What's hot, What's not about the 5.9 Magnum

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ramchrisfla

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Obviously the exhaust manifolds suck....but what should be after market in yall's opinion. Heads? Intake? Dizzy? Cam? Valvetrain?

I just want to know what's worth keeping and what's gotta go. I'm also aware of the plenum fix kits out there...so if the intake is decent...I'd like to keep it...if not what do yall think if anything has to go?


Just wanting to know the major bottlenecks and what Chrysler should have not used kind of thing.


Thanks!
 

dodge dude94

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Tuning, intake, y-pipe are the main bottle necks.


You put a Mopar performance PCM on it (since you have a 96....just make it easier. You could also run an SCT tuner), do the plenum fix and kegger mod or replace the kegger with a Mopar M1 and do an off road y-pipe with GOOD shorty headers and you're on a real good start. lol
 
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ramchrisfla

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So when it comes to installing an off road y pipe, doesn't that mean no cat, or would one be installed at the end and I'd have to figure a way to move 02 sensors, etc?


With the performance pcm from mopar, what changes are made and would I be able to do any more tuning with that? From the description I read about it, you have to use premium gas, but what else does it do and is ok for bolt on or stock applications all the way up to heads/intake/cam upgrades?
 

Johnn123

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^Get a universal cat, and it should just bolt on to the end of the offroad y pipe. Yup need new bungs welded in for o2's.

Its a stronger tune, and no you cant edit past that. A member here runs a full custom 5.9L magnum with heads, cam, intake, internals, etc on the stock mopar performance pcm tune and it runs just fine. Might possibly need bigger injectors on a bigger build though.
 
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ramchrisfla

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Good info....now with the shorty's y pipe, uni cat setup....does the a/f ratio get thrown off due to the new location? It just sounds like moving the cat a little further messes up...or am I overthinking it? Just want to stay 49 state legal and I don't want too many headaches with a/f mixtures being off due to the new location being further down? And also....technicially do you guys think moving the cat would be illegal.

p.s.....now I know what you mean by plenum fix...but what did you mean by keg mod? And is porting the intake heads done by many...or are upgrades the best route?


p.s.s.....The compression results are somewhat good....most cyl were about even...around 150ish...lowest being 142 and highest being 160....not the greatest I've seen...but I think the motor is solid...only did a dry test....kind of afraid to do a wet test...need a little oil pump thingy or something...but wouldnt be surprised if compression did raise some...but I think I'm comfortable doing slight mods.
 

Merc225hp

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I would agree you have a good motor to play with :) Is your wallet ready lol.

As for the Mopar performance pcm the 96 pcm is getting very hard to find, so sct might be the best route to take. All I can say about that is don't keep rewriting it with the tuner, do it once or twice and then leave it alone.

The keg mod is cutting the intake runners shorter inside the intake, not worth it in my op.

You're over thinking the 02 keep the front one as close to the factory position as possible, but a few inches here or there will not make any difference.
 
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ramchrisfla

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Honestly, my wallet isn't ready but I'm trying to plan and prepare. Right now I'm just replacing wear items but when I'm ready, definitely going to mod.
 

Johnn123

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Merc's got ya all covered there :) Hes right about the PCM, ask me how I know LOL.
 

MattC

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Gotcha. Kinda make me leery of getting a tune on my truck then. It is basically going to be a bolt on truck for a while and do not really want to fry it.
 

Merc225hp

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Find one of these and mod away.

P5249955 Engine Controller Mopar performance pcm.
 

Merc225hp

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Yep 96 pcm's are the most costly of the bunch. Because it's a 50/50 mix I think that's why they cost so much.
 

MattC

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Cool. What can I expect with this one? Big notice in power, acceleration? Will it require 93 or can it run on 89?
 

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