Well after many thoughts on what to do with the 360 and the prehistoric OBD1 computer that it has, I have finally figured out that you can polish a turd but you can't turn it into a diamond.....at least not without a lot of pressure. I decided to go big or go home with a 440. I already tried the "don't fear the gear" moto and it's nice and all with 4.88s, but the highway drone of running at 3000 RPMs tends to be bad on the hearing. I already had heavy duty axles in the plans and a transmission rebuild soon after. I have heard that the 46RH can be bolted up to the big block with minor modification since it is essentially an A518 with a lock up torque converter. I thought about Chrysler's 8-speed autos, but without a stand alone module for it yet, its a little too advance for me. I was thinking of converting the 440 to multi-port EFI using Megasquirt to keep some fuel economy. Now I am planing on getting everything running good and happy so all it comes down to just pulling the rest of the factory stuff out and putting in the new stuff, if there is anything I am missing or skipping over, feel free to chime in.

 

Engine/trans/t-case mounts will be fun. You will have to fab some up. (I haven't seen transplant mounts in the aftermarket.....)

Speedometer is electronic, but, I suspect you can just install the VSS in the "new" trans, and be right down the road. I don't recall how the tach is driven. (I *think* that signal comes from the PCM.)

Probably need custom length driveshafts as well..

I would beef the SNOT out of the trans, use as many of the 47/48RH parts as you can. They are MUCH beefier. (and the 46 was marginal behind the the 5.9 in any event, in my opinion. at least, in stock form..... 440 would blow it up in short order.)

Verify that the bellhousing bolt patterns are the same..... I haven't seen any data on that either.

I think using "440", and "fuel economy" in the same sentence is non-sequitur.... It's gonna be bad, no matter what you do. If you break into double digits on the freeway, I will be pleasantly surprised.

Another alternative would be to beef up the 5.9, and convert it to OBDII. There really isn't much difference in the peripherals on the 96/97 model year trucks. Bump compression a bit, better cam, full length headers, dual exhaust, air-gap, or M1 intake, and you could build some respectable power. As for dollars/horsepower gain though.... I don't think anything can touch the big block.

 

LOL at using 440 and fuel economy in the same sentence.....

 

(big block overdrive trans) There have been a few articles in the mopar magazines on the subject. You could do the Gear vendors overdrive but it's $$$$. The other option is use a RH style trans and use either an adapter plate or bell housing change "ulta bell". The beefier the internals the better(47/8 RH or mega viper).

http://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/...s-of-pics.html

http://www.jvxracing.com/Adapters.htm

http://www.campbellenterprises.com/a...ellhousing.htm

 

Go diesel!

 

The thing about adding fifty more cubes is that you'll always have to feed 'em even when you don't need 'em. It'd cost less, be less bother, and still get you as much power as your truck could need to just bolt a huffer onto the 5.9. You could even get the straight cut gears to make blower whine sounds, if that's your thing.

 

T'ain't nothin' that wakes a up a motor like forced induction.

 

If you have 10k to spend on a huffer for JUST the huffer and intake to bolt it on, then Indy sells em. Or you can modify the kegger to bolt on an old chevy huffer on but that would take quite a bit of work. Much easier to go with a procharger type setup.
That's why I just bought one of the old Vortech kits no longer in production for $900

 

Ooooo, that should be fun.

 

What about the huffer that mad max had on his intercepter? He could turn his on and off for fuel economy.....