I got a 94 5.9 Magnum to drop into my 92 Ramcharger in place of it's tired noisy original 5.2 Magnum with 210k miles.

I've already torn it down to bare block, cylinders look great - no ridge at all and clearly visible even cross-hatching. Haven't measured taper or round yet.

Using stock crank and rods, Comp cam, stock lifters and pushrods, only quality rings and bearings, ported kegger intake, shorty headers/scratch built stainless collector and 3" exhaust/Magnaflow 3" cat/Flowmaster 3" Super 40 muffler, 52mm throttle body, true homemade cowl drawn CAI, electric rad fan, may go to larger injectors and do computer mods depending on options/need. Unsure about pistons and heads.

My goal is 350hp, 400ft lbs plus with daily driver attitude and the best mileage and reliability I can get. Truck is used for lots of freeway driving, medium to light towing and offroading to include trails, mudding and hill climbs but no rough crawling or any hardcore stuff. Auto trans, 3.55 diffs, 33x10.50 meats.

Questions:

What is the minimum recommended machine shop work for this situation?

Should I replace pistons and what type should I choose?

Should I consider changing compression ratio?

I've been looking at new Iron Ram heads from Hughes. Are these a good reliable option?

If they're not too cracked can stock heads be milled to up compression? How much?

I already posted this on RamchargerCentral, just trying to get multiple opinions.

Thanks

 

350hp with 400+ ft. lbs out of a 5.9L Magnum sounds expensive.

 

That's my goal but yeah, my budget will decide where I end up. Not like I'll ever dyno the thing to see where it actually ends up.

Mostly wondering about pistons, compression ratio and Iron Ram heads.

Thanks

 

Also running MP double roller timing set, Hughes plenum fix, MSD coil, Milodon 7qt oil pan, high volume oil pump and putting a shift kit in trans

 

The Engine Quest (EQ) Magnum heads are a good replacement head also. They flow better than stock. I have a set for the 5.2 I'm building.

Most of the factory Magnum heads are cracked between the intake and exhaust valve in the combustion chamber. So if you want to reuse the stock head you should first get them magnafluxed to check for any cracks. But better flowing heads will make it easier to achieve your goal.

For machining, take it to your machine shop and see if they recommend boring it out, or if you can get away with just a hone job to break the glaze off of the bores.

You probably don't need a high volume oil pump.

With iron heads I wouldn't go above 9.5:1 on pump gas. That is about where I have my 5.2, the 403 I built with aluminum heads is about 10.1:1.

You can put a windage tray in that deep sump pan.

Put the main bearings and crank back in the block. Take one piston and rod assembly with out piston rings and put it in cylinder #1, #2, #7, #8 (using the same piston and connecting rod will be more accurate). and check the piston deck height. This will show you if the deck height is even between both cylinder banks and from front of the block to the back.

Get a Mopar Performance PCM for it.

Do you have pictures of your cold air intake?

 

[QUOTE=JGC403;2946661]The Engine Quest (EQ) Magnum heads are a good replacement head also. They flow better than stock. I have a set for the 5.2 I'm building.

Most of the factory Magnum heads are cracked between the intake and exhaust valve in the combustion chamber. So if you want to reuse the stock head you should first get them magnafluxed to check for any cracks. But better flowing heads will make it easier to achieve your goal.

For machining, take it to your machine shop and see if they recommend boring it out, or if you can get away with just a hone job to break the glaze off of the bores.

You probably don't need a high volume oil pump.

With iron heads I wouldn't go above 9.5:1 on pump gas. That is about where I have my 5.2, the 403 I built with aluminum heads is about 10.1:1.

You can put a windage tray in that deep sump pan.

Put the main bearings and crank back in the block. Take one piston and rod assembly with out piston rings and put it in cylinder #1, #2, #7, #8 (using the same piston and connecting rod will be more accurate). and check the piston deck height. This will show you if the deck height is even between both cylinder banks and from front of the block to the back.

Get a Mopar Performance PCM for it.

Do you have pictures of your cold air intake?[/QUOTE


Thanks for your input.

Plan right now is stock size intake valves iron rams from hughes.;
Block goes to shop when i get home (working out of state).
Kb flat top pistons shooting for 9.1-9.5:1
Still researching computer options

 

you can get a pair eq's that are already built better than stock for the same price as it would cost to get 2 bare iron ram head from Hughes.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-DODGE-JE...393813&vxp=mtr

 

I think those heads are new mopars. Eq's are item 150906713421 with 2.02 intakes ant stainless valves. Couple hundred cheaper than hughes.
I called, asked a few questions and will be getting heads from these guys soon.

Thanks for posting that.

 

item 150906713421 looks like it was meant to go magnum engine but use a LA intake. item number 160887572247 would be the heads you would want if you plan on keeping it fuel injected. the intake bolts on a fuel injected engine are vertical and the intake bolts on a LA engine are on an angle.

 

Good call. I did let the guy know I'm using a magnum with mpfi but i didn't look at the intake bolts. Thanks for pointing that out.