller lifters, and yes, they ARE H-E-A-V-Y!!!

Good luck with this toy; it's gonna be FUN!!!:cheers:

 

[LXguy]

what happen to those eddy mags you had?

Hey:

Well, when times got tough around here I sold them. I got them at wholesale, so I could sell them without taking a bath on it. The Iron Ram heads were a lot cheaper, especially since I could use the stock valvetrain stuff. With the leftover cash I bought the miscellaneous remaining parts so I could actually finish the build and enjoy it a little this year.

Wish I still had the Eddies. I'm sure they would probably make more power than these heads. I KNOW they were lighter.

Thanks Bill!

I'm going to try to get a vid when I actually get the thing on the ground.

If things keep going this way, I've just got a little BS stuff to do, and then I'm rolling.

 

[LXguy]

Oh, brother.

Went to put the car on the ground last night. The front wheels I got off of Fleabay are junk, so now the car's all ready to go but I need to drag the wallet out again and get some new wheels.

Hopefully I'll be rolling before the snow flies...

Steve

 

[sharpie]

Good luck, and let me know if you have any questions:

 

[LXguy]

Lookin' good Sharpie!

 

[sharpie]

I have to upload my most recent pictures. The engine looks nice now.

 

[sharpie]

woohoo updated pic!

 

[grassy]

...what holley are you running ? I'll be darned if one of the numbers that are stamped all over my holley means anything but you carb looks like mine.

Thanks
Ian