Found your site through a friend, love the info so far. We (14 year old son and myself) are building a 1987 W-150 Short bed for his first ride. It had a 318 in it, now that's off to the recycle yard we picked up a 5.9 Magnum out of a 2001 Dakota with 70k on the clock before it got t-boned.
The heads are cracked.. and so were the second set I dug up. So we are ordering up a set of replacements. We will be using a carb (Carter 600cfm VS) and a Airgap intake with a DUI style stand alone dizzy. We still have not decided on a cam, if anyone has any suggestions fire away! I have ran some info past Richard Nash at HiPoTek (found his info on this site) and I think we have something in mind, just not sure yet. HiPoTek HPT 206X4 4x4 Hydraulic Roller Camshaft Dodge 5.2/5.9 (318/360) Magnum. We will run the stock truck exhaust manifolds and have installed a 2.25 dual system with glass packs out the back.
It has Power steering/brakes/ac sitting on 33's with 3.75 gears and a 727 auto 4x4, weighs about 5000lb. It will be his daily driver, looking for low end tork, and for the power accessories to work as they should. Not looking for huge power, just a good runner. We are leaving the short block as is, its clean and ready to go. We will install a new standard flow oil pump and pickup tube for the 318 style oil pan, new motor mounts, water pump.
The cam will be ground on a LA blank or an eccentric will be added to the cam so we can run the stock LA front timing cover and mechanical fuel pump.
Are the Scram Speed .028 head gaskets worth the cost for a little more compression?
Any other tips/tricks or ideas (besides changing out the 3.73 for 4.56)