Hi Dodge community,
This is my intro along with a question.. This is my second dodge - hated my dakota - but like this truck alot
so far.. I think I am turning over to mopar..

Needed a tow vehical for my (2) racecars, dragracing is my hobby
mainly with GM efi vehicals- but am currently building a 500ci 14:1 (hence the need for tow vehical) for my 82 Camaro based on a 454, hoping for around 800hp.



Anyway looking for good boltons for 5.9 performance to help the pulling power..
Obviously catback - who has best sounding as for the general opinion??
And which one ie: american thunder, dual sport, ect. There is a custom made currently - sounds ok, looks like a flowmaster muffler.
But I would rather have a single 3" or side exit I think..

March under drives maybe?
Anyone have good results with?
I burn my own proms for my gm's, so I have trouble trusting programmers and such.. any of them worth using?

Also trying to be budget minded, as have these (2) cars and getting married in may... help!

Cam is not out of question, but not ready yet as I just got it - don't feel like tearing into it already.

 

towing your gonna want low end tq... a good dual setup with dual 2.25 pipes or a single 3" piipes will do you good.. headers are a great way to help along with the exhaust... K&N CAI and a TB and you will have opened up the sever bottle neck design that the stock intake and exhaust provides..im sure youd be happy with these mods.. along with a hypertech power program III (or equivalent programer or mopar pcm) will also help ya out

as for sound flowmaster , magnaflow, gibson all make awesome muffs... it just depends on the $$$ and pretty much what brand ya like...all have different tones .. i love my flow 40 series.. but thinkin about changing it sometime just for a different sound...

one thing to watch out for is the intake plenum or kegger pan gasket..they tend to blow really easliy cuaing really crapy MPG's and performance suffers... you can check out the sticky at the top for other ideas

cams for these are generally wicked expensive b/c normally they are custom grinds... a set of 1.7 RR's would be a cheaper easier route and help out the vavle train friction big time freein up some good HP's and TQ;s

the magnums are good TQ monsters... just alittle help with some mods and youll get waht your lookin for.. also check for death flash on your truck.. you can search that term too... its a flash program that DC tried to put on to help erradicate the ping problem thats cuased by the leaky plenum.. that will ruin your performance as well but nothing a programer cant fix!@

id stay away from underdrives IMO, unless your draggin the truck or really REALLY building up the motor, they wouldnt help ya out some... alot of opinions say they arent worth the money on these trucks

https://dodgeforum.com/m_334375/tm.htm this is the link for that stick i was tlakin about...some good reading inthere and good info on what to get what not to get and what to look for!!!!
goodluck with your dragin!!!

hope this helps and welcome to DF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! hope ya stick around!

 

Thanks alot shott8283,
Good info there - pretty much exactly what I was looking for.
Thanks for the sticky as well, Great info there!

I will probably get a CAI,and Flowmaster single 3"
soon..
Just bought (2) factory cd players from ebay by accident, Got out bid on one
so I bid on another.. well the first one I got out bid on - somehow
there bid was retracted and I won both.. Oh well, just resale it or something.

 

lol i do that sometimes too... second chance offers and i forget about then i got like 10 t-shirts in the mail lol

yea man that should start you out right...get you sitting where ya wanna be for towing... eventually you could think about regearing the rear 9.25 and tranny work to help that tranny not blow up on ya lol... not to scare ya but the 46RE's arnt the best tranny to use for towing..i dont tow a damn thing and i had to buy a new one a 95 thousand miles ... but then again some other guys ran the trannys 200,000 miles with towing all the time and havnt had a problem.. its a hit and miss kinda deal.. just keep an eye on the tranny..keep it well seerviced!

 

I have heard stories of the 46RE's as well as the rears, and funny I drove past my friends garage the other day and see a 2000 dodge with axles out and cover off.
And seeing my luck with transmissions latley on my car - think I have found the threshold for the gm700r4 - people always said how bad they were and can't even hold a 12 second car, my car has been running high 10s for 3 years on the same trans, getting over confident with it. - decided to spray it last season with a 125 shot to go 10.0-10.1 and broke (2) I would not really have cared if it went 9.99..
But it also still has factory 7.5 rear gear - which would have to be a world record, the fastest f-body using the smallest weakest rear gm ever made. lol.
Those usually break behing 250 hp cars, knowing its gonna break, figured I would use it til then before going to a 12 bolt... wells its been going strong as well.
Nobody on F-Body forums can believe it, or people at track... Hope I have the same luck with the dodge..

 

I have a Fastman 52MM TB unit on my 98 5.9 along with a new Magnaflow Cat AND a 3" single exhaust with Flowmaster. I absolutely friggin' love it! I've also acquired a pair of Gibson Headers that I'm going to install in the coming weeks once I get the correct gaskets and bolts that I want. OEM is NOT an option!!!

The TB mod alone, in addition to giving a noticable increase in power and a throaty(er) sound, increased my MPG by about 2.5 over the stock one. I changed it out in a Walmart parking lot in Fallon NV last week then drove home to Ely. 240+ mile trip one way and I was doing my best to see what it would do on the way home. Definately made a difference.

 

Good info,
I think you have me sold on the T/B, and after seeing they are only $250, Think I am going to spring for one.. Also I have been hearing a rattling when back window is open, maybe the cat...
Alos think soon I will change the lifter valley shield, don't hear any pinging, or noticed any oil consumpion, but figure I will fix it first.. truck has 68,000

 

I would hold off on the "Lifter Valley Shield", if you are referring to the Intake Plenum Pan at the bottom of the Intake Manifold. If it isn't leaking and isn't busted, don't mess with it.

The reason I say this is that more than likely you are going to start noticing in the coming thousands of miles, an engine miss that you can't track down. Plugs, wires, etc., won't help. It will probably set a code on a certain cylinder and when you reset it, it will come back again sometime down the road.

The Magnum 5.9L engines are known for cracking the cylinder heads between the intake and exhaust valves. Repair is not recommended and replacing them with R/T series heads from Mopar is usually the easiest, best, and gives you more power over stock.

Just wait until you have to do that. Then, you can play with the intake plenum pan because you are going to have the intake off the engine anyway. 2 birds with one stone. Sort of makes a little more sense that way. Also, that would be a good time to replace the timing chain as well. Its relatively easy to do and doesn't require the use of any pullers like the GM engines do.

Just my recommendation. Then again, I never follow my own advice! No fun that way.

 

Whatever you want to call it, plenum pan, lifter valley shield,stupid 2 piece manifold....LOL
Well I was hoping to be a little more optimistic far as the heads go, I figure intakes are
easy enough to pull, and as much as I hear about problems here I figured I would
fix it before it goes bad anyway..
I wonder if that was alot of the cat problems that these are so notorious for, oil getting to
the cat is a sure way to burn it out.
Thanks for the advice, I think I am going to hollow cats soon, or maybe stay tree friendly and
install the magnaflows, along with throttlebody as starters..

Which magnaflows does everybody use? the universal 2.25"?
Actually I have not looked yet, I assume there is dual cats..

Thanks for help guys.

 

if you use a single exhaust, have the muffler man increase the pipe size behind the cat to 3". with a good muffler, (i have a magnaflow), 3" tailpipe, great flow. ed. shorty headers are also an improvement. i tow an 8000+ camper and all these mods helped. might try the tb in the future.