Help on engine swap v10 to 5.9 12 valve

I bought a 2000 ram 2500 v10, I'm planning on doing an engine swap from either a 96 or 97 5.9. What would be better to buy a refurbished engine, or rebuild it myself? Also what should I replace If I rebuild it myself?

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You already have a 2014 Cummins, why not just build the crap out of the V10. It might not make as much torque, but it will make more horsepower and still be able to haul just about anything.

And you can make it sound real nice. I've heard some exhaust setups on 2nd gens that make the V10s sound really nice, almost like the viper engine.

If you do plan on swapping anyway, good luck finding a 5.9 decently priced at all. Everyone thinks they are sitting on gold because 'diesel'. Its not uncommon at all for the diesel tax on these trucks to be a beaten up pile of garbage asking for more than 10 times what its really worth. We're talking people asking 10K for a truck barely worth 900 because of how much abuse its taken.

I agree with Dudeman2009 build the V10, the cost and hours to do the build will be HUGE (Trump talk) and the noise from that 12 valve will run you out of the cab.

I'm not sure how much aftermarket support there is for the V10. That being said, the suckers kicked out 450 lb/ft torque in stock configuration. That's far from laughable. SCT tunes do wonders on the V8's even with stock induction. If you could find someone who writes tunes for the V10, it'd be awe...some.

Yeret said:

I'm not sure how much aftermarket support there is for the V10. That being said, the suckers kicked out 450 lb/ft torque in stock configuration. That's far from laughable. SCT tunes do wonders on the V8's even with stock induction. If you could find someone who writes tunes for the V10, it'd be awe...some.

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cough Ryan cough. FRP has done some damn good work with the v10s

Oh. I didn't know Ryan tuned the V10's...

Yeah, if you really want to wake up that V10, give Ryan a jingle. I'm not sure what kind of bolt-ons are available for the V10 (I know the intake manifold is a totally different design). If there's anything you can do induction wise, that stuff + a tune from Ryan should handily see you north of 500 lb/ft torque. And that's a lot...

Yeret said:

Oh. I didn't know Ryan tuned the V10's...

Yeah, if you really want to wake up that V10, give Ryan a jingle. I'm not sure what kind of bolt-ons are available for the V10 (I know the intake manifold is a totally different design). If there's anything you can do induction wise, that stuff + a tune from Ryan should handily see you north of 500 lb/ft torque. And that's a lot...

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Yeah, seeing as the 12v's were around 750-800ftlbs and the V8s were 300-340ftlbs. Take the money and spend it on the V10 you already have (who cares if parts are harder to find, you only need to find them once). I've seen a Dodge v10 in a 99 that made 620ish ftlbs and almost 500HP on the dyno a couple years ago at Baker. I don't know what he did to it, but he spent about 12K total on the whole truck.

Theres a 2003 dodge 2500 in New Braunfels tx no title with a lien, you could get the motor and parts from for $2000. runs and drives, ran the car fax on it.

Lujan3591 said:

I bought a 2000 ram 2500 v10, I'm planning on doing an engine swap from either a 96 or 97 5.9. What would be better to buy a refurbished engine, or rebuild it myself? Also what should I replace If I rebuild it myself?

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1996 & 1997 12v's are the same. There are no decernable differences betweent the two.

dudeman2009 said:

but it will make more horsepower....

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This is just laughable.

jlbayes said:

1996 & 1997 12v's are the same. There are no decernable differences betweent the two.



This is just laughable.

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Actually its not. The Cummins maxed out stock in 2001 at 245hp, in the year range he's looking at, its more like 180HP, the 99 V10 stock makes 310HP.

The 99 V10 makes 450ftlbs of torque, while the 96/97 Cummins makes 420-44ftlbs of torque, its not until halfway through 98 when they switched to the 24 valve that they hit 460ftlbs of torque.

At 505ft lbs for the 24v HO trucks with a plateau torque graph. Which is still higher than the v10 at a lower rpm range. The 180hp/215hp 12v also had the peak torque much lower than the v10. No need to spin its guts out to make it work. What is comical is the suggestion or notion the v10 will respond to modification as the the 12v will. 10min with a screwdriver, 8mm allen wrench and a 10mm combo wrench the 12v will lay waste to the v10. And promptly the transmission or clutch behind it.

The V10 will still start easier in winter.

And I'm not familiar with diesel modding but I'm guessing you're talking about fiddling with the turbo? Sure, you can crank up the boost and generate a bunch more power. I'm not sure how much boost the factory turbo will handle but I got a hunch that the clutch and tranny ain't the only thing you're gonna lay waste to...

