Hey all new to the third gen world. Looking to pick up a 2003 standard cab short bed 2wd ram with a 5.9 with a 130,000 miles. I'm curious about upgrades for the truck. Can't find too much about these years with the 5.9 as I understand not many came with it. I know it won't be a super fast truck but it already moves pretty good. All I know it has right now is a cheap dual cold air intake and dual exhaust. I'd like to know about the chip to use, headers, intake manifold and cold air intake. Thanks in advance

 

Hey Tackett22, I didn't know they used the 5.9 in 2003. I have an '02 1500 with a 5.9 in it. Don't sell the 5.9 short. There are all sorts of performance upgrades out there for the magnum. Try Hughes Racing for the engine itself. Do you want to raise or lower your truck? If yours is like mine (146,000 miles), you'll want to spend time on some of the basics for your truck. New ball joints are an amazing addition to improve handling. Bunch of other stuff helps as well, rear main seal, oil pump while there, intake plenum, timing gears and chain, etc... What type of exhaust does the truck have?

 

By the way, I know I don't have a lot of posts here, but that's because I've been just reading and using the massive amount of wisdom you'll find from the people on this site. Check out all the links members put here. I wish I could afford all the things they suggest. Oh well, one bite at a time.

 

Yup it's the 5.9 runs and drives great..moves better than my 97 did.. I'm happy with the height is at and they don't know much about what is done...it has dual exhaust no cats out the side right now

 

To reply to your original post, it seems that Superchips is the most popular for modifying our computers. The intake I want is one sold by Hughes Racing, it's made by Edelbrock. The cold air intake systems out there seem to flow about the same numbers, though Volant probably has the best out of them IMO.

 

I heard that the superchips were junk and that I should just get either mine or another pcm flashed? I just found out that it came with 3.92 gears with non slip rearend

 

For the 5.9 I dont think there is much to gain with a tuner on the stock setup. Now if you put on some headers, intake manifold, camshaft, port, etc. a good tune should wake it up. But that's probably gonna have to get done professionally unless you can find a canned tune.

 

I was thinking of some long tube headers and the Hughes f1 air gap intake with the mopar pcm? Anyone have any interaction with them?

 

Not many guys here have that motor in this style truck, if you go to the second gen ram or second gen dakota forums there are a lot more guys with that motor.

 

I had a 2002 ram with a 5.9l. I had a superchips 91 octane tune on it and did it ever wake it up! Highly recommend it. If I remember correctly superchips advertises like 50hp/50lb-ft off that tune and the butt dyno backs that up. You will also see much better fuel economy particularly on the highway with the tuner.

I also had shorty headers on the truck, didn't do much for performance or sound. I can't comment on long tube performance though.

Good luck and I hope that your transmission lasts (they sure aren't the best in that truck)!