Dakota Sound Off!

[Fastdak]

O.K. Dakotas. This forum is for us so lets all get aquainted. Who are you, what do you have and what do you want to do with your Dakota?


I'll start. I have a white 94 Dakota Sport with 5.2L. Not much on body styling yet, but I've done some engine mods (as listed below). Ultimately, I would like to run in the 13sec. 1/4 mile range and still be able to haul wood and tow my camper.

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94 Dakota Sport 5.2L, 3.90 auburn LSD, K+N X-stream filtercharger, MSD 6A, Blaster Coil II, Taylor wires, MP Computer, Pacesettter headers, Dynomax supercat, Flowmaster 50, Crower 1.7 rockers, Lakewood traction bars, Transgo shift kit, MP valve covers, Firestone Firehawks SS20

[maynardh]

I have a black 4x4 sport extended cab with a 4.7 L. All I've done so far is the K & N cold air intake, but there's more to come.
All I want to be able to do is not worry about any other 4x4's on the road, not that I have to worry much now.

[98 bird of prey]

94 Club cab 5.2 auto,posi with 3.55 gears. So far Paxton supercharger,mopar headers and cat back system,mopar performance SBEC, Homemade waterinjection kit,Mopar shift kit fot the trans and the M1 intake manifold,electric cooling fan. I ordered it new. The truck is my daily driver and has been super. It runs 14.40s on a g-tech pro with street tires.In the last 2 years all my money has gone in to my Pontiac Firebird. Its MUCH faster, but if i had to give one up i would keep the Dakota.

[Fastdak]

Wow, you have a supercharged 5.2 as your daily driver! Did you have to alter the cam or heads for this? What is your boost?

[IndyRam]

00 Grand Caravan
96 Indy Pace Truck with R/T Kit
96 Dakota Short Bed Standard Cab 4 cylinder
94 Dakota Club Cab V6 (Now my Son's)
87 Ramcharger 4x4 318

First project is to convert my Ramcharger to a 400 B motor. The 318 is tired and it will be my daily driver. The Next project is to swap a 400 B with a 440 crank into my 96 Dakota. That should make it a 444 cid engine. It already has a fiberglass hood, roll pan, front bumper and air dam combination. My fiberglass A.R.E. tonneau cover should be in next week, and I have a "Go Wing" that will be mounted to the tonneau. I have all of the stuff to convert the Dakota back to 5 lug 4.5 inch bolt circle wheels. I will be ordering 17 inch mags and a new lowering kit for it. I gave my son the 3 inch rear axle spacers for his Dakota. Since I am going to be making some serious horsepower with this setup, I am going to use the Bell-Tech lowering kit. I already have an 8 3/4 rear end with rear disk brakes to add later,

[98 bird of prey]

Fastdak, Engine is stock on the inside. boost is 6-7psi give or take Florida heat. The Paxton system adds two more injectors under the t-body that spray under boost. It has its own Computer,so stock driveabilty stays.

[Solar R/T]

99 Dakota R/T, Solar Yellow Reg. Cab. Powerdyne S/C and a "couple" other mods. Best E.T.: 13.66 w/ a horrible 2.09 60'. This was at 4psi of boost.

[Mopar Man]

'00 Dakota R/T CC - Flame Red - stock
GemTop GTClassic tonneau and BedRug on order...waiting to get '00 PCM


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'68 Charger - 383 4bbl
'69 Charger R/T SE - 440 4bbl
'00 300M - 3.5l
'00 Dakota R/T - 5.9l

[Hemi 'Kota]

Just got our 4.7L 5spd CC Sport about 2.5weeks ago...and already have 2500miles on it ! Haven't done anything performance oriented to it yet, but have done a couple appearance changes: removed factory lime green decals (yak!), "carbon fiber"-look 3pc bugshield, headlight covers, taillight covers, Raider Nomad II canopy (or topper, or shell, or whatever you prefer), and I am currently waiting on getting my SS grill inserts polished up to put in. I will be picking up some R/T flares (4x4 flares) for it soon, will consider SS bumper inserts if the grill inserts look good and am trying to think up some decent decals to replace the factory ones...thinking about maybe "4.7L Hemi 'Kota" on the doors in a dark grey (in place of the factory Sport decals). Performance wise I'll be limited to stuff that helps mpg also, the truck is my wife's driver and she averages 45kmiles a year. First will probably be some kind of homemade cold air induction, and conversion of all lubricants to synthetics. I'll have some updated pix this weekend, but my sig has the as-delivered pix.

