5.9L 360 rebuild

[Diedrich'sDodge]

I've had my 98 ram 1500 for 2 years now when I got it the motor had 195k miles now it has 210k but its beginning to burn oil which I'm guessing is the plenum gasket and I'm also leaking coolant from the back on my engine, so I've decided to do a well needed engine rebuild.

Any ideas on where the coolant might be coming from?

Also since I'm tearing it apart I was thinking of doing some performance mods any suggestions that could get me added power without hurting my wallet to much?

 

[HolyRamBatman]

Welcome to RF.

That coolant could be coming from a few places.

Are you taking the engine out of the truck?

 

[RonJon '06]

I had a 1980 D100 that started leaking coolant out of a corroded frost plug once.

As far as gaining HP in a rebuild I decided that on mine to do it right would require a lot of mods.

 

[Diedrich'sDodge]

I had a 1980 D100 that started leaking coolant out of a corroded frost plug once.

As far as gaining HP in a rebuild I decided that on mine to do it right would require a lot of mods.

What kinds of mods? And any idea on a total cost?

 

[Diedrich'sDodge]

Ya when I do the rebuild I plan on pulling the engine

 

[RonJon '06]

What kinds of mods? And any idea on a total cost?

I would have loved to put in a stroker kit to go from a 345ci to 392 or 400 but that would have required spending more to change the intake, exhaust, and most of all the heads. I also considered doing a cam swap to gain some HP but again to make it work would have required changing the heads which on the hemi isnt cheap. Maybe for the 360 the cost isn't as much of a factor and I'm sure there are some guys on this site with a lot more experience than I have who could help you with it.

 

[dodge dude94]

For a Magnum 360, to get horsepower out of a rebuild you'll need a good rebuild, maybe a slight overbore (depending on how bad your cylinder walls are), higher comp pistons, new cam/lifters/pushrods, and roller rockers, possibly in the larger 1.7 ratio and a new intake manifold.

Then you'll need new heads to go with that cam....etc.
It can be done if you do it yourself for about $5k-ish I think.

 

[Diedrich'sDodge]

I've been looking around on the internet and I found that Hughes makes a replacement intake that eliminates the plenum plate all together, would I be better off in the long run getting this or going with the aluminum plate kit? Since the last time I blew the gasket was when I was merging into traffic with about 20 bundles of shingles (1600lbs) in the bed.

Because this is my daily driver I figured it would be best if I just do a stock rebuild since I'm a college students without a whole lot of cash. Maybe at most get a cold air intake and a better throttle body.

 

[dodge dude94]

The aluminum plate and a Fel-pro gasket is not a bad combination. You just can't slap a turbo on it. lol

 

[Diedrich'sDodge]

The aluminum plate and a Fel-pro gasket is not a bad combination. You just can't slap a turbo on it. lol

Ha thx