Hello all, I've got a 2000 dodge ram 1500 sport that I received as a barter some years ago for work at our bodyshop..we ended up painting it hemi orange with black racing stripes, ram air hood, custom interior, custom stereo system, all new suspension brakes etc..

The truck looks great, runs well, and I just daily it around when I'm not in the weekend warrior. It does consume oil, that iv'e read is related to a plenum spacer or gasket.. That said the thing is a dog and I need more power..I find myself having trouble passing someone if they aren't doing the speed limit and the truck just doesn't really want to go. I'm not looking to build the engine here, looking more into a modern swap (I would love to LS swap it but it doesn't seem like the best move) can you swap a new age hemi in it? If I were to do some upgrades to the engine is it even worth it? I dont know all too much about the potential on these things but I do know LS stuff which is why that would be my first thought process. Any suggestions?

 

From what I've read on here regarding a hemi swap into a 2nd gen, it is much easier and cheaper to build what you got.


Here's a good thread on the subject. Your not the first... Welcome to the forum.


https://dodgeforum.com/forum/2nd-gen...gine-swap.html

 

The problem you run into with an engine swap is: All of the dash gauges are driven from the central timer module...... so, adapting that to work with a GM computer and such would be pretty much impossible for anything even remotely resembling a 'reasonable' price....

Hemi-swap, you would also end up need the dash and such out of the donor truck.. (buying a WHOLE truck for the parts donor is the only way I could consider this swap. Something that got smacked on the back half, and was totaled.....)

For the cost/effort involved in those two options, you could build a 408, and drop it in, and probably still come out ahead.... (stroked 360)

The 'cheap' option would be to fix what ya got. Do a compression/leakdown test to see what ya got, and take it from there. You probably have a blown plenum, which in turn leads to fouled O2 sensors, and a clogged cat, all of which rob power. If you are approaching/over 100K miles, the timing chain is probably stretched to beat the band. If compression/leakdown look ok, do the plenum gasket, timing chain, and cat, along with a tune-up with quality parts, and I suspect you would be much happier with the power your truck puts out. JUST doing the timing chain on my truck was a MAJOR improvement in performance.

 

thanks for the replies guys, still working through that thread but there is a good bit of insight within it. the truck currently has 130k but a tune up was done when i received the truck (plugs and a water pump iirc) i'm sure another tune up is in order and im going to go through the things you mentioned plenum first and then check the timing chain out. hopefully that does give it a bit more pep in its step and at that point i may just hold off on building the block as i said this is a daily and i dont need another money pit in my life lol

 

What? HERESY!!! EVERYONE needs a couple money pits.

Don't forget to check the converter as well.

Let us know what ya decide.

 

lol everything i own with an engine has become a money pit...ive been able to keep the truck pretty contained but i see that slipping away in front of my eyes..will update when i tear into it

 

I have that problem too..... Probably stems from never owning a car that was built in the same decade that I owned it...... Right now I have my truck (in my sig) with 199K miles, and my wife drives an AWD Astro, with 278K miles on it.....

Yep, rolling repair bills. But, both run good, get us where we need to go, in relative comfort, and haven't abandoned us on the side of the road.... so, I'm pretty happy.

 

At least you can look at it this way, no car payments.

 

That's my deal. I don't mind dumping a couple hundred into them now and then. Got one new car, the wife drives it. We do a bunch of traveling, so it's nice for piece of mind to have one that has a warranty, etc. All the rest are at or over 100k miles, or, in the case of my truck, over 200k miles.

 

no car payments IS a beautiful thing..most of my mod money goes into a ctsv, and youd never believe how expensive it is to mod a jetski lol