Let's also consider that the V10 has over 2 liters more displacement. The diesel, because of it's turbo, has a comparable EFFECTIVE displacement and since turbos can very easily be dialed up to generate more boost (at the expense of reliability), it takes very little to generate an effective displacement that surpasses the V10.

HOWEVER, let's slap a turbo onto the V10. The gasser with mild boost will easily run the diesel with moderate boost due to the fact that the gasser has a significantly higher base displacement.

There's no replacement for displacement.

jlbayes said:

At 505ft lbs for the 24v HO trucks with a plateau torque graph. Which is still higher than the v10 at a lower rpm range. The 180hp/215hp 12v also had the peak torque much lower than the v10. No need to spin its guts out to make it work. What is comical is the suggestion or notion the v10 will respond to modification as the the 12v will. 10min with a screwdriver, 8mm allen wrench and a 10mm combo wrench the 12v will lay waste to the v10. And promptly the transmission or clutch behind it.

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Sure, you can tweak the fuel system to dump more fuel into the engine, but thats a nono in an emissions state. You can modify the boost too, but you can also add boost to a v10. Not to mention the inherent risks with someone who knows very little about diesel tweaking a diesel in such a way. What is the point of modifying the engine anyway if its going to destroy the transmission shortly thereafter? You can safely mod the V10 and the Cummins while still keeping the transmission intact with minimal modifications. He doesn't need to move mountains, moderate modification to the V10 will make all the power and torque he needs. Its like buying a Kenworth when all you do is pull a 30ft trailer.

No one suggested the V10 would react to modification anything like the Cummins would.

As far as the torque curve, its hardly worth mentioning the characteristic torque curve of a diesel engine. Thats a given that torque is available much earlier in the rpm range, but thats not very important when the V10 is capable of reaching that at a different rpm. What does it matter if you have to rev the V10 to say 3000rpm to match the torque of the Cummins at 1500rpm? When the V10 is designed to rev to that speed and far beyond.

The point is, he already has a Cummins, why does he need another diesel, if he needs power, hes already got it in his 2014 which makes more power than these old tired 12Vs. What we are all trying to tell him, its going to be a ton more rewarding not to mention easier to have a V10 to drive around. No one is arguing that the V10 is a better or more powerful engine, just that stock it makes a bit more power and is easier for a beginner to modify and fix.

You are very incorrect about the v10 being easier to modify or fix. Keep on with gas fumes. And the torque curve is very important to either situation. Saying it is not is an extremely ignorant opinion. Modifying the v10 would present the same issues in an emissions state as the 12v. Thank you for the morning laugh.

jlbayes said:

You are very incorrect about the v10 being easier to modify or fix. Keep on with gas fumes. And the torque curve is very important to either situation. Saying it is not is an extremely ignorant opinion. Modifying the v10 would present the same issues in an emissions state as the 12v. Thank you for the morning laugh.

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We can agree to disagree, but having worked as a tech in both heavy diesel and automotive, the most common problems to arise are easier to fix on a gasser, V10 or I6 not to mention cheaper. An easy example is fuel systems, I don't need to explain further on that.

The curve is important, but both have a decent curve, the CTD just starts earlier in the RPM range. I never said the curve wasn't important, I just said that when you reach the desired number in the curve isn't, in this specific application.

As far as emissions. You can properly tune the V10 for less than $900 and still meet emissions, even finding a reputable tuner for the CTD plus the hardware required to interact not just with the Chrysler PCM but also the Cummins Bus for less than that is going to be a challenge. 4 Years ago a buddy of my who was still in school got his 24V tuned, cost him $1400, and its a damn good tune, smokes just about anything you put next to it after all the other engine mods he did.

Once again, keep huffing that diesel and we can agree to disagree.

You can custom tune the v10 for 600 or less on a dyno

A custom tuner (one that you can continue to use and not pay someone else to update) is under $700 and will pass ALL emissions testing.

Cool on the tech history. It means little to nothing based on your postings. Your diesel comments are ignorant at best.

jlbayes said:

A custom tuner (one that you can continue to use and not pay someone else to update) is under $700 and will pass ALL emissions testing.

Cool on the tech history. It means little to nothing based on your postings. Your diesel comments are ignorant at best.

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Or perhaps just aren't filled with diesel bias. I'll be the first to admit i'm not a master tech in either field, but i've worked with plenty of people who share my exact sentiments. There's a reason none of the techs that worked at MK with me had diesels as their daily.

Diesel bias. I work on hybrids. I am hardly biased about the subject.

jlbayes said:

Diesel bias. I work on hybrids. I am hardly biased about the subject.

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I manage a shop, i'm hardly biased towards gassers.

At this point its clear we aren't going to see eye to eye on anything other than fuel is teo damn expensive no matter what the blend. I respect your opinion, but I disagree.