1999 5.9l performance mods...

Ok guys I am asking this question on behalf of my father. He has a 1999 1500 Extended Cab Long bed 5.9l 360 and is looking for some ways to get more power out of it. His exact words are "I need more snap". Hes not interested in spending a lot of money on it. So my question is does anyone know of some good mods that he could do to get some more power, "more snap", out of this engine? Thanks for any input!

kmoney67954

without going with forced induction. I would go with air intake, throttle body spacer, exhaust....anything that will increase airflow

Definitely start with a good set of headers and some free flowing exhaust.

I've got the same truck, except that mine is a short bed. here's what I have done so far; remove stock muffler(I left the rest of the stock pipe as it is already 3", and most people that I have talked to say that a 3" single pipe keeps more low end torque than going to duals) I've also made my own cold air intake, and ported the stock throttle body. and along with a few sensor modifications(adjust TPS, relocate IAT, and simple stuff like that) I actuailly picked up a few MPG, and the throttle responce is much better, and it is much quicker off the line, compared to stock. and the great thing is that all this cost me less than $50.
oh, and just a tip, with the way the intake manifold and fuel injection is set up on the magnum engines, those throttle body spacers don't realy do much for performance. here's why, the idea behind the spacer is to give the air and fuel more time to mix, and in some cases, spin the air to speed it up. well, with the keg intake, the air has to make a 90* turn at the bottom of the intake, and looses any swirling and extra speed that may have been caused by the spacer. also, with the injectors placed just before the cylinders, adding a spacer won't increase the amount of time that the fuel has to mix with the air.
don't get me wrong, those spacers do work, but the only place that you'll see improvements is on an engine with either a carb or throttle body injection(injectors mounted in the throttle body) where the spacer can actuailly give the air and fuel more time to mix.

I've got the same truck, except that mine is a short bed. here's what I have done so far; remove stock muffler(I left the rest of the stock pipe as it is already 3", and most people that I have talked to say that a 3" single pipe keeps more low end torque than going to duals) I've also made my own cold air intake, and ported the stock throttle body. and along with a few sensor modifications(adjust TPS, relocate IAT, and simple stuff like that) I actuailly picked up a few MPG, and the throttle responce is much better, and it is much quicker off the line, compared to stock. and the great thing is that all this cost me less than $50.
oh, and just a tip, with the way the intake manifold and fuel injection is set up on the magnum engines, those throttle body spacers don't realy do much for performance. here's why, the idea behind the spacer is to give the air and fuel more time to mix, and in some cases, spin the air to speed it up. well, with the keg intake, the air has to make a 90* turn at the bottom of the intake, and looses any swirling and extra speed that may have been caused by the spacer. also, with the injectors placed just before the cylinders, adding a spacer won't increase the amount of time that the fuel has to mix with the air.
don't get me wrong, those spacers do work, but the only place that you'll see improvements is on an engine with either a carb or throttle body injection(injectors mounted in the throttle body) where the spacer can actuailly give the air and fuel more time to mix.

You said that you removed the stock muffler, what kind of muffler did you go with? My dad doesnt like loud exhaust, so do you know of a good muffler that is quite? There is already a K/N in box filter on the pickup, it goes through a lot of mud out on the farm so he dont want to go with the open box setup. We're just looking for some cheap simple things to get it to run a little better down the highway, what do you all think about a reprogramer or something of that nature? I have a hypertech on my Chevy and didnt really notice much difference, not what I expected anyway, and was wondering if you know of a good one for these dodges? If you have any other suggestions I would like to here them. Thanks for the input guys!

kmoney67954

I like the louder exhaust, so I just replaced the muffler with a straight pipe. I have heard good things about the flowmaster mufflers though.

Hey keith, how did you make your cold air induction on your truck? Do you have pictures? I've also been thinking of making my own.

When I had duals put on my truck, I told the guys what I wanted. Not too much noise, but not the airflow stoppage of a stock muffler. They just put on turbo mufflers instead of expensive flowmasters, and I've been pleased so far. It's a bit louder, but of course on the jump from single to dual pipes that's to be expected.

Turbo mufflers are a good idea yep.

LTGWorth,
sorry, I don't have any pictures , but this is what I did. I used some 4" flexible ducting(can be picked up at most hardware/lumber stores, I think it's actuailly dryer ducting). I just removed the stock air tube(from air box to fender) and replaced it with the 4" ducting, and ran it to the front of the engine compartment. I removed that rubber flap thing that is beside the radiator support, and put the end of the ducting through there. then, because I kept the stock air box, I just replaced the filter with a high flow one. the flex duct thing is just temporairy though, I'm in the process of working up a new tube out of PVC, with a larger scoop behind the grill. there are a few other people that have done the "dryer duct" intake over at DTW, I'll see if I can find some pics and post a link so you can see what I'm talking about.

Cool keith. How is it working out for you? Sounds like a really good idea.

here's a link to a thread over on DTW, about halfway down, there is a picture of the "dryer duct" intake. it's not my truck, but it is how I had mine routed. http://dodgetruckworld.tenmagazines.com/forums/topic.ten?id=57720&q=home+made+intake
with just the duct, I picked up a little over 1MPG, and there was a noticable increase in throttle responce and power. I'm hoping that when I get the solid one done, and add a scoop of some kind that I'll see even more gains.