Hey guys,
I have been reading here for a while but just signed up. Currently I have an 04 Durango SLT and an 06 Caravan SXT (company car). Last night I picked up a 97 Ram Sport as a truck to pick up motors, trannies, haul cars with, etc.

This truck just broke 100k miles and rust free which is a key element. Originally it is from the south owned by the current owners brother. It needs a motor (smokes) and a fuel pump amoung other minor things.

I want to build up the motor a bit. What are some good options? I have seen the M1 intakes but those look like they are really only good for gains in the higher rpm's where I wont typically be running the motor. I really want to make power from 1500 - 3500.

My thoughts were to go .030 over on the lower end. I would like to do some head work if it is worthwhile. Does anyone sell ported heads? Or good aftermarket heads for the 360? Then I would like to step up the intake and possibly go with a slightly larger throttle body. A nice finishing touch would be an upgrade to the ECM, who programs them or sells the equipment to allow me to alter it?

Thanks for all your help in advance!

 

welcome to DF!

you most likely have a leaky plenum gasket which would cause smoking... the blocks are pretty tough and will go a couple of hundred k w/o needing a rebuild if they are taken care of. 2 things i'd work on 1st before a rebuild would be the plenum gasket, see if it's leaking, then swap the timing chain, the stockers are junk. also the stock heads are junk. they crack between the valves on the end cylinders.

for heads, there are a good heavy duty set found here
http://www.hughesengines.com/
or at www.krcperformance.com

the HD's are supposed to out flow the R/T's and are cheeper when using stock valves & springs. I would recommned doing a head swap to the HD's, 1.7 crower roller rockers, K&N intake kit with a 6x9 filter (not the stock one that comes with the kit), 50/52mm throttle body (50 for a 318, 52 for 360), gibson headers, single 3" flowmaster kit and last but not least, while you have the intake off, cut the runners down 1", open up the injector bores and clean up the throttle body bores. this will give you excatly what your after. Then, when $ permits... get a B&G flash done on your pcm to match your setup.

the intake mods worked well on my 360 with the above setup, pulled really strong up to 5k.

 

Do you have, or know of any photos showing the difference in the runners that have not been cut and have been cut 1"?

When you performed this mod did you do it yourself using a die grinder? Or did you have it done?

Thanks!

 

I did it myself using a thick mandrel and small cut-off wheels for a dremel on a roto-zip. once you get the feel for how the cut-off wheel is cutting the aluminum, and know what not to do to break the wheel, it's a snap to mod it yourself. here's some pics of mine when I did it...




[IMG]local://upfiles/1508/DB9CA341726B4EA5876AFEA2F9B9FE81.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/1508/96590AFF265941FFAB736F43A9CDB739.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/1508/B2930AEF71064F80AE68FB8D95C09AEC.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/1508/4EA913AA6BD141EEB57A83906EFA7F8D.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/1508/D5FFA57D5E3A4548AFE4C1F51BBE5AF6.jpg[/IMG]

 

I am going to be doing my intake gasket tonight. Would you recommend cutting the runners down on a stock motor with no other mods? Or should I wait until I am doing heads, throttle body, etc?

 

I would... it'll make your motor breath better and shift the bottle neck to another spot in the motor (heads TB, air intake etc).