I got a customer with a 2011 1/2 ton with 300,000 mies all highway no towing. He wants a little more HP and TQ for passing and such out on the open road without spending a ton on a stroker or $800 cam, could I do a little porting and maybe mill the heads .030 while I got em off? He runs 91-93 octane all the time anyhow. What about a mild cam increase by a regrind? Would a 6.4 take out cam help? I already got the heads off and the short block stuff looks almost new, crosshatch to the top of the bore, no ridge, pretty clean pistons, no sludge...

Depending on what he has on the truck right now, I would put my money into long tube headers or at least the 6.4 shorties. Maybe an automatic 6.4 cam. But definitely headers and a Tune.
Matt

Yep, headers and a tune. There isn't much to be gained by touching the heads on a stock 5.7. A regrind on the stock cam is a good deal too, keep the lift low and stay conservative on the lobe and you don't have to spend the money on aftermarket valve springs. Keep in mind that you'll need longer push rods going that route.

At 300,000 if I was Him, I'd be looking for a replacement truck: the 6.4 variety in a 2500 if he can tolerate the ride and slight penalty at the pumps.

Stroker is the one way to go, but it's already been done for him: a 6.4 from the autowreckers.

This is a good post actually. My 5.7 is a huge disappointment. It has top end power but no lowend torque and is not a pleasure to drive at all. Even empty I am constantly manually shifting it to climb hills around town, very annoying.

Sheldon

No scrapping this thing it is nicer than most of these trucks with 50,000 mies on em, it is super nice. He is no way no how gonna find something any where near as nice for what he can spend fixin this one up. This truck is the perfect example of why I tell people to judge a car by it's condition not miles.

I wonder if the 2016 6.4 bolts in, I found one localy for $5000, I guess I need to pin him down on a budget. He was happy to spend a few hundred on milling and a little porting.

I have a set of 6.1 car manifolds I might consider selling him, would they fit and be any better than his stock truck manifolds?

Compared to a diesel, of course it's going to feel that way I felt the same way about my trans am's ls1 when it was stock, the bottom end was terrible... cam, headers etc, it's hard not to spin the tires when pulling out.

I am no expert on this at all but I would imagine buying a tuner that will let you turn down the torque management will make big difference. I remember jacking with some tuners on friends LS1 cars and reducing the amount of torque management really helped things.

6.4 SRT cam, headers and a custom tune (engine and transmission)