I recently bought a 1996 dodge 1500 4x4 for 800 bucks. Its an old truck so the paint is terrible lol. But its pretty straight otherwise. only rust is the rocker panels. Kid thought he had warped a head. But all the signs point to the belly pan gasket on the kegger. Bad idle, smokes, loss of power. I havent cleaned the engine up yet to verify this. But I am thinking about rebuilding the 360. Id like a lil bump in torque and ponies. I was thinking stock rebuild, but with an rv cam and EQ magnum heads.. Keeping the kegger. 1.6 roller rockers, double roller timing set, high volume oil pump. Maybe upgrade the ignition? I know the kegger seems to be unliked by most. But Im not building something that will tow a ten story building,. Just a pontoon boat. And I dont really want to drop several hundred on an intake if mine will do the job I need it to do. Ill need a tuner aswell I assume. Hemifever seems to be a favorite here.

 

Pretty much spot on there. Stock rocker ratio is 1.6, but, since you are thinking about a cam in any event, sticking with stock isn't a bad idea. Don't forget the exhaust either. The mods you have in mind will help the engine get more air in, but, in order for that to do you any good, need to be able to get it out as well.

 

ah yeah, I kinda forgot exhaust. Think I can get by without headers? I love a good sounding exhaust, but not in the cab haha.

 

Stock manifolds will rob you of power. Also, the downpipes/cat is the biggest restriction in the exhaust. (right where the pipes hit the cat.....)

 

ok, I knew that I was just hoping I was wrong haha thanks for the help.

 

My suggestion after installing much of what you are looking at for a rebuild would be to keep it close to stock. Adding bolt-ons wont add much power. I suggest 1.7 roller rockers on stock cam, no tuner neccessary, if needed get stock replacement heads, not the EQ moster magnums, stay with stock throttle body, get a catback exhaust. Stick with the Kegger but do the mods and fix the plennum. Aftermarket ignition won't make any difference, Shorty Headers are a pain as they make changing those rear spark plugs difficult, the stock air cleaner works great.

By far the biggest help in making more power was 4.10 gears, it put the motor at 2200 rpm while cruising hwy speed which is right where the motor begins to make good power. Also I wish I would have put a 2200 stall torque converter in when it went out, instead I went with a low stall. I think the high stall TC would also be a big help in putting engine rpms in the power zone. The higher stall will produce more heat so a trans temp gauge should be installed along with it.

EDIT: Gears don't "make more power" they put the motor rpms higher in the power curve where it produces more power.

 

The stock heads have a history of cracking. If you have the $ EQ heads(stock replacement) would be a better choice. The "monster" heads have 2.02 intake valves installed.