Hey guys picked up a 01 ram sport 5.9 4x4 with 71k miles back in August wasn't going to keep it long but now have decided to make it my full time work truck. It's got 82k miles on it now and I just did a full tuneup with the auto lite 3923 plugs and it's still only getting 8.5-9 mpg and she's using oil so I've got the plenum issue on my list of things to fix. Would like to go with the hughes F1 so I don't have to worry about it again blowing out and because I've got more mods planned to make this a towing machine. I generally tow around 3,000lbs minimum at least once a week of tools and material so definitely am looking for torque in the 2500-3000 rpm range with some better shift points. So questionable on the intake from what I've read not sure if I'm modding heavy enough to have one. Definitely want to get a tuner thou and I've always used HP on my Chevys because my cousin has the HP setup and actually worked for Chrysler and now chevy as a tuner/engineer. So I'm looking for a tuner that has the most user adjustability to it like the HP system has. I thought I seen SCT somewhere has it but can't find anything now. I know his buddy uses diablo on the newer chargers and challengers at his Dynotune shop but they don't go this old do they?
I've got about 1k$ to spend right now trying to get some guts for towing and at least a little Mpg. was thinking intake and tuner at least a tuner for sure.

Truck has:
Flow master muffler 2 1/2" cat back.
Some kinda cheap CAI (filter is clean at least)
285/75/17 tires
A Awesome mechanic (me)😬

Planned mods:
Tuner/chip/flash
Hughes intake?
Clutch to electric radiator fan
180*stat

 

Any tuner will help you, as it will get rid of the death flash, that you certainly have, and also eliminate torque management. Hemifever (Sean) is the master-of-choice here. He has been doing these for a while, and even one of his canned tunes will be far superior to the stock programming. I think he offers three different tunes.... Check out his website for more info. (hemifevertuning.com)

F1, or Mopar M1, will give you better power in the range you are looking at. Also, Harland Sharp 1.7 ratio roller rockers will pick up about 10 HP/TQ as well. Headers, free flowing cat/y-pipe will round out the changes, and give you a good running motor, that has adequate power. To get more, need to dig deeper into the engine. (cam, heads, etc.)

Something else you may want to consider, since you have 33" tires on there.... is re-gearing. 4.10's if you want to keep engine RPM close to what it was with stock size tires, 4.56 if you want to gear for more bottom end. (at the expense of fuel economy on the freeway. Puts the engine about 200 RPM or so higher, for the same Road speed.)

If you have someone that can do dyno tuning, for a reasonable price... that would be a viable alternative as well.

Welcome to DF!

 

I did the Hughes intake last fall...it is a pretty good mod, but you aren't going to get the full potential unless you also have a good exhaust (headers, hi flow cat, good muffler), performance heads, bored throttle body, maybe even a cam and roller rockers. I did the hughes airgap because I wanted to fix the plenum anyway (even though mine really wasn't that bad) and I hate doing the same job twice. I want to build the top end of my motor so I just went ahead and dropped in the hughes intake. If I had a grand to spend on a stock motor (with a bad plenum), I would do the hughes f1, sct, headers in that order....then look at the roller rockers, hi flow cat, bored throttle body, etc.

 

You want low end torque? Keep the kegger unless you dig deeper into the engine and start changing heads and cams.

Put a stock air box back on, and drop in a good aftermarket filter.
Sct tuner
Fix the plenum

Then spend the rest of your money beefing up your tranny first. You could have a torque monster of an engine but it don't matter if the truck can't go down the road

 

ok sounds good so I'll shoot for the SCT tuner first for sure I've got a email into them waiting ins a couple answers, and maybe a set of rockers. I'm still torn on the intake I really don't want to go cam and heads deep in the motor for a work truck but I like the fact that I won't have to screw with a defective design again. would dropping down to a 265 help much in the tires? the 285's were on when I bought it

 

Will help some.

 

For what it's worth, I didn't notice any loss in my bottom end power whatsoever when i went to the airgap...There is a little bit of custom work involved with the installation too, but it's really not bad. I'd def do it again...the price tag scares a lot of people away who arent intending to get into cam and heads. I still think it's worth it....and it looks so sexy under the hood

 

I noticed a little loss of bottom end with the FI Airgap (gained in mid and upper range), but got it back plus some with LT Headers.

If you change one thing, you'll likely have to change something else to gain the full benefit.
That's why you have to plan your upgrades to compliment each other, and therefore gain the most from the money you spend.

 

So got my SCT tuner in the mail today hooked it up flashed the truck with the 89 octane tune and went for a cruise before this wonderful winter storm hits. Right of the bat noticed that the cruising Rpms were much lower at 55-60mph I was cruising around 1600 RPM rather than the typical 2100 rpm. The shift points were a lot smoother and the truck seemed more responsive but smooth didn't ever hear a single ping out of the engine either. I didn't get on it to hard but drove it around 30 miles just to see what my MPG's did. I've been averaging about 8.9mpg over the last couple weeks but reset the instant overhead before I left and when I got home I was getting 13.4 MPG.. Yes I know it's not that accurate but it's usually close so I am very happy with the money I spent (395$) it was well worth it and thanks for the recommendation of hemifevertuning.com Sean was awesome answered all my questions and so far I am extremely pleased.
The hughes airgap intake should be in next week but I probably won't get to it until the end of the month.

 

https://dodgeforum.com/forum/2nd-gen...ll-thread.html

There's a little thread I put together to help with the Airgap install....it's not the greatest but it'll atleast give you a good start and let you know what to expect.