hey all .. i was wondering if anyone knew the options of swapping out a 5.9L magnum v8 engine out of a 2000 dodge ram sport.. the body of the truck is pretty solid but the engine is nearing 300,000kms and is becoming pretty unrealiable..

my dad told me to look into getting a diesel v8 cause it should have the same mounts and id just have to clean out the gas tank,lines,w/e else and cause diesel is cheaper :P .. some friends told me to look into getting a newer engine or even a hemi dropped in.. all in all .. i dunno lol..

im not much of a gear head so i thought i would ask for everyones input.. im thinking if i get a new engine id have to get a new tranny and probably other things.. but .. let me know what you all think..

 

Someone on here did a diesel conversion, I think.... and it was a right pain. MANY differences between the gas, and diesel engines. Not a swap to be undertaken lightly, and rather hard on the wallet as well.

Why not rebuild your current motor? Or, pick up a junkyard motor for a couple hundred bucks, rebuild that one, and drop it in?

 

rebuilding is an option.. ive already been looking into a junkyard engine to swap but all the places around town are charging 1500$+.. i dont know how much of an undertaking taking my engine out to rebuilt would be due to ive never done it.. but yes.. rebuilding is an idea

 

If your truck is your primary driver..... taking it off the road for an engine rebuild is going to be a week at least, probably more like 3 or 4.

If the junkyards are getting that much for a motor..... you can get a rebuilt longblock for that kind of money. Delivered to your door even. (better have a way to unload it though.)

Advantage there would be, once it arrives, yank the current motor, transfer all brakets/manifolds/mounts/etc. over to the new motor, drop it in, and drive it away. You can replace/fix the common problems on the motor while you have it out. (plenum fix, new sensors) and you should be golden.

 

Or if you got the money to spend, go with a 24 valve I6 Cummins Turbo Diesel. It should drop in no prob and you'll have to change alot of other parts to get the diesel hooked up right. But for the money, you get more power, towing capabilities, and way better mileage depending on how you mod it. You get 20+ MPG's and that could pay for itself just in fuel savings alone if you plan on keeping the truck long enough. Cummins last forever anyhow, if maintaineced properly

 

There must be a Pick'n'pull or Pick'a'part or some kind of pull it yourself auto wrecker around there. Usual price for a complete engine is $150 plus that way if your doing it yourself you get to practice on a wrecked truck and dont have to worry about breaking stuff.

 

ive been looking for a pull it yourself auto wrecker but no luck thus far..

 

if you are going to spend all the money to make it a deisel, id just take your motor and do a 408 stroker, you wont have complaints with power with that motor

 

hey guys i'm new to the dodge of dodge in general. just bought my first dodge ever. been mostly a chevy guy. what i'm asking is to see if maybe you guys can catch me up to speed with dodge. my 97 dodge 5.9L has 225K cali miles, runs okay for now but wanted to know about different bore and stroke options. power upgrades to achieve ~350-400 hp RWHP. different unleaded motor straight drops. and maybe even a little about tranny choice. i know it's alot to ask for so far but this is how i learned about chevy's, just trying to pick everyones brain. thanks alot to you guys and girls here on the dodgeforum, i hope my experience is just as friendly as montecarloss.com

 

It's just fine to ask questions indeed. Going by what you've already gone through on other vehicles, then your best "help method" from the start is here.

yeah i know, dick move, but hey, trust me when I say you'll get tons of hits on the things you vomited i mean asked about.