hey guys,
ima new guy here.
i read through the DIY section a bit but didnt cover my concerns or delimah much. i have an '03 Durango R/T 4x4 and a '97 extended p/u 5.2. the p/u has 222k miles and the 5.2 is worn out. the r/t has 20k miles. i wantalot better mileage in the r/t and good power in the truck for pulling my '68 jeep around (i know durango AWD and mileage dont belong in the same sentence unless you work for texaco and have free gas or something).
i read a post about a guy putting a hemi into his dakota 4x4 and he loved it. he hadnice photos and videos too. being that the hemi will shut down cyl, would a stroker hemi get descent mileage in the r/t? maybe with an ati procharger or vortech or the new magnasun? i know it would be tough to do, and i would have to have the hemi controller, but it can be done..whats your opinions? think it would do better than 12? can the programming be changed in the durango ecm to shut down cyl or the hemi controller be installed and be tricked into thinking its running a hemi and not the 5.9 its actually pushing? would a 408 w aluminum heads and good cam etc plus a supercharger turn my r/t into a good jeep pulling machine for our camping excursions? ive seen 408's put down some power (and gas) especially on boost...but the same can be said about the hemi strokers and srt8 strokers (which i would love to drop into the r/t. 580 hp 426 indy stroker...oooo-la-la)

more than likely, i would put the 360 in my truck with a supercharger and continue driving it asa daily. prolly switch it to dual propane w 12 lbs of boost and gas w 8 lbs of boost.

i am in iraq right now and coming home soon to do my mods (assuming i can iron out what i want to do). care to bat some ideas around?

 

Thank you for you courage! [sm=usa.gif]

Just put the super charger in the D.

 

x2

Stroking out the 5.9 will give you some gains, tiny improvement on mpg.
Supercharger will work great with a tune.
If i was in your situation (and had the $$ to back it up . "Wish i did")
I would start by removing the awd transfer and replace with selective, swap out the gears for 4.10 , (next part im partial) stroked 408, cam/heads/valvetrain/M1/fastmann tb/Ati charge/ecm tune and finally MSD electrical
In the end-
Large budget 408/internals/ trans / gears/ tune
on a short budget id say tranny/gears/fastman tb/tune
very short budget Superchips or hypertech/Fastman

 

Almost forgot to mention, gains vrs labor/cost/and all the other headaches with swapping the magnum with a hemi are 50/50. My honest opinion its just too much for so little. Although its great to see a swap like that, in the end its more hassle than needed and parts cost more[sm=smiley2.gif]

 

As with any major engine upgrade, you need a strong tranny to back it up.