I have a 1995 dodge ram 1500 with a 5.9 magnum w/ 230,000 (about time for a swap). I have another 5.9 magnum sitting in the garage with 100,000 miles on it. Was thinking sending the heads off and getting a head job and a valve job with new seals and a new plenum knowing these motors had a tendency to have the seals and plenum go bad and smoke. I know sending the heads off and doing all the other things would be a hell of a lot cheaper than rebuilding the whole motor. I want to put some upgrades (bigger fuel pump, cam, injectors, headers, etc.) on it for some performance also. What type of fuel pump, cam, etc. would you guys recommend for my 5.9? Thanks!

 

Stock pump is fine for most builds.

Stock heads suck. They are prone to cracking. You would be better off simply replacing them with newer castings, that are thicker. (around 600 bucks for a pair.)

I would do a leak down check on the donor motor, before committing to installing it. Need the right gauge set, but, the engine doesn't actually have to run to do the test. See what the numbers look like, take it from there.

Being as yours is a 95, doing a cam is going in incur additional expense for tuning. You can't just flash a new tune into the PCM, it has to be sent out. B&G is the only place I am aware of that does that particular trick, and it runs 250 a whack. That can get expensive in a big hurry. Spending the money on a standalone system that you can tweak with a laptop might be a better investment. (anywhere from 800 bucks, to over 2 grand, depending on what you get.)

If you just wanted to run the stock electronics, you could go with a 50mm throttle body, 1.7 ratio roller rockers, headers, high-flow cat, and pick up a few ponies.

 

Don't put any money into the stock heads as stated, they aren't worth it. A performance PCM will give you what you want and wake that engine up, especially with the mods suggested. Downside is needing at least 92 octane fuel. If you're gonna play, gotta pay.

 

As posted find a Mopar performance pcm P5249546 Engine Controller, there is a nib one for sale $250 pm me if you are interested it's not mine it's listed for sale on another forum. It does like the 91 fuel but I have ran one with just reg gas and yes towed with one as well.

 

So all I need is the P5249546 Engine Controller to keep up with the bigger cam and the other upgrades?

 

Yeah, that's really all you need. Relatively inexpensive, and makes a world of difference.
http://www.mopartsracing.com/parts/ram.html

 

I have put a lot of mods past mine and it takes to most great. It works best with what Ma Mopar kinda offerd in there performance line back then you would buy the, M1 intake, R/T+10 cam, headers, R/T heads. The performance pcm is said to offer up min 20hp gain from it alone, do I have any paper work showing that? Nope only what I have found on the web.

 

What carb would you recommend for the m1 intake?

 

He is referring to the MPI M1 intake. Mopar doesn't actually make them any more, but, they are still available on ebay, amazon, and craigslist occasionally.

 

Mopar has them back in stock bud.

Op some part numbers for you. If it were my truck I would get the non egr intake and block off the rest of the egr system.

P5007398AB 2 bbl mpi, aluminum, single plane, magnum direct replacement, w/EGR port 1992-96 5.2/5.9 same height as stock manifold. $575.00

P5007852 2 bbl mpi, aluminum, single plane, magnum direct replacement, without EGR 1997-02 5.2/5.9 same height as stock manifold. $486.50

MAGNUM INTAKE INSTALLATION KIT
P5007638 Magnum intake manifold installation kit $69.95