I'll post up some pics pretty quick here, but for now, the plant...

Another cool twist ov fate, i picked up what has easily got to be the nicest, tightest, cleanest used engine i've ever come across. Found a 2000 5.9 Magnum, out ov a Ram no less (didn't want a Dakota or Jeep one), low miles, and get this... 175-180 psi across all 8. Thats higher than normal and tight as [censored].

Pulled the heads and found the pistons .047"-.052" down the hole... which is a lot better than the .070" i've been reading about. The more ambitious route will be to tear it down, cut the decks .040", and use a .0215" steel gasket for a tiiiiight .030"-.035" quench.

Going to port the heads a bit, clean 'em up, chop the guides for bigger springs and shave 'em a bit for an even 10:1 compression. Hopefully... i'll be able to cut the pistons for clearance, but if the math wont cooperate, i'll just port/shave the heads and bolt it back together as is.

Bought a 237/245 (at .030") .555 (at 1.6) 108 Bullet cam used. Thats a bit bigger than any ov the 360 Magnum builds i've read use... a lot bigger than some... and they all make in excess ov 400HP. I do want this thing to sound good... really good... even at the expense ov driveability (i'm not worried) or mileage. This thing should chop...

Crosswind (RPM Air-Gap ripoff) intake i scored for (the equivalent ov) $80USD.

Holley Street Avenger 670 carb. Okay, now this is small for this build. But we had it working decent on a 440, and i do want some kind ov MPG from this thing... daily driver as it is... so this is the starting point at least. I can see a flowed 750 in its future though.

Dougs 453r headers... albeit an older design... so none ov this dragging primaries bullsh!t. I will upgrade to newer ones down the road, but for now its nice to save $750.

Building a 3" mandrel, Dr. Gas X-piped, Spintech exhaust... T/A style. I've got this perverse urge however to build some 2.5" zoomies... just for that post-apocalypse stock car aesthetic... Thats kind begging for a fix-it ticket though... Hmmm...

Going with the LA style front end/water pump... and no accessories. I hope to have enough in the budget to score a 16:1 manual steering box (found a siiiiiick deal) in the first phase... and delete the PS. I want the fast ratio pitman too (for 12.7:1 total) and then there's the adapter... so it might blow the budget. We'll see...

Got a McLeod SFI steel lightweight flywheel coming... 20lbs..., and it looks like i'll be trying that ($30) bolt-on key balance adapter to make the zero-balance wheel work on my Magnum. Its not made for a Magnum, but an older 360, but i'm told i wont notice... (???)

Between the wheel, the lighter Magnum internals, and the aluminum shaft, this sucker should rev quick and lose a lot less HP through the driveline than i'm used to. Not to mention rollers almost 10lbs lighter per corner...


Kinda hamstringing myself after all this with the planned 2.76 gears... but this is a highway car... a canyon killer. If it can haul ass from a 30mph roll, i'll be more than happy. I need a car thats happy at 120-150mph. Obviously, i'll be going 5 or 6-speed overdrive at the first opportunity. Preferably T56...