im gunna change the head gasket this weekend and i was wonderin if there is anything that is cheap that i could do to help my 5.9 out once ive got it all taken apart

 

Cheap mod? DIY Cold air intake. or Circle air filter.

If your going that deep in the best thing you can do is replace hoses, belts, plemun, anything that has not been done in a while.
Flush our Rad etc.

It not a mod but if you spend on parts now you will save later.

Jeff

 

if you haven't already fixed the plenum plate/gasket, do that. depending on age/miles, i'd probably do the timing chain and water pump, t-stat, tune-up, and that hidden water pump bypass hose. flush rad and heater core and block. find the block drain plugs on each side hiding behind the motor mounts.

 

THrow on the edelbrock triangualr air intake. It is open element and does not require bending of any threaded bar. It net me over 2 MPG and better throttle response. That will run you about 25 mucks at autozone. its the edelbrock air filter with the foam element. ou will need a 2.16 dollar gasket for it because the kit doesn't come with one. Just ask him for a "holley 4 barrel air cleaner gasket."

As well, thermostat and if you have the tools, KEGGER MOD. If you have the tools, it will only cost as much for bits and elbow grease. If you really want to do it good follow the DIY by Silver. He even took the intake to the machine shop to get it resurfaced. THats the way to go and only costs abou 25 beans.

 

oh ok good deal ive got a full fel-pro gasket set the plenum gasket should be in there right? and im goin to take the truck apart tomorrow do yall think ill have enough time to get the whole job done in one day? and how long did the plenum mod take to do because im usin another mans shop and hes open during normal business hours will that be enough time do yall think?

 

also wat should i use to mark things as i take them off (such as distributer position, etc.) and wat all kinds of loctite ami goin to need

 

Check silver's DIY for the plenum. He used loctite 515 i believe. Permatex black RTV, and Copper RTV.

My ram caught on fire pulling out of the autozone after buying all my silicon products. Never drive your truck immediately after disconnecting/reconnecting your fuel line.

 

if the cylinder head is going to be off
go ahead and knock off any sharp edges
on the piston crown and combustion chamber
to reduce the chances of detonation/pinging
...but use a wet dry vacuum cleaner to pull away any grit
and keep it out of the engine

some engine builders go to great lengths to 'equalize'
the eight combustion chamber cc's to one value
like 65 cc

you could also index the sparkplugs
so that the open gap points toward the exhaust valve
and the ground strap is near the cylinder wall

it is getting away from 'cheap'
but you could do-it-yourself a porting job
with the Magnum intake and exhaust port 'templates'
that Mopar Performance used to sell
...search eBay for these or ask around town of Mopar engine builders

a "three angle" or 'full radius' valve/seat job
is not too expensive to consider
if the cyl heads are already off

 

Not sure if you'll have the time to do the intake mod also being you only have 1 day to do the work. Even if you don't do the mod, replace the plenum gasket. You'll be very happy that you did.

As far as the distributor is concerned, you actually don't need to remove it unless you want to or you're going to replace the gasket. If you do remove it, get your engine to TDC on cylinder #1, remove your distributor cap, mark the distributor where the rotor is pointing AND mark the distributor and block where the distributor is aligned. Re-assemble by getting these two lines correctly lined up then tighten down your distributor hold down bolt. There is no timing adjustment for you to do as long as you re-align your marks and have not turned the engine over at all.

 

good deal thnx i appriciate it