Alight, I have a nice 97 Dodge Dakota 5.2 liter. I already did a cold air intake have exhaust headers on order and I already have a magnaflow exhaust. is there anything I can do without tearing into the motor too much to gain more horsepower.. Or should I get a programmer for it? basically aside from a supercharger or turbo kit is there anything else I can do to put this motor its full potential?

 

You could swap in a HEMI, or just upgrade to a newer Ram or Dak.

 

I'm reallyjust curious if there's something that I can can tinker with that will give me a few extra hp

 

Programmer might give you a better ECM config than factory and better performance but really if your wanting more power your going to have to do some engine work.

 

not sure why using the roller rockers 1.7 ratio not jumped on more often. You would also want a larger throttle body (52mm +) and should do the plenum plate fix at this time. Some modify, cut up the inside of their ' turtle ' intake here also.
Being 4x4 and if your wanting low end torque consider dual ( since you have headers ) 2.75" into a single 3" exhaust.
Then i would recommend a tune, about where i am at...

 

What do you have for axle gearing? I would bet that a gear swap might give you what you're looking for?

What do you use your truck for? In town or highway? Do you tow? What size tires are you running? 4x4 or 2 wheel drive?

 

definitely a +1 on the 1.7 RR's from John Mercedes/Harland Sharp and an SCT from Hemifever. Both together picked me up significantly on the 1/8 mile. After that I took off the clutch fan and went to 4.10 gears.

 

What a ridiculous, unhelpful, and downright idiotic suggestion.

 

Deal with it.

 

2 best options to help out with power with what you have now is gonna be a throttle body and programmer. I had a SCT tuned by hemifeaver on my 5.2 and it was awesome! Def noticeable gains. Even going from 4,800 wot shift to 5,200 was a big improvement. Gear swap will help but imo the money you spend on that gains you very little for a dd. Id rather take that money and put it into the engine and trans.