Hello,

First I would like to say, awesome forum, I have browsed thru lots of times for various projects, and seem to always find the answer I needed.

I currently have a 2001 Dodge Ram 1500 2WD 5.2L truck. I bought her new with (4) miles and now she has (220,000). It has been a relilable vehicle. I have had (2) oil pumps, new rotors, ball joints, a set of U joints over its lifetime, and it drinks about a quart of oil every 2 or 3 months, so it has been a great truck. The body is prisitne, except the paint which is faded and breaking down. The interior is also in pristine shape for its age, except the dash that fell to pieces (I Put a new dash in). With all that said, I like my truck and do NOT want to get rid of it.

It is my daily driver, and I have a 12 mile each way commute. Now here is the rub, I will be changing jobs soon, and it will go to a 35 mile each way commute. The truck has just over time gotten weaker and weaker, I am not sure if the motor is just worn, transmission worn, but likely a combination of both. I have a very light foot, and have NEVER driven it hard, I may have missed an oil change or two during it life, but that's about the worst. I have been accused of driving like a 90 year old man, just me by my nature I guess. Unfortunatly I do not think it will sustain the 40 minute each way drive for too long, just a gut feeling. It has not been acting up, but I just want to be proactive, and re-power PRIOR to failure.

I am thinking about going to a "U-Pull It" yard and buying a engine and transmission. I will get the same year (they have a couple, I have checked) and size (5.2L). I am thinking about putting the engine on a stand and rebuilding it. I need a daily driver, and not a monster truck, so no need for high performance, custom german hand machined, from ore mined off the lunar surface, brought to earth by russian cosmonauts parts, and smelted in the fires from middle earth. Don't get me wrong, I do want decent parts in the motor, but I am not going to spend $200 to chase an extra 1/2 HP, I am trying to replace a stock motor. I will take the transmission to a shop and let them rebuild it (I have no desire to crack open a tranny) and then have them couple it to the motor. My intentions is to be at a point, where the replacement motor-tranny would be as close to ready to run as possible. All covers and everything mounted.

Ok, with all that being said, and I do apologize about the length of the post (I just wanted to give a good understanding of where I am and where I want to get to) I have (5) questions:

1. Roughly (very roughly) what would a range be to rebuild to stock motor? A local shop (Competition Headers) is $225 +parts to machine heads and seat valves, not sure what the block would cost to be machined though.

2. Should I go ahead and have the tranny shop couple the motor to the tranny?

3. How hard will it be to do an motor-tranny swap? What kind of time frame? (I understand I will have a hoist, and tools etc)

4. If it is more than I want to bite off, what would a fair price to pay for a shop to swap the motor-tranny?

5. Since the stock motor-tranny coming out is running now without any issues other than worn, is it worth it to fill to the brim with oil, put in crate and store in corner for future use? (I forsee if this is not a big deal, I may be tempted in the future to get another same year model with dead motor to have a father son rebuild and re-power project using the motor-tranny I have now)



Thank you in advance,

Rob

 

Before I would start to go rebuild it, I would give it a tune up. Have you ever done plugs and wires? Fixed the pleanum? If it's burning oil your cat is probably clogged. As Wes's as your heads being cracked. What about haveing ever done a timing chain? They get slop in em only after 100000 miles.

I would do plugs wires, timing chain, fix the plenum if not, put a Better set of Odessa heads on, new cat cause it's probably clogged and go from there. Maybe a new water pump because you'll be In there too.

If you don't have to rebuild it, I wouldn't.

 

New plugs and wires about a year ago.

Pleanum has never been touched.

Timing chain is still factory

Cat is stock

Hell it had the factory fan belt on it until about a year back (I never remember changing it, and I damn sure would not have paid someone to) The plastic idler pulley froze and melted and shredded the fan belt.

Like I said, other than just being weak, it is still my daily driver. I do not want to wait until I have a failure and am in a bind, I was thinking about being proactive and going thru a re-power.

 

Don't bother spending anything on the stock heads. Just replace them. They are prone to cracking, at at 220K plus miles, you can bet they are indeed cracked. Odessa, or Clearwater have NEW castings, that have thicker decks, and thus, are less prone to cracking. You can get a pair for around 550-600 off of Ebay.

Definitely address the plenum while the motor is apart. You can just put in a better gasket, but, if you go that route, use shorter bolts. (check out the plenum sticky at the top of this forum.)

A new tune, even a canned tune, will net you a few horses, simply by disposing of the death flash, which you likely have. It also reduces torque management, so, there is some more power there. (one member got about 15hp/10tq JUST from changing from the stock tune, to a Hemifever 87 octane tune.) (about 400 bucks.)

Double roller timing set please.

Harland Sharp 1.7 ratio roller rockers are good for another 10hp or so. They run 3-400 bucks, depending on where you get them.

Shorty headers will give you a bit more bottom end grunt. The torque curve is MUCH better than with the stock manifolds. Even the pacesetter shortys are better than the stockers. (around 200 or so.)

Modify the throttle body? Currently, its 48mm down to the butterflies. Below, it opens up to 50. Any competent machine shop should be able to punch 'em all the way down out to 50. Don't know if that will be cheaper than simply buying one already done.....

Replace the old sensors with new ones from the DEALER. The aftermarket fellers don't always work so well...... (and in some cases, don't work at all.)

Beef the trans a bit some too. Extra clutches/steels, better apply pistons, shift improver kit, etc.

New O2 sensors. Yours are likely pretty tired. (they are recommended to be replace at 60K mile intervals. )

 

Have you done a compression test on it?

 

No, it is running now. No smoking, ticking or knocking. No overheating, or any issues Like that. Like I said, i have a light foot and it has not been driven hard at any point. I had the dealer replace the oil pump at 100k (it just died while driving. Lost all pressure) and when they had the motor apart they told me I would need to do some work at around 200k.

I just thought I could get a b​​​​Iock from a yard and rebuild it to re-power the truck. I was thinking proactively to do it before issues came up. Not after a breakdown.

I am quite happy to just be stock motor. Like I said, I am not chasing horsepower. It would be a waste anyway given my habits.

Just to clarify, when I say it has gotten weaker, it doesn't really affect me, but I can just tell it is a bit slower. I drive it every day and she has been my workhorse for 17 years now.

 

Yeah, but, a wee bit more power would be welcome I should think. My 96 with a 360 was a tad anemic with a load. That's why the replacement truck has the 8.0.

 

If your engine is fine, and it sounds like it is, then just start saving for a crate engine down the road when you need it. No reason to put any new parts on an old one much less r and r a junkyard engine. You could get 300k or more out of these mopars. I've seen trucks and talked to owners with such. Mines at 216k and runs the same as when I got it. Always uses 2 qts between changes. I put on lots of parts too including tchain with no improvement noticed. Just keep her tuned up and oil in it. You're fine and extending the commute is better anyway. I've driven and towed mine across country about 2 dozen times and runs great. These motors aren't fast but they are strong as oxen.

 

When you say crate motor, you're not talking about a parts house motor are you? I was looking at that and had been reading up on those and it seemed to be mixed reviews. I was kind of shying away from a AutoZone/advanced auto/oriellys reman.

 

Jasper has a relatively good rep.....