3.9 PERFORMANCE MODS.

[DAKMAN]

HAVE A 92 DAKOTA ,AUTO W/ OD,3.9 REAR 2WD. PRESENTLY STOCK. NOW AT 140,000 W / NO OIL LEAKS, OR BURNING. LOOKING TO PUT TAX REFUND INTO WAKING UP THE ENGINE WHILE HOPEFULLY INCREASING FUEL ECONOMY. GETTING 17 MPG NOW. WANT TO DO EXTERIOR MODS ONLY. I.E . AIR CLEANER,IGNITION,EXHAUST, FUEL SYSTEM,ETC. HAVE FRIENDS W/ NEW GMC, AND FORD TRUCKS, AND WANT TO CONTINUE TO SHOW WELL WITH THESE GUYS, EVEN THOUGH THE DODGE IS NOW WELL SEASONED AND LONG SINCE PAID FOR. ACTUALLY ,LOOKING TO PUT PERFORMANCE AT A VERY NOTICEABLE LEVEL. SALT IN THE WOUND KIND OF POWER FROM THIS OLD DODGE. DON'T WANT EXHAUST TO BE OBNOXIOUS LOUD, BUT A NICE POWER SOUND. NO RAPPY SHIT. ANY SUGGESTIONS WILL BE APPRECIATED. THANKS, DAKMAN

[Yellow 99']

HEY DAKMAN I HAVE A 99 DAKOTA AND AM FINDING THAT THERE ISNT TOO MUCH OUT THERE FOR THE 3.9 EXECPT A VORTECH SUPERCHARGER...IT MAY WELL BE WORTH THE 2000-6000 DOLLARS. AS FOR EXHAUST I HAVE A FLOWMASTER DUAL EXHAUST THAT ACTUALLY BOOSTED MY PERFORMANCE AND GAS MILEAGE WHEN I TAKE IT EASY
KEEP ME POSTED

[mopartodd]

dakman, I'm afraid Yellow is right. as far as bolt on stuff there isn't much out there. One of the Mopar magazines ran a series of articles on boosting HP from a 3.9L. They did well, and involved intake manifold modification, throttle body mods, and exhaust to name a few. They said the biggest drawback to the project was the lack of available headers.

[QuickD]

I think so far, I am the only one offering V6 performance mods that are affordable. You can also get V6 TBs from Magnum performance, but they are about 3 times as much as mine.
I think a V6 with the intake, TB, headers, and stock size exhaust with a free flow muffler will be a very responsive performer. I have heard of a few V6ers running close to the V8s.
If anyone wants to talk about V6 stuff, drop me a line, or come by my site. I love talking trucks.

[DAKMAN]

QUICK D, WHAT IS YOUR WEB SITE ADDRESS? I WOULD LIKE TO TALK MAG 6 TRUCKS. MY DAK IS STOCK, W/ 140,000 MILES AND COUNTING. I DRIVE IT LIKE ONLY A MOPAR CAN BE DRIVEN- HARD AS OFTEN AS I WANT . TODAY IT WAS A DECENT DAY SO I WASHED AND WAXED THE TRUCK. OF COURSE ITS RAINING TONITE.THANKS FOR THE RESPONSE.

[RAM MAN]

Just a few ideas to toss out here:

Doug Thorley (and a few others) makes headers for your DAK.

You can get a "hi flow" cat converter and let your exhaust breath up to 40% better.

Do you already have a cat back exhaust ?

Crower makes 1.6 and 1.7 stainless steel rocker arms kits for your 3.9 - or how about a complete roller rocker conversion ???

Auburn makes a "brute strength" posi for your 92.

Magnecor makes performance iginition wires for the 3.9 ( don't forget to swap in brass dist cap for better efficiency.)

There are underdrive (power) pullies for your truck.

How about the Mopar performance SBEC ? They made of for 3.9 V6 !

Wanna get serious ? How about some street / strip heads ported and polished ? (I'm not getting THAT much back in income taxes - but this would add some serious performance.)

Still have the stock throttle body ? A few companies make them ported / polished and flow tested for your model.

You could install a different billet cam for up to 20 more hp.

How about matched fuel injectors ?

ONE THING TO SERIOUSLY CONSIDER: If you DAK has that many miles on it, if you add performance parts to make it go faster - is your block ready for it ???

I mean a blower would be really cool, but unless you have recently rebuilt things, it may be the beginning of trouble.

As always . . .

------------------
"Good Luck on your project."

[76Duster]

Its to bad your dak is a magnum. The pre mags have tons of build up ability from mopar. I have an 88 Dak with a 3.9 that surprises a few people at the light. Not the fastest thing on the road but not the slowest either. Has a 2 1/2 exhast into a 3in chamber flowmaster 40 with duel off the muffler. Dont go to big on the exhast or you kill low rpms. Set of header and and open element air cleaner plus the cat is gone and the air pump. Like I say its pre magnum but goes good for a 6. Mopar build tons of stuff though could build over 220 hp out of it. Bu t not sure if I care to sink that much into a 6.

[GUAM SS/T]

Congradulations! you have 5 more horsepower than 93 and up V6s keep posting mods for the v6 guys I will be upgrading my 92Dakota someday. The easiest mod I've done so far was an Edelbrock breather. It felt like another 10HP and sounded like 50hp on the chevy scale.