Turbo for my 5.9L 360
Turbo charging an engine is not difficult...the preparation to make an engine ready for the turbochargers are lengthy and costly. buying internals to keep the engine together, plumbing oil lines, having a larger oil capacity with a cooler, an extensive cooling system redesign, having turbo manifolds designed and fabricated, making an intake manifold that will work, or finding one, making sure the transmission can deal with it, making sure you dont toast the rear end with all the power....its a never ending battle and will nickel and dime you all the way to the bread line if you follow through with it. You can easily have 8 grand in custom pipework, (don't forget you'd want a front mount intercooler for the lowest IAT's)all the hardware, tuning, fuel system stuff, not to mention it would be a really good idea to get a wideband AFR gauge among boost and fuel pressure.
Rookie
Joined: Apr 2017
Posts: 63
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You might be able to get away with keeping the stock bottom end. The bottom ends on the 5.9 are actually pretty good (550hp from other research). Ive been looking into doing this myself, and you might be able to do the piping yourself as long as you are a decent welder and fabricator. the manifolds are main problem. It might be possible to do a long tube header design with the turbo (or turbos) being placed in the rear quarter of the truck. If I was to do it, i would have them under the bed and run the piping back up to the front. You could get away with not running an intercooler, but if there is this much work already being done, you might as well spend the extra dough on it.
Administrator
Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 87,465
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From: Clayton MI
Remote mount turbos would certainly be the easiest...... but, all the plumbing is going to exaggerate any turbo lag.....
And don't forget that the stock PCM doesn't have the slightest clue about boost..... so, you need to address that as well.
And don't forget that the stock PCM doesn't have the slightest clue about boost..... so, you need to address that as well.
Grand Champion
Joined: Feb 2015
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Professional
Joined: Jan 2017
Posts: 199
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From: vancouver, wa
you can turbo anything dirt cheap with stock internals using ebay parts, thats been proven time and again on youtube and magazines. those engines were not given any thought as to longevity or reliability, they were just playing around... even then to do so you need buttloads of fab skills, surrounded by people with tons of knowledge, a good standalone fuel enrichment system, fuel delivery system and wastegate/blowoff valve. access to a dyno and knowledge of how to tweak fuel tables/spark curves is a huge plus. i have yet to see anyone with a detailed write up and parts list for a 5.9 magnum or any other gas powered engine that came in a ram. everyone will give the same advise for a quality build... good rods, good pistons, coatings really help with the pistons and valves, head studs, oring the heads, buy a quality turbo, good piping, cooling system upgrades... do it cheap about $3k if you really know your stuff... do it right about $15k if you do your research and take your time... $50k throwing money at it with no research at all and eventually give up and part it out or sell it as a basket case for $10k and get $5k as the best offer.