I've been looking at a lot of upgrades for my truck to do when I get back in the states in 6 months and I'm finally getting to the point where I'd like some help. I don't want to go too extreme on any of the upgrades and for me, for now at least, anything that involves pulling the block is too extreme. I have spent time searching old threads and what not but I haven't found what I've been looking for and I get side tracked way to easily reading all these other threads that have like 20+ pages. Any help/advice would be great. Oh, and I do plan on running my truck on the dyno before and after I install most if not all the performance mods that I set my mind on. I'm hoping to knock out the first 7 of the mods at once.

Here's what I have planned so far:

- Timing Chain (actually needs to be replaced but haven't picked what I'll replace it with yet...any suggestions?)
- Fastman 52mm
- Huges F1 Airgap intake
- round air filter (ditching the brute force)
- HS 1.7 roller rockers
- MSD Distributor (haven't picked model yet...just want the brand)
- Electric fans
- Pacesetter longtubes, hi flow cat, flowmaster super 40, dual exhaust, everything 3" but tips will be 3 1/2"
- MSD 6A box (maybe)
- Transgo shift kit
- cab lights
- new grille guard
- replace front bumper with all black non sport style
- and Rancho RS5404 Steering Stabilizer...current one has a big dent in it...don't know how that happened...

Here's what I'm thinking on upgrading but need help desiding or not sure of yet:

- Fuel injectors (think I read we got 17-19lbs? and I'm thinking somewhere between 21-24lbs?)
- Cam...thinking about it since I gotta replace the timing chain anyway but I don't want to go too crazy with one. if I gotta do any work to the engine or replace a good number of parts...I'll just put it on the back burner for awhile
- 4.10 gears
- brakes, rotors, calipers, the whole 9 whatevers better....
- bigger alt
- and sometime in the future...4.5 inch lift and a rool bar with more lights...
- Pulley's?
- a belt to skip the ac compressor since mines dead

 

Ambitious list to say the least. I hope you have the wallet and time. Also if this truck is a DD, you might look into a second vehicle. As far as your list, and mind you this is just IMO....
Here's what I have planned so far:

- Timing Chain (actually needs to be replaced but haven't picked what I'll replace it with yet...any suggestions?) Any good name brand double roller timing chain. Double roller is the key not necessarily brand.
- Fastman 52mm- is it a 5.9? It doesn't say in your sig or anything.
- Huges F1 Airgap intake-pricey to say the least. remeber the price they list is Intake Only. Add in new bolts,gasket etc..
- round air filter (ditching the brute force)- i love my RAC, i recommend an AEM Dry flow for the filter
- HS 1.7 roller rockers- haven't installed them on any of my engines yet, but remember it may be a good time to replace the valve cover gaskets
- MSD Distributor (haven't picked model yet...just want the brand)-two words CALL MSD! They have great tech support, and will match you up with a distributor that will match the other MSD stuff you have already.
- Electric fans- Again never used them
- Pacesetter longtubes, hi flow cat, flowmaster super 40, dual exhaust, everything 3" but tips will be 3 1/2" IMO, 2.5 all the way out seems to be the way to go for the pipes with a 3" tip
- MSD 6A box (maybe)- See the reply to Distributor
- Transgo shift kit- Alot of guys tackle it themselves. Me? Mine is getting put in when it goes to the trans shop
- cab lights- Nice DYI write up done on them
- new grille guard- your choice
- replace front bumper with all black non sport style - Careful on aftermarket stuff especially bumpers. They say "direct fit", but due to licensing agreements it might not be exact. Do your homework on this
and Rancho RS5404 Steering Stabilizer...current one has a big dent in it...don't know how that happened. - I don't either unbolt,replace with new.


Lastly, good luck my friend. Don't give up on the DYI and Search threads. It might be a PITA, but they do have a ton of good info.

 

Hey thanks for chipping in. If things go the way I plan I will have most of the money needed to do most of this and I'm definatly going to have the time. I'm in Japan until sometime late feb and I'm saving as much money as possible until I get back in the states and if you throw the tax return on top of it, I'll have a pretty hefty wallet for about 30 minutes...lol. And I'll plenty of time to put the truck down to do all those mods at once because I'll be on vacation for a couple weeks back home with friends and family. I also have a friend who's dad owns a auto shop and through them they know people in the exhaust and tranny business so I'm expecting my truck to only be down for 2-3 days at most. I do have the 5.9, it was the only motor I would accept when I was looking for a truck. I didn't even think about replacing the valve cover gaskets, good call, I'll be sure to add that to the list of things to do. And as far as the front bumper goes, I plan on going thru LMC so I should be good with the fit.

