Considering some Mods for my tired 5.2

Guys (and Gals),

Over the past few years I have been noticing my 2001 Dodge Ram 4x4 has been subtly loosing power. Finally, a couple weeks ago it developed a "tic" in the top end. I pulled the valve cover and found the problem. The left rear lifter is dead. With 145,000 miles on the old girl and over 1/2 towing a trailer or boat, I think it's time to freshen her up and try to regain some of my lost ponies. When I opened up the valve cover, the first thing I noticed and was rather surprised was some baked on sludge on the rockers and guideplates. I could hardly believe it since I am very meticulous when it comes to my routine maintenance. I always have changed the engine oil on regular intervals. When the truck was new I used a 5,000 mile interval and once I turned 75,000, I dropped back to 3,000 mile intervals. 10W-30 Castrol has been used since the first change and I never had any oil related problems. I did have to change the oil pump at about 130,000 after a couple "check gauges" warnings popped up but the oil pressure would come right back up. That being said I only drove a couple miles and had it roll backed to the garage to be fixed. I don't understand why the baked on oil was present but it will definately be cleaned well during this teardown. Anyways, back to the problem at hand. Instead of just fixing the lifter problem, I am seriously considering a few mods while I have the top end tore down. Below is a list of planned mods. I would just like to get a few feedbacks from some fellow MOPAR maniacs on what I am planning on doing.

Hughes FI Airgap Kit
Big Gulp TB
Hyd Roller Lifters
Timing Chain Set w/ 3 Keyways
Chain Tensioner
Accel Distributer Cap
Accel Distributer Rotor
SCT Tuner

Of course, when I remove the intake, I will have to clean up any baked on residue that may be down that far. I hope it was just on the rockers and didn't get down to the heads. I also plan on pulling the heads and having them disassembled, cleaned and ground. Of course, new valves, guides, seals and springs while I'm there. I know you guys are going to say if you're going to do the heads you may as well go with a cam, clear the pushrods and valve lift while your prepping the heads and slap on a nice set of headers. Believe me guys, if I can convince the powers that be (my wife) I would put a set of Hughes heads and headers on her, a mild cam and be done with it. I will probably wish I would have done it in 6 months as we all do when we are on a budget. With the above mods, the necessary gaskets, fluids and help of a good friend who happens to be a retired MOPAR mechanic, I am probably looking at close to $2000. My goal is to regain the HP the 5.2 had when she left the factory...or maybe just a little more so pulling my lawn equipment trailer and boat isn't such a strain on the truck and granny doesn't blow the horn and flip me off going up a hill. I just want to enjoy driving my truck again and getting the performance out of it that it is capable of producing.
So guys, lets hear your 2 cents on the mods, good or bad or heading in the right direction. I would like your opinions.

P.S. Sorry to be so long winded but knowing some history always helped me to make decisions or add some weight to them. Hope the info helps jog some memories or make suggestions so others will find the information useful.

I don't know how far you are into the teardown yet, but if it were my truck I would do a compression check first to determine if your rings or valve guides are leaking. Blowby could be causing you "sludge" issue.
If the compression is well within specs, you could add these mods. But I'm believing based on your oil pump issues and the amount of sludge you found, that this motor is in need of more attention.
I would not waste my money on Hughes heads for a motor with such mileage and history before redoing the bottom end. The increased compression your massaged heads adds to a set of worn out rings will decrease your power considerably and you'll use more oil. My experience is that is gradual but when the blue smoke comes rolling out you're done.
Bad lifter(s) are another sign of the same issues.
If if were my motor, based on what you've written, I would fix the obvious issues, button it back up, toss the headers on for looks, and start buying the pieces for a total rebuild. Put the Hughes heads on a bottom end capable of wringing every ft/lb of torque and every last horsepower makeable.
And yes I have tried this (and failed ) before....But only once


I think I will go out and hug my trruck tomorrow. At 140 k no oil pump issues, no bad lifters...and I use Castrol 10-30 dead dinosaur.

Okiespaniel, Very Wise man...

Mopar1973Man said:

Okiespaniel, Very Wise man...

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Thank you sir!

I'd agree no use puttin all that on an engine with issue as you said. It would waste money and you'd not see the power gains you hope. Save it and buy a rebuild kit from PAW. Myself I'd pull the engine, tear it down check bore and deck to see if it needed machine work then order the rebuild kit, this so you dont order rings and find out on tear down that you need to bore it .30 to get rid of a scratch in cylinder wall. But I have a second car to drive while doing all this =) Now if I just had the money to do it I'd be in heaven LOL

X2 on what they said but also I don't know how effective a 3 key way timing chain would be on this build because unless you go straight up I think it would flub up the cam position sensor and computer.

Okiespaniel said:

I don't know how far you are into the teardown yet, but if it were my truck I would do a compression check first to determine if your rings or valve guides are leaking. Blowby could be causing you "sludge" issue.
If the compression is well within specs, you could add these mods. But I'm believing based on your oil pump issues and the amount of sludge you found, that this motor is in need of more attention.
I would not waste my money on Hughes heads for a motor with such mileage and history before redoing the bottom end. The increased compression your massaged heads adds to a set of worn out rings will decrease your power considerably and you'll use more oil. My experience is that is gradual but when the blue smoke comes rolling out you're done.
Bad lifter(s) are another sign of the same issues.
If if were my motor, based on what you've written, I would fix the obvious issues, button it back up, toss the headers on for looks, and start buying the pieces for a total rebuild. Put the Hughes heads on a bottom end capable of wringing every ft/lb of torque and every last horsepower makeable.
And yes I have tried this (and failed ) before....But only once


I think I will go out and hug my trruck tomorrow. At 140 k no oil pump issues, no bad lifters...and I use Castrol 10-30 dead dinosaur.

