5.9 Ram

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abrookey

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Ellensburg Wa
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2010
Engine
5.7 Hemi
Ok, I am new here. Always been a Mopar guy, 70 'Cuda, 68 Chargers etc..I recently bought my first truck, a 2001 Ram 1,500 with the 5.9 V8, 4x4, a little over 100K miles, looks almost new, never off roaded.
My question is, this thing is pretty gutless, at least considering what I am used to, what can I do to raise the rated 235HP up a bit? Chip? Computer work? What?
 

bassslayer25

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2000
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5.9 360 V8
A chip would help yes and gearing. But these trucks are workhorses. They arent gonna break any records down the drag strip. lol They can take a beating though and thats why they are so popular.
 

Arlucian

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1998
Engine
318
Ok, I am new here. Always been a Mopar guy, 70 'Cuda, 68 Chargers etc..I recently bought my first truck, a 2001 Ram 1,500 with the 5.9 V8, 4x4, a little over 100K miles, looks almost new, never off roaded.
My question is, this thing is pretty gutless, at least considering what I am used to, what can I do to raise the rated 235HP up a bit? Chip? Computer work? What?

You seem like a forced induction kind of guy, plus wed all love to see that lol.
 
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abrookey

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Ellensburg Wa
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2010
Engine
5.7 Hemi
You seem like a forced induction kind of guy, plus wed all love to see that lol.

Before my divorce in 2009, I had a 70 'Cuda, 440 6pk, 4spd, 68 Charger R/T and an all original 69 Roadrunner. I have known how to work on BB Mopars for 40 years, but these "computer" vehicles....I'm lost. I realize it's not a drag vehicle, but would love to get the power up to say, close to 300HP anyway. Short of dropping a 440 stroker in it, I am lost.
 

Merc225hp

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Same rules apply to this motor as any other motor, cam, intake, headers, 1.7 roller rockers, worked/flowed heads, wideband 02 gauge for tuning. But you need to have a tuner like the SCT to get the most out of those parts. Sct is the place to start for your year truck, Sct will remove the deathflash.
 
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abrookey

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2010
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5.7 Hemi
Ok, remember, I am very old school. What do you mean by "deathflash", what is that and what does it do? SCT, this is a tuner to plug into the obd2? What will this do as well...
 

Arlucian

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Before my divorce in 2009, I had a 70 'Cuda, 440 6pk, 4spd, 68 Charger R/T and an all original 69 Roadrunner. I have known how to work on BB Mopars for 40 years, but these "computer" vehicles....I'm lost. I realize it's not a drag vehicle, but would love to get the power up to say, close to 300HP anyway. Short of dropping a 440 stroker in it, I am lost.

Is this truck an auto or manual? I don't even like the 230 HP in front of my auto 300 would give me images of gears literally falling out of the tranny lol. I was in your boat when i got this truck a week or two ago, nothing wrong with a good old 4 barrel very simple.
 
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abrookey

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Ellensburg Wa
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2010
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5.7 Hemi
Is this truck an auto or manual? I don't even like the 230 HP in front of my auto 300 would give me images of gears literally falling out of the tranny lol. I was in your boat when i got this truck a week or two ago, nothing wrong with a good old 4 barrel very simple.

Yes, I hate it but it is an automatic. So a 4bl carb and an intake is an easy swap? How will this, or not, interfere with the computer?
 

dodge dude94

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1998 Ram 1500
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Deathflash was Dodge's solution to hide the blown plenum issues these trucks have. I personally have driven an 01 and can attest to it being a dog compared to my dog of a 98. I feel MY truck is a dog, so my calling the 01 a dog is saying something....

Anyway, an SCT or SuperChips tuner will help out greatly. Besides that, a plenum fix, new timing set and if you wanna get squirrelly, Harland Sharp 1.7 ratio roller rockers will help immensely.
The rockers are rated at around 20 hp and tq, tuner is about 10, plenum fix isn't really rated for anything, but can help regain lost power if it is blown and the timing set will regain idle smoothness and response.
A slightly larger (50mm) throttle body will help throttle response and higher end power too.
 

