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I was thinking of picking one of these motors up from the scrap yard but i really would like to make it a carb'd motor with a pretty decent camshaft. Anyone convert one of these motors over to a carb and put inan aftermarket camshaft in? How do they run? I was thinking also about putting the od tranny in the dart also....

Any thoughts and opinions are welcomed and appreciated.

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The 5.9 has a shorter deck height then the 360 by .020, 9.58" vice 9.60", keep this in mind when squaring the block. You can have it taken down to 9.56" safely.

For a Center Sump Oil Pan you can use Mopar P5249059. This kit included Pan, Dip stick, Dip stick tube and Oil Pump Pickup.

.020 is cleans the cylinders up good, and utilizing Speed Pro Hyper ZH116CP20 pistons will give you anything between 9:1 to 10:1 depending on the Heads that you use. The skirts are coated also to make them a little more slick.

The Stock rods are good for 400HP or 7000 RPM, but if you think you need stronger one MOPAR has forged rods. The heavy duty rod is P5239745 and the "Light" (Racing)forging is P5249740.

One of the big advantages of using the Magnum is the "Roller Cam" set up. You can have the one in it motor reground, which will require different push rods to correct the geometry or use the MOPAR Crate Motor Cam shafts

P5249663 is a .385"/.401" Lift 250/264 Duration and a 108 center line

P4876348 is a .501"/.513" Lift 288/292 Duration and a 108 center line.

While the lifts are not that radical, keep in mind that these are "Roller" grinds which have a much steeper Ramp angle over either a flat tappet cam, giving you more "under the curve" dwell time for the valves.

The advantage of using either one of the above cams is that the "Fuel Pump" eccentric is built into these cams where regrinding the one that is in the motor will require an adapter if you plan on using a mech fuel pump.

As stated earlier if you plan on using a "Mech" fuel pump then you will need to find a Timing Chain cover from a "LA" engine.

Head Selection is up to you, Flow Characteristics and Chamber size is what you need to watch... The KEY here is Horse Power is built at the "Top" of the engine not the bottom. Heads, Cam, Intake, and Exhaust.

RyanJ from Shady Dell Speed shop is the expert in this arena.

Magnum R/T Big Valve Heads (Cast Iron)
Hughes Iron Ram Magnum Heads (Cast Iron)
EQ (Engine Quest) Heads (Cast Iron)
Edelbrock Magnum (Aluminum)

Head Gaskets Mopar P4876048 are a good 4.06" bore gasket with a .040"-.042" Crush height and are good to 12 to 1 compression. ~$35 a set. You need to watch the bore size!!!!

While both the 360 and 5.9 are externally balanced the balance weight is different. Basically what this means is that you will need to use a different weight set on you torque converter if your planning on using a "LA" Trans (i.e 727,904). Another way around this is to use the B&M Flex Plate BMM-10241 which is correct for the Magnum which allows the use of a "Neutral" balanced converter.

Hope this helps.

Summary. The 5.9 Magnum with the correct parts can easily make 400 "Streetable" horsepower in a durable package.