the truck is my daily. I use it to off road alot and i do some racing but nothing serious, just for fun. I rarely tow anything. I just want better performance from it.
Ive looked into the kegger mod and it seems like a pretty good mod for the money. Say if i were to do the kegger mod and the headers, would i see a noticeable difference then? I already have a cold air intake but im planning on upgrading to a better one.

 

It won't be huge with any header alone. If your hiney-dyno is sensitive you'll notice a tad more part-throttle pep, but nothing dramatic.

To my way of thinking, the greatest benefit of good headers (and better than factory flow all the way to the tailpipe) on our Magnum truck engines is that they get the heat away from the cylinder heads more efficiently -- the additional cost of ceramic coating, plus vigilance for signs of a leaky plenum gasket, might pay for itself by keeping the cost of replacement heads in your wallet. The cooling effect of the flow improvement might also allow you to run a slightly more aggressive tune, if you're looking to go that route.

 

How many miles on it? Fixed the plenum yet?

 

98K miles on it. I've done nothing to the plenum but i've only had it 3 months so the previous may have.

 

Ah. Ok. That's something to check anyway.

Think I would do the timing chain/gears as well. That was THE biggest improvement to how my 5.9 ran.....

 

I was told by a friend that the steering linkage needs to be disconnected to do headers, is this true?

 

Maybe with long tubes, but i dont think it would with shortys since i took my manifolds off to replace the manifold gaskets and i didnt have to disconnect anything.

 

I've not seen any shorties that require removal of unrelated parts to gain access. Some long tubes will require it. Usually the installation instructions will tell the story, and most manufacturers put that stuff online.

 

you might find these helpful...




there's a bunch more related videos on those links too...

fuel injection aside the 5.9 is a good ol' 360 v8 and responds well to anything you would do to a v8 in the 70's or before.

there's no voodo to it, except you need a tune when you change too many things since there's no screws to adjust on the injectors. a tune is just all around a good idea, stock or not. get's rid of the factory impairments like torque management for example, that were put there to keep the first owner from breaking something the warranty might have to cover. ever notice how when vehicles became computer controlled the warranty's got longer and longer, more inclusive? tuners can get rid of those factory money saving features that make a 400hp factory car feel like a turd vs a 400hp classic.

 

Another thing i forgot to ask about, whats the sound difference between manifolds, shortys, and long tubes? I have manifolds and a straight pipe right now and its pretty loud. But "pretty loud" don't cut it. How much louder will my truck be with shorty and longtubes?