Merc225hp

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Ok, remember, I am very old school. What do you mean by "deathflash", what is that and what does it do? SCT, this is a tuner to plug into the obd2? What will this do as well...

Haha old school see my age under my name.

Death Flash is a detune done by Mopar to the pcm to cover up the leaking plenum gasket. Take's out timing, fuel trim, and messes with the tq management found on your year truck.

Yes Sct plugs into the OBD2 port and rewrites the pcm or overwrites. You can get custom writen tunes for the parts you add to the motor like cam heads things like that.
 
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abrookey

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Deathflash was Dodge's solution to hide the blown plenum issues these trucks have. I personally have driven an 01 and can attest to it being a dog compared to my dog of a 98. I feel MY truck is a dog, so my calling the 01 a dog is saying something....

Anyway, an SCT or SuperChips tuner will help out greatly. Besides that, a plenum fix, new timing set and if you wanna get squirrelly, Harland Sharp 1.7 ratio roller rockers will help immensely.
The rockers are rated at around 20 hp and tq, tuner is about 10, plenum fix isn't really rated for anything, but can help regain lost power if it is blown and the timing set will regain idle smoothness and response.
A slightly larger (50mm) throttle body will help throttle response and higher end power too.

I am familiar with Harland Sharp, understand the timing set as well....BUT., what do you mean by a "blown plenum"? How would I know if mine has an issue with this? The truck idles pretty well, acceleration is smooth., response is good
 

Arlucian

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Yes, I hate it but it is an automatic. So a 4bl carb and an intake is an easy swap? How will this, or not, interfere with the computer?

I'm not certain what i was saying is i've never had a easier time maintaining a vehicle than my 4 barrel 302 they are very simple to maintain and never let me down but this vehicle has also been mostly reliable for me accept when i first got it had a few kinks to work out and still a few things to do but has been reliable for me on the 1000 or so miles ive put on it since i solved the no start.
http://www.ramforum.com/f61/plenum_gasket_what_where_what_should_i_do_about_*info*-37635/
 

dodge dude94

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Merc225hp

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Yes, I hate it but it is an automatic. So a 4bl carb and an intake is an easy swap? How will this, or not, interfere with the computer?

Going carb is easy bolt on parts out there to do this, might even be able to make most of the dash gauges work via the pcm. But whats going to control the auto trany? There are no standalone control boxes for these tranny's.

These motors have been around for a very long time (based on the 360la), very strong bottom ends, heads on the other hand suck.
 

NewBlackDak

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Stegs

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1998 Dodge Ram 1500 4x4
Engine
5.2L 318 C.I.
Ok, I am new here. Always been a Mopar guy, 70 'Cuda, 68 Chargers etc..I recently bought my first truck, a 2001 Ram 1,500 with the 5.9 V8, 4x4, a little over 100K miles, looks almost new, never off roaded.
My question is, this thing is pretty gutless, at least considering what I am used to, what can I do to raise the rated 235HP up a bit? Chip? Computer work? What?

i want to see pics of your cars! Die hard mopar guy here too!

I have a pic of my 69 charger in my signature line, its packing the 440/727 combo with 3.23 gears with a suregrip!
 

mda8569

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Vandalia Ohio
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2001
Engine
5.9 magnum
On my 01 the biggest bang was the superchips tuner. I would start there, you'll be amazed by either one. The superchips is about a $100 bucks cheaper and comes with 3 different tunes to choose from, 87, 91, and tow. The SCT is more advanced, probably a bigger bang, plus you can get customs tunes later for whatever mods you do.
 

Stegs

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1998 Dodge Ram 1500 4x4
Engine
5.2L 318 C.I.
On my 01 the biggest bang was the superchips tuner. I would start there, you'll be amazed by either one. The superchips is about a $100 bucks cheaper and comes with 3 different tunes to choose from, 87, 91, and tow. The SCT is more advanced, probably a bigger bang, plus you can get customs tunes later for whatever mods you do.

if you think tuner

think hemifever tuning with sct, had superchips and sold it for sct....what a difference between the 2
 
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