Swapping out or cleaning up your 5. 9 magnum throttle body is one of these work opportunities that shouldn't get all day, however it makes a huge difference in exactly how the truck really drives. If you're daily driving a good old Second Style Ram, a Durango, or a Great Cherokee with all the 360 V8, you know these types of engines are total tanks. They'll work forever, but let's be honest—they aren't exactly "peppy" from the factory. They will feel a little bit heavy and sluggish, mostly because Dodge chose to choke all of them out with a stock intake set up that prioritizes tranquility and emissions more than raw airflow.
The heart of that airflow issue usually starts right from the throttle body. It sits upon top of that will massive "kegkar" consumption manifold, and in case it's dirty or even undersized for your mods, the engine is basically trying to breathe through a cocktail straw whilst running a marathon.
Why the Stock Unit Holds You Back
The factory 5. 9 magnum throttle body is the twin-bore design, and for a bone-stock truck, it does the job well enough. But "well enough" generally means you've obtained a dead place in the pedal or perhaps a weird hesitation when you're attempting to merge on to the highway. More than the years, these types of units get absolutely caked in carbon . Because of the way the PCV system functions on the Magnum engines, oil water vapor gets sucked back again into the intake, creating an awful, black sludge that will coats the butterflies as well as the Idle Air Control (IAC) engine.
When that gunk builds upward, your idle begins searching, or the vehicle might even stall out at the red light. Past just being filthy, the physical dimension of the bores is a bit of the bottleneck. If you've added an wear out, a cold air flow intake, or a tuner, the share throttle body gets the one thing keeping you from actually experiencing those upgrades.
The option: Cleaning vs. Boring vs. Auto aftermarket
If your truck is basically stock and you just want it to operate right, you are able to possibly get away having a deep clean. Draw the 5. nine magnum throttle body off—it's only 4 bolts—and douse this in some specialized cleaner. Don't just spray it whilst it's on the truck; you don't want all that dissolved junk falling into your intake manifold where it can mess with your valves. Remove it from, pull the sensors, and wash it until this shines.
However, if you're looking for more "oomph, " you've got to look in the bored-out choices. You'll get a lot of guys within the forums talking about 50mm vs. 52mm conversions. The stock unit is definitely somewhere around 48mm. Jumping to 50mm is usually the "sweet spot" intended for a 5. 9 that hasn't acquired internal head work. It increases the airflow without killing your own low-end torque. If you go too big—like a 52mm or a substantial single-bore aftermarket unit—on a mostly stock engine, you might actually find the truck feels slower off the particular line because the air velocity falls too much.
Dealing with the particular Sensors
When you're messing with the 5. nine magnum throttle body, you're also coping with the receptors that live upon it. This is usually where most individuals encounter trouble. A person have the Throttle Position Sensor (TPS) and the IAC.
The particular IAC is the one that regulates your idle. It's got a small pintle that goes in and out to allow air bypass the particular butterfly valves. When you're swapping to a new or ported throttle body, end up being careful with the particular IAC . Don't push or pull within the tip associated with it, or you'll ruin the calibration. Most of the particular time, in case your idle is wonky right after a swap, it's because the IAC is either filthy or maybe the computer simply requires a minute in order to relearn where the particular "new" idle placement is.
The TPS is normally quite sturdy, but the mounting screws are notorious for stripping out. If you're using it off, use a good quality bit and probably a little high temperature if they feel stuck. A bad TPS will cause just about all sorts of shifting issues in the particular 46RE transmission because the computer utilizes that throttle indication to know whenever to kick the particular trans into the particular next gear.
The "Fastman" Style Upgrade
A person can't really speak about the 5. 9 magnum throttle body without mentioning the "Fastman" design of porting. This particular is where somebody takes an initial Chrysler casting and machines it out to a bigger diameter, but these people also thin out there the throttle base and use flat-head screws on the butterflies.
It sounds like a small detail, but the stock throttle shaft is pretty chunky. By thinning it down, you're removing an actual physical obstruction that's best in the center of the airflow. This could be better compared to a "no-name" bar stock aluminum throttle body from eBay. All those cheap billet types often have difficulties with the throttle linkage sticking or the sensors not seating right. Sticking with a modified factory casting is generally the particular safest bet for a truck that should be reliable.
Installation Tips and Techniques
Installing the new 5. nine magnum throttle body is pretty simple, but there are a couple associated with "gotchas. "
- The Gasket: Use a fresh gasket. The old 1 is likely pressurized to nothing or brittle. A vacuum cleaner leak at the base from the throttle body can make the particular truck run lean and drive a person crazy wanting to analyze it.
- Don't Drop the Bolts: Seriously, put the clean rag straight down into the intake bores as quickly as you pull the throttle body off. If a person drop a mounting bolt into that will "kegkar" manifold, you're going to have a very bad Saturday. It's a long method down to the bottom of that plenum.
- The particular Linkage: Make sure that your throttle cable and cruise control cable snap back into place correctly. Give it several cycles with your own hand to create sure nothing will be binding before a person start the motor.
- Reset the Computer: After you get everything bolted back up, it's a good concept to unhook the battery for regarding ten minutes. This clears the "Long Term Fuel Decreases. " When a person start it back up, the PCM will have to learn the particular airflow characteristics regarding the new setup from scratch, which usually results in the smoother idle quicker.
What to Expect upon the Road
Don't expect your own Ram to abruptly turn into a dragster just from a throttle body swap. However, what you will notice is throttle response . The pickup truck won't feel like it's "thinking" for any second before it goes. It'll feel lighter on its feet. If you tow line a trailer, you may notice that you don't have to bury your feet quite as heavy into the rug to maintain acceleration on the grade.
The 5. 9 magnum throttle body upgrade is actually about unlocking the potential of the engine. If you combine it with a decent plenum plate repair (because let's face this, your plenum seal is most likely blown anyway) and perhaps a somewhat better-flowing muffler, the 5. 9 Magnum really wakes up. It becomes that torquey, reliable beast it was often intended to be.
It's one associated with those modifications that will just feels right . It's not fancy, and nobody will probably see it under the air cleaner, yet every time you hit the gasoline to pass somebody, you'll be happy you did this. It's a great weekend break project that brings back a little bit of that "new truck" feel in order to a classic Mopar workhorse.