I know this has been covered many of times but I can't find the list of mods with results , I know one of the sites had them listed. Any help would be great, thanks!

 

depends on what you're talking about..

internal mod's or bolt on's?

in theory, the only difference between the 5.2 and the 5.9 other than displacement is the camshaft.. the 18 has a more aggressive cam.. the 60 makes up for pedestrian camshaft with displacement.. increasing the rocker ratio is a popular mod for both engines though.. they are 1.6 OE, and pressing them to 1.7 gives you marginally more valve lift, and slightly more duration.. they account for about 25hp on the larger engine, and around 20 on the 18, according to John Mercedes over at Southeastern performance.. You can't go with a higher ration due to clearance issues..

Opening up exhaust is hugely beneficial with these things.. specifically, eliminating the OE Y which is a choke device more than anything.. Opening it to 2.5 if dual, or 3 if a collected pipe seems to be really worthwhile.

you can do a few other things that benefit production, but the whole thing has to be looked at as a whole.. that being said: shift kit on the tranny, better torque converter, gears.. all of those will really wake the rig up..

SCT tuner will allow you to advance spark and manage fuel better- which unleashes a few ponies on a healthy engine- but only if you have addressed the plenum gasket issue..

other than all of this, internally mod'n the engine is the only way to really get some energy out of these things.. That is head work, and more aggressive cam.. You may touch into the 350hp range with those items addressed, and get as much as 280ish on the terra..

 

Well I've been building the truck in stages. Its a full blown show truck thats been at SEMA twice now if that gives you an idea. Currently the fuel system is all there, fuel cell, pump -6 lines and billet rails. Has JBA shorties, no cats with full 3in dual exhaust with X pipe and magnaflow mufflers necked down to a 2.5 inch tips to increase back pressure until I need to uncork it with future mods.

Future mods would be cam, tb, intake and heads. But not sure what order I should do them...

 

What kind of budget are you looking at? Or, is it even a concern??

Most common mods are:

SCT Tuner.
1.7 Roller Rockers.
Kegger Mod, or, Hughes Air Gap manifold. (or, mopar M1, depending on where you want your power.)
You have exhaust covered it seems.
Free flowing air intake.

 

Budget right now is around 3k. I've decided that after 10yrs of showing its time to have fun with it now. I was looking at the hughes intake...looking for mid/topend power. Currently it has a functional ram air hood.

 

I don't think there is all that much performance difference between the M1, and the Hughes piece, so, six of one, half-dozen of the other there..... Hughes MIGHT have an advantage in the mid range. They run around 600 bucks though..... Not precisely cheap.

Tuner only runs about 265 for 'normal' tunes, 365 for custom. (if you do heads, cam, things of that nature.... though, upgrading from normal to custom is just paying the price difference) ((also, these are from Hemifever, pretty much accepted as the best tuners for our trucks.))

If you do a cam, you will also have to address the valve springs. The stock heads just don't support a lot of lift.

Since you are going for upper RPM power, you might also consider replacing the stock heads, with some larger valve variety. There are a couple of companies (that are actually the same company.....) that make 2.02 heads for these trucks, with thicker decks, so, are much less prone to the cracking the stock heads are known for. Oddessa is one, clearwater is the other. (both in florida) They regularly have heads for sale on Ebay. (under 500 a side for the big valve fellers) These also support higher lift cams than stock.

If you are going to go thru all THAT trouble, getting some adjustable rockers really wouldn't be a bad idea either. Harland sharp makes some reasonably priced full-rollers that would look nice on your engine. (provided you could see them....)

Beyond that, I think I would be spending more of your money than you want to.

 

Yea, I've considered doing a 5.9 swap or a 390 kit but if I do heads and intake now atleast if I decide to increase the cubes down the road I've already ago some goodies. Worse case I'm out 250 for a cam and some cash for the tunes.

 

do those fuel catalysts actually do anything? or just one of those useless bolt ons

 

Useless bolt on.

Basically, ANY product that makes claims that seem too good to be true, is snake oil. There is no way a 20 dollar product, that hooks up with two wires, is going to give you 50 horsepower, and ten miles per gallon. It's BS, plain and simple.

Throttle body spacers were originally designed to help mix fuel and air better, underneath the carb, or, throttle body that the injectors on TOP of it. (so, you had wet flow thru the spacer.) Most engines these days are dry flow at that point, so, the only thing you accomplish is increase plenum volume a bit. Your engine won't even notice the difference, you will notice your wallet is lighter. That's it.

 

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