Hi, I need some information, my 95 Ram 1500 4x4 cam from the factory with the 5.9L Magnum 360, I am in the process of restoring the truck from the ground up, I ripped the motor apart as I am going to be rebuilding it to a 408 Stroker, upon examining all the parts, I used a vernier to find out what the lift is on the cam and I get 432/432 which is the 5.2L cam, as I’m aware the factory 5.9L cam for 94-97 is 385/401 lift, I had a guy try to argue with me telling me that it never came from the factory with that cam, I am the second owner and the first owner never modified the engine, how common is it for the factory to do something like this

 

I would say it's impossibly rare. The 5.2 cam was mentioned years ago to gain low end torque and some used it as a key component in a performance build on a 5.9. Something doesn't add up if what you say is true.

 

I know that my 01 Ram 2500 has the 5.9L as well and the cam in that is the factory 410/417 lift cam and doesn’t have the power or performance that my 95 5.9L did. I know if the factory needed a specific part and it was compatible they would use that so they could finish, whether or not they still do that I don’t know, however I do know that the engine had the 5.2L cam as the measurements point to it as the 5.2L cam has a more aggressive profile

 

I have head they had different cams but if you look for a replacement stock cam they have one for both. I tore apart two motors 95 5.2 and a 2000 5.9 and the cams look identical. I don't have mike so i couldn't measure the lobes. Still never seen proof they used two different cams. If you are building a 408 why put in a stock cam anyway? Still will need to be tuned.

 

I pulled the cam out that came with the engine, I am going with a new cam from Hughes Engines that is 533/539 and Tuner is not required, will help but is not required, however I will be getting either the PCM tuned or converted to OBD2

 

Not required????? Not sure how that is possible. That is a MAJOR change from stock, and along with the displacement increase, I would expect a custom tune to be an absolute requirement..... Upgrading to OBDII is definitely a good plan, opens up a lot of possibilities for you. Go with a 96 or 97 PCM/Wiring harness. No Egr to worry about, and the gauges in the dash still work with the OBDII harness.

 

the cam itself doesn’t require a tune, however because I am changing the bore and stroke I will be having it tuned, already have the engine/tranny wiring harness and dash wiring harness from a 97 truck, however will need to get the harness that goes to rear as well, what I can do is convert the 95 engine/tranny harness to OBD2 with connector. I know the 94-97 trucks have the same dash, 96-97 have the OBD2 connector that is part of the dash harness, I have multiple options to choose