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Thanks Okie, I'm not into the teardown yet so checking the compression will be done after supper tonight. If all cylinders check out with good numbers and things are clean in the bottom end should I assume the bottom end is OK.
Like I said in my original post, I would rather not pull the engine if it's not necessary. I have never notice any "blue smoke" that's usually a sign of rings or valve problems. I think if I have to do a rebuild I may have to back off some of the mods and get the motor back up and running. After that who knows, it may have to stay in someone else's driveway. Hopefully it won't come to that, I'm the original owner and she's been a good truck for 11 years now. It would be hard to replace her.

lildevil1966 said:

Thanks Okie, I'm not into the teardown yet so checking the compression will be done after supper tonight. If all cylinders check out with good numbers and things are clean in the bottom end should I assume the bottom end is OK.
Like I said in my original post, I would rather not pull the engine if it's not necessary. I have never notice any "blue smoke" that's usually a sign of rings or valve problems. I think if I have to do a rebuild I may have to back off some of the mods and get the motor back up and running. After that who knows, it may have to stay in someone else's driveway. Hopefully it won't come to that, I'm the original owner and she's been a good truck for 11 years now. It would be hard to replace her.

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Gettting the motor back up and running should be your priority for now. The motor has too many miles on it for modding.
You won't notice any smoke at this time because you haven't increased your compression significantly...in othe words all your wear surfaces are wearing evenly. Mods on old motors can be quite stressful...the same analogy can be used on all the warnings applied to a bottle of Cialis.

Okie, I did the compression check and things looked good. All pressures were within limits and also within 5% of each other. #1 158 #2 153 #3 157 #4 151 #5 151
#6 152 #7 151 #8 153. I thought all looked pretty good. I think I will tear it down and proceed with changing the lifters and see what the lower end looks like. Depending on the condition of the cylinder walls will determine what I do when putting it back together. I understand the mods will produce more compression on the pistons and rings and other intregal parts but I will have to see what they look like when I get there. I know I have some cleaning to do and will possibly have the heads machines and valves ground/replaced since I am in that far already. In your opinion and any others who may chime in, if everything looks good would you take a chance with the mods or go ahead and pull the whole engine and rework the bottom end before moding. I would still like to get rid of the plenum since its a thorn in the side anyways. With a limited budget, I don't want to create more problems that will dig deeper into the pocket than I want to go right now. Thanks for the help.

I still wouldn't spend my money on new heads...clean up your old ones and hope for the best.
At this point it's pretty much your call...I find that when people ask for suggestions on the 'ol internet, they pretty much have made up thier mind and are hoping for justification. Somtimes they get it, and sometimes they don't.
Either way, they pretty much do what they had in mind to begin with and the reason I know this is because I have done it too. It's probably why you'll not see me ask opinions/suggestions about something, I'll simply do it and record the results.
BTW, I'm not trying to be mean or nasty, it's simply the way I've observed things.
And I'll hope that you'll repair your truck and in a few weeks or months from now reopen your thread and report what you've observed. That way others in your situation can read firsthand about a real world application. No one'll point fingers or laugh.

Okie, Thanks again for the reply. I went ahead and ordered the parts today to fix the lifters and forget the mod for the time being. I will have the heads reworked since I'm in there and take care of the plenum gasket on the way out. Taking your advice, without doing the bottom end I may cause more problems than it's worth at this time. A new timing chain is in order along with t-stat, distributor, and button. A few other maintenance items will be changed that are OEM while I'm there. Beleive it or not, on the way to the shop the damn lifter quite ticking. I was almost tempted to turn around and go back home. Since I already had the funds set aside I figure to go ahead with the repair since it's likey to return. I'll post the results early next week but should be nothing special. Again, thanks for the advice and unlike some, I usually listen to good advice since in the past I didn't and I paid for it as well. Now...go hug your truck...lol

Could it by any chance be an exhaust leak? I've had them before sound exactly like a lifter.

MikesRammin said:

Could it by any chance be an exhaust leak? I've had them before sound exactly like a lifter.

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Pulled the valve covers and found the rocker assy on the drivers side rear loose. Removed the rocker arm and push rods and the exhaust lifter was stuck. Hopefully a new set will have her purring again.

Mopar1973Man said:

Okiespaniel, Very Wise man...

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x2.

Well, finally got the ole truck back up and running. Job went very well and wasn't to bad on a rookie. The only hold up was having the heads reworked and my shop dragged their feet a bit but having a Dakota as a backup was a lifesaver. Tore everything down in just under 3 hours and took all the parts to work for a steam bath and bead blast. Looked brand new when I got through. After I got the heads back it took about 2 1/2 hours to get everything back together. Turned the engine over maybe 3 times and she roared back to life and no lifter noise. I guess I will drive her a couple hundred miles and change the oil and add some Slick 50 to the replacement oil. She does seem alittle more peppy but I haven't stepped on it hard yet. We'll see in a week or two how she does with a trailer behind her. Thanks for the advice and help making the decision on the mods. Right now I think stock is OK.

Glad to hear it. I have done mods on motors with high mileage before with mixed results. I am at the same spot with my truck, I pulled the intake, took out the center section, cut down the runners, and took some out of the injector port for a straight shot. It had a K&N cai on it already and I just did a MSD 5 and Blaster 2 coil last night. These all helped lower end but truth be told if I didn't already have all the parts I would have been very disappointed in results due to lack of a tuner.
You put too much strain on the lower end with 100K+ miles on it and even if your rings looked good before the extra pressure would ruin them alot faster. besides you did most of the hard work already, that far down it is nothin to finish pullin block and doin rings and bearings! A few rules to keep in mind but you ever do post it up here lots of people including me be glad to give you advice!