 

- Timing Chain - Cloyes, MP dont really matter as long as double roller as mentioned
- Fastman 52mm - good choice
- Huges F1 Airgap intake, not cheap but sounds like it will help fair bit. Had m1/2bbl n lost some bottom end. Have bigger 4bbl now thats ported/coated so cant say for sure on F1. Expensive as mentioned but no intake is cheap unless its for an LA motor.
- round air filter - Edelbrock, Moroso, Mr Gasket all have 14" kits, toss the paper and use the 14x3 p#1650 from K&N.
- HS 1.7 roller rockers - maybe best to go with the adjustable ones if you add a cam later
- MSD Distributor - save your money for elsewhere IMHO
- Electric fans - if you tow anything sizeable, get BIG fans. No towing 2500-3000 cfm will suffice.
- Pacesetter longtubes, hi flow cat, flowmaster super 40, dual exhaust _ If talking true dual 3" its too much for what your listing IMHO. As mentioned 2.5" is plenty, larger tips is fine.

- MSD 6A box - I would go with a digital ignition box over analogue.
- Transgo shift kit - good choice, suggest going with the stgII

Others can comment on the lights n such

Here's what I'm thinking on upgrading but need help desiding or not sure of yet:

- Fuel injectors (think I read we got 17-19lbs? and I'm thinking somewhere between 21-24lbs?) to run bigger injectors and a cam and intake better ditch you Superchips and get a real tune! SCT only way to go, use the money from not replacing distributor here.

- Cam... cant see if your 4x4 while posting, if yes, go with KRC 206 cam. Towing/rv style cam makes good torque n adds a bit of hp too

- 4.10 gears - needed with changes your thinking
- brakes, rotors, calipers, the whole 9 whatevers better - like the EBC dimpled slotted rotors I just installed on both my Indy & V10s. Went with Hawk performance pads on the Indy and Powerstop extreme duty on the V10. Russel braided lines for the Indy as well. If you want upgraded caliper too, your looking about 900 with rotors pads for the SSBC hardware

- bigger alt - can be expensive, check for a local alt rebuild shop, will save you a fair bit. Get new bearings, more winds of copper and a smaller pulley on it and armature if needed. Cost me 125 to get mine rebuilt. I got the 3pc of the case from them & powdercoated them while they rebuilt it. Looks great (see Procharger408 thread)
- and sometime in the future...4.5 inch lift and a rool bar with more lights...
- Pulley's - these will affect lighting & the alt output. With fans could have charging issues

 

Great upgrades! All highly recommended.

Like others stated, no real reason to do this, IMO. Not sure on the performance boost, if any.

3" is a little large for duals, 2.5" would be better, IMO.

Excellent. However, like others have said, if you have the $$$, I'd go digital with the MSD box.

The stock injectors in a 1996-2001 Dodge Ram with the 5.2L V8 or the 5.9L V8 are 23.2 lb/hr. IMO, I'd leave them alone for now.

Excellent choice.

 

MSD doesnt even make a Distributor for our SFI trucks. I'd just go with a NAPA Brass cap and rotor.

Dont buy an overpriced Twian part from them. I'm sure you could find a bumper on eBay for way less than LMC charges. You may even find a NOS part!

 

Wrong it comes with all that. That is a complete bolt on kit. There is a thread here for a group buy that if it goes through will save ya a bit of money

 

You don't need bigger injectors IMO. What it could really use is a tuner. Just a Mopar PCM woke my tuck up a lot with it's current mods.

Dual 3" is way too big, dual 2 1/2" is plenty. You should really use an X or H pipe as well. As far as the mufflers go, I replaced my 40 series with an Aero Turbine and I don't regret it one bit, they perform better and they sound sick as hell while not droning when cruising.

 

whats a digital box ??

 

Thank you all that have said something so far. Ya'll have changed a couple of the things I was looking into doing and made me thing about doing something that I hadn't thought of at first.

Indy, where did you get your SCT tune from? I've been looking around for a bit and the only tuners I can find are for fords or gms...can't find any dodges being sold. Then when I looked up their site, I used their dealer locater to see if I got one around home but it isn't working right for whatever reason. I'm probably just going to call them sometime later.

As far as timing chains go, I'm going to go with a cloyes but I need to do a little research on what the advance/retard setting things are cause I can't remember what those two things do sorta...

Ok, I actually found a online store that has the dodge SCT tuners in stock...google lead me to dodgetalks and that lead me to airram.com. $350 doesn't sound too bad especially since you can have you stuff updated at anythme pretty much. The only thing I noticed is that until the superchips and hypertech, it isn't just a striaght up, plug and play...you actually have to get it dyno'd and what not before you get the fine tune setting. It's seems like a few day proccess before you can fully enjoy it.