I am building a 5.9 magnum 1500 truck for daily use but I want the performance of a modern truck. I am putting a boss level 1 transmission in it and already have a 4x4 posilock vacuum bypass. I am wanting to add horse power. I want to build this to drive daily indefinitely. I am considering heads, cam, intake, headers, exhaust, and computer tuning. I am wondering what kind of power increase I can see and what is the most economical. I am scared if touching the timming chain. I am just wondering if I should get a custom built motor for it? Scared of going carbonated because of the computer. Just looking for advice. I am hard working blue color guy just looking for some advice.

 

Going carbed would be a major exercise, simply because of how the gauges work. They REQUIRE the computer.

Sticking with the fuel injection is actually going to be easier.....

So, some eq monster magnum heads, a cam that likes 1000-5000 RPM range, long tube headers, high flow cats, full dual exhaust, Fix the intake plenum, and a custom tune to bring it all together. 350-400 horsepower is easily doable.

 

I'd move up 4 years and get a replacement truck with next generation engine, hemi. Right out of the box you're very close to what is state of the art in 2019, along with a 5 speed automatic that is more durable than the 46re. I bought a 2004 hemi truck new with 4 miles on it, drove it as a daily for 11 years and about 150k miles - hemi was still awesome when I sold it. The 5.9 was a platform from the 70s, and was never a hi output engine from the factory. You can stroke and tweak the 5.9, but then you're still dealing with the computer complications, and it'll be all customized giving you headaches when things aren't right and no one wants to work on it for you.

The hemi based truck will deliver the performance, durability, parts availability, and daily driver capability you desire. Plus the dash top won't be full of cracks! So why did I go backwards, and get a 5.9 based 3/4 ton? Two young boys driving age and another one less than a year behind them. The hemi truck ceased to be a good "family" vehicle, way to easy to get that truck sideways on the dry street.

I put about 600 miles on a 2019 5.7 1/2 ton loaded truck last week. The rental company ran out of cars and upgraded me. The performance was awesome and it got almost 20 mpg on the highway. But it wasn't that much different than my 2004 when I sold it, both mileage (on flat) and performance.

Good luck !

 

am in the last stages of efi to carb in my 1994 5.2 , found all gages work except tach, left computer in

 

In case anybody that was following this thread is interested, I started a new one with a more appropriate title. The new thread has some updates on what came of the 46rh I bought and how I managed to get it shifting via the PCM while still using a mechanical speedometer.

https://dodgeforum.com/forum/2nd-gen...ml#post3554070