btw: I like the new forum, pre-furnished...but still very roomy .
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Jason (aka Mr Belvedere; aka Ford Fairlane)
2000 Dodge Dakota Sport. 4.7L V8, 5-spd, and 3.55gears.
<A HREF="http://www.zing.com/picture/pb360969926ee4e543080e0e1f3f6dba5/ffa2fe20.jpg.orig.jpg" TARGET=_blank> </A><A HREF="http://www.zing.com/picture/p7aedfe962a6edfeabf8ecfad8b3fa558/ffa2fe21.jpg.orig.jpg" TARGET=_blank> </A><A HREF="http://www.zing.com/picture/p392e31bdc11821a40ce6db55287807b6/ffa2fe1c.jpg.orig.jpg" TARGET=_blank> </A><A HREF="http://www.zing.com/picture/p9937fedf59392611e47cacff676105ea/ffa2fe18.jpg.orig.jpg" TARGET=_blank> </A><A HREF="http://www.zing.com/picture/p0d672e834c84e2af263d4dd895f5eb50/ffa2fe1f.jpg.orig.jpg" TARGET=_blank> </A>

[This message has been edited by Hemi 'Kota (edited July 14, 2000).]

[BLACK00DAKOTA]

I think it's awesome that us Dakota owners get our own forum now! I've got a reg. cab, auto, 4.7L Dakota Sport. So far I've only gotten a Flowmaster cat back, but I hope to do more performance mods as they become available.

BTW, Anybody got some 4.7L 1/4 mile times?

[Duner]

I drive a '00, CC, 4.7, Sport, 5-Speed with 3.92 gears. So far my best 1/4 mile time in it is a 14.87 @ 91 mph. My mods are a complete R/T suspension package, which is the springs and sway bars. A set of Ruby Red metallic racing stripes. Hopefully I will be able to do some exhaust work and add a TB, with the Mopar PCM before the Truckin' Nationals get here in October. These pics are of the truck before I installed the R/T suspension parts. It sits about 2-2.5" lower now. Which amazingly helps the looks and handling quite a bit!





[This message has been edited by Duner (edited July 14, 2000).]

[98 bird of prey]

Duner, NICE truck!

[Duner]

Originally posted by 98 bird of prey:
Duner, NICE truck!

Thanks!!! I'm hoping to get it to look as good as my R/T did. It was a '98, CC, R/T. The only mod to it was the racing stripes I made for it. It was pretty quick for a bone stocker. It ran a best of 14.61 @ 94 mph!



So what are you driving? Any pics?

[98 bird of prey]

Duner, see below for specs on my Dakota. Sorry no scanner to post pics.I have stripes on both the Dakota and Bird, Each are white,with red stripes for the truck and orange for the Pontiac.

[Duner]

Originally posted by 98 bird of prey:
I have stripes on both the Dakota and Bird, Each are white,with red stripes for the truck and orange for the Pontiac.

Good Choice on Color Combos!!!! OK, I may be a little bit partial in my views. hehehe I haven't heard that much about Paxton Superchargers on Mopars. How's it work for ya? It's darn hard to find anything for a 4.7 engine.

Tell me about the water injection system. What are you using for the pump, what kind of injector do you use for it. What's the trigger to activate it? I know.... lots of questions. I made an intercooler for my truck to try and cool the incoming air. It cooled the intake air so much that the computer couldn't handle it. I'm thinking that water injection might be a better way to go, especially if I use alchohol.

[Mopar_Maniac]

Today I became the proud owner of a 00' Dakota reg. cab 2wd, 4.7 5 spd with 3.55 gears.
I pick it up Tuesday night after work.

I work for a Chrysler/Plymouth dealership in the parts department.

I also have;
1968 Plymouth Fury lll 2dr fasttop
factory 383 SuperCommando, 4spd 3.23 SG.

1974 Dodge Dart 4dr sedan, my sleeper car,
in the process of a homebuilt 451 swap.

2000 Harley Davidson Sportster Custom

1999 Polaris XC500 snowmobile

Later,
Jeff C.

[Duner]

Originally posted by Mopar_Maniac:
Today I became the proud owner of a 00' Dakota reg. cab 2wd, 4.7 5 spd with 3.55 gears.

Later,
Jeff C.

Now don't go picking on all those unsuspecting R/Ts with that thing. Try and save it for the Mustangs and Camaros!!! hehehe What color did you get? Did you get the Sport package? Details man...Details!

[Mopar_Maniac]

OK, here are the details.
My first posting was only the important parts

00' Dakota 2wd regular cab
4.7 V8, 5 speed, 3.55 gears
Intense Blue
Sport
A/C Tilt/Cruise

I wanted a basic truck that was going to be fast, look good, and be light weight.
So that's what I got.

Talk to you later,
Jeff C.

[98 bird of prey]

Duner, My waterinjector system is very basic. When i tryed to use the mopar performance sbec,it pinged like hell under boost, but gave me back the low-end power i lost going back to the stock sbec.I found some waterinjection system on the market(not many) but wanted to see the effect 1st. I ran a hose from a aftermarket overfull bottle to the back of the airfilter on the blower,knowing that boost ment more airflow, I let it pull water from the tank. I played around with some Carb. jets to slow the