I'm wanting to increase the longevity of my truck so that it lasts for a long time. I plan on re doing everything that needs to be fixed or replaced. My first question is this.

1. Should I do a engine rebuild with what I have or get a new engine? It only has 118,085 miles on it.

2. If I do a rebuild what would that entail? I'm not looking for anything to be a pavement burner. I intend to give it a little more performence, but most of what I'm wanting to do is for longevity.

3. If I do a rebuild, do I do it all at once or just replace things as a go?

CappinHoff

 

From what I understand, it's better to rebuild an engine than to replace it (at least thats what I've heard). With 110k though, it really isn't necessary at all IMO. But it's your truck.

I'm sure you would want to do it all at once since the labor time/cost to do this would be a lot.

 

118k isnt that much if its been treated well its whole life.
If how its been treated is unknown

Id maybe go with 50mm tb (could do self port)
F1 intake or Hughes plenum kit
mild offroad cam like KRC 206x
EQ 1.92 heads with 1.6rr & Felpro 1008 hdgskts underneath
fresh bearings
cloyes double roller tchain/gears
.030 over on the cylinders
SCT tuner

That will add some nice hp/trq without getting to crazy, be smart to rebuild the tranny stronger as well or at least add deep pan, temp gauge, cooler & shift kit.

 

As for the RR's, whats the difference betweem 1.7 and 1.6? For the tuner, since I have "death flash" I was just going to go with the mopar performance tuner. Good idea?

 

The plenum and transmission are the weak points. Treated very well, the transmission can last very long. A transmission cooler would help. The plenum could really hurt your engine, and it could spread into exhaust components. I would say to concentrate on those two first.

RM_Indy, what would you say is better, Harland Sharp 1.6 Roller Rockers, or 1.7. Both non-adjustable. I've been wondering this for awhile..

EDIT: he posted while I was typing, an SCT would be better, since it would be a program tailored to your specific engine, and all the specific parts on it.

 

The truck came with a tranny cooler installed. I think the previous owner installed it. As for the plenum, that will be replaced in the spring no doubt. I was thinking about working on the weak points first since the mileage isn't bad.

 

My last truck (1996 Dodge Ram 1500) had 245,000 miles and had no sign of stopping, that is until it hit a Chevy Trailblazer very very hard. At least one person on here has a truck that has over 400,000 miles.

 

1.6rr have perfect geometry, the roller tips ride dead centre of the valve stem & can be rev'd much higher than a 1.7 can if you have guides/treated prods & cam/intake to go with it. 1.7rr will add some power across the board but if over rev'd will slip off the tips of the valve stems. If adding a cam, better to go with the 1.6.
DD that you take it easy with and dont ever race buddies playing around, 1.7rr would be fine and help bring a stock cam a few more hp/trq to the wheels.

MP PCM, few & far between, stopped making them years ago. I have one for my Indy, only to control the tranny (stand alone eng mngmnt). The SCT will give you roughly double the rwhp/trq gains that the MP PCM will. Add perf parts, best to get a tune that compliments what you have.
If you go with the Hughes plenum fix, may want to cut the runners & add some filler. WIll move the powerband up slightly and give small boost in power. OEM heads are junk, most tend to crack between the valve seats. The EQ even in the stock 1,92 valve sizes will add a good bit of power and elimnate the chance of the heads cracking.

One cooler is good, deep pan & temp gauge are handy if you tow/offroad etc. Nice to see what temps its making cause heat kills the trans. Long grades towing are really hard on the trans, best to know theres an issue before its too late

 

So what about working on the weak points(needed ones) and then branching into performance?