What's new
By:
Filters

Magnum harness/standalone and tuning

TRINDU

TRINDU

PBB Orphan
Joined
May 19, 2020
Member Number
386
Messages
3,037
Loc
Central TX
Is there a year/make/model more preferable than another? To make stand alone and cooperate. Is tuning necessary if kept relatively stock.

I really dont care if its obd 1/2, 318 or 360. Just wants something that's easy to prune, maintain with off the shelf parts, and runs well with a standard trans.
 
The easiest way to answer your question is go to Hptuners website and see what Chrysler engine you want and the years supported. Buy hptuners as it will allow you to turn off the stuff not needed for a swap.

www.hptuners.com

Supported Vehicles List – HP Tuners

View HP Tuners' supported vehicles list from Ford, Stellantis, GM, Volkswagen Group, and more with credit and licensing details.
www.hptuners.com www.hptuners.com
 
I did a 318 swap in a TJ using a donor engine and harness from a similar year Ram 1500. I believe there was a guy building harnesses for that series of engines but my friend wanted me to do it which of course is free.

A lot of the Chrysler stuff matches as far as emissions and fuel control but is no different then anything else. The TJ uses Can Bus on the cluster and it did talk to the Dodge ECM with no issues.

I used my HP Tuner to eliminate codes for stuff that no longer matters. If you bought that yourself you'd probably be $700ish into a tuner and the credits.

So the harness from late 90 early 2000s I'd consider easy to work with. Lots of diagrams available. The factory manuals are readily available, cheap, and you can actually get a paper book which makes it very easy.

The engine itself is very simple. Really the only thing you need to pay attention to is the oxygen sensor locations as it is different across the light and heavy duty applications.

HPTuners is compatible which to me makes it a go as far as a DIY swap.

As far as how it drives. It's an EFI 318 in a manual TJ so it rips pretty good. Very fun to drive. I think it's a great swap and better then the newer 5.7 stuff as far as going into that vintage of truck. It fits, doesn't overheat, and works way better with a TJ then any Hemi or LS swap out there. Looks very stock.

I wouldn't go that route if it were in a fullsize truck though.
 
Looked into HP tuners and it looks to be very binary. You can turn stuff on or off but dont you dare change the camshaft.

While researching (for a YJ swap) theres a few other avenues that do the same.

98-02 ram harness and ecu seem to be the ticket
 
Not sure what would give you that impression. You can not only change DTC flags but also modify pretty much every table for fuel and spark.
 
TRINDU said:
Looked into HP tuners and it looks to be very binary. You can turn stuff on or off but dont you dare change the camshaft.

While researching (for a YJ swap) theres a few other avenues that do the same.

98-02 ram harness and ecu seem to be the ticket
Click to expand...
Definitely not Binary. You can adjust damn near everything. I'm using it right now to tune my 6.0 with a Whipple supercharger and it's VVT. Right now, it's way beyond my skills in tuning.
 
Domer said:
Definitely not Binary. You can adjust damn near everything. I'm using it right now to tune my 6.0 with a Whipple supercharger and it's VVT. Right now, it's way beyond my skills in tuning.
Click to expand...

Big difference between OBD2 magnum speed density and Gen4+ LS.
 
Skinny said:
Not sure what would give you that impression. You can not only change DTC flags but also modify pretty much every table for fuel and spark.
Click to expand...

do you have any experience tuning the magnum engines with hp tuners? I read a lot of posts about people playing with injector pulse because they couldnt adjust timing.
 
No, haven't done much with hemis. Just my 4.7. I'll try and download a hemi tune and take a look and see what's Adjustable. I have access to a tune repository with my account.
 
Sorry, not them hemi. Are you talking about newer 5.2 and 5.9?
 
TRINDU said:
Big difference between OBD2 magnum speed density and Gen4+ LS.
Click to expand...
You think it's bad now just wait until you deal with the Subaru.

Instead of projecting the GM/LS tuning experieince onto completely unrelated shit they'll just say to sent it out. :laughing:
 
After some research, the newest hptuner unit Mpvi3 will not work with the magnums. They have a Jtec pcm. You would have to find an older mpvi2 unit. I might still be able to look at the files though..

Arse sidewards I understand that it won't be the same as an LS. I thought he was talking about Hemis at first. Which those have alot of tuning support.
 
arse_sidewards said:
You think it's bad now just wait until you deal with the Subaru.

Instead of projecting the GM/LS tuning experieince onto completely unrelated shit they'll just say to sent it out. :laughing:
Click to expand...

theres a reason it hasnt been JDM swapped yet :laughing: I'm almost debating buying a $1000 JDM engine as core, then putting the right pistons and halfass rebuild.


Domer said:
After some research, the newest hptuner unit Mpvi3 will not work with the magnums. They have a Jtec pcm. You would have to find an older mpvi2 unit. I might still be able to look at the files though..
Click to expand...

Yep, I'm not worried about hardware as much as software. Honestly, I'd just like a cam with more lift, headers, and find a tuner who already figured that out 20 years ago.
 
Domer said:
After some research, the newest hptuner unit Mpvi3 will not work with the magnums. They have a Jtec pcm. You would have to find an older mpvi2 unit. I might still be able to look at the files though..

Arse sidewards I understand that it won't be the same as an LS. I thought he was talking about Hemis at first. Which those have alot of tuning support.
Click to expand...
Bummer, I didn't know they changed the hardware. Mine is from a few years ago and I used it to make two TJs with 318 swaps work.

No tuning, all factory as far as fuel and spark. I'm familiar with how all of it works but I'm no tuner and I stay in my lane. Since these are stock engines I wouldn't touch the calibration.

I really use the HP Tuner for more of making things work with engine swaps.
 
Wow that's something you don't see everyday.

I mean you can swap anything without a tuner. Most of that older 90a and 2000s vintage stuff will just throw codes whether you care about that or not. If you are eliminating a lot of emissions stuff you'll never get rid of that without a tuner or having someone flash an ECM for you.


If you are retaining it just as preference or for smog you could probably get away with it. The biggest hurdle is transmission control (like using an auto donor in now a manual application) and making the VSS read correclty.

I did a 3.4 swap in my 94 4Runner without a tuner and made it work. Took a lot of effort as it was a 50 state emissions donor, drive by wire, and there is no tuning ability with that vintage of ECM. I mean I had to graft the fittings from the donor fuel tank into mine to get the charcoal canister to work. All depends on where you want to end up.
 
I doubt any emissions will cause running issues if it's simply unplugged and the ports plugged up.

In this situation my biggest concern would be making sure you duplicate however the factory set your pre cat oxygen sensor up. If it's in the Y pipe reading both banks or upstream do whatever Chrysler did.

Other then that proceed with as many fucks as you need.

I think it would be money well spent and I'd be surprised if anyone charged more then $200-300 to delete all the codes you don't need. That way if you actually have an engine issue the light comes on and you dont have to sift through a ton of codes to figure out what the problem is.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Back Refresh