my 5.2 is getting old its been knocking for awhile and has loss of power..... i do reg mantaince its just old.... question will a rv cam run ok on a stock computer ? i have a sct tuner....what other things should i do to it ? im gonna get headers and high flow cat.

 

I would find out whay it is knocking first. May not be rebuildable.

 

^^Agreed. If it is knocking I wouldn't worry about anything else before that. Just because a motor is old doesn't mean it should knock. My brother's 96 5.2 still runs as good and as quiet as it did new and it has 327,xxx+ miles on it. Never been rebuilt either. I see the title of the post is new engine time. Is it safe to assume than you are getting a new motor for it, if not the above applies. Sorry didn't notice thread title till i had typed all of that. lol doh

 

I have a spare engine that was good and didnt knock but had higher kms that im using to rebuild so i dont have to go without my truck

 

Smart man

If you have time and a bit of cash flow, go with a nice torquey cam and ported heads w/roller rockers, M1 or Air gap intake manifold, ported throttle body, etc... when you get done with it call up hemifever and have him build you a tune for your specific motor. If you want to have a REALLY sweet motor go with a 4" stroker crank and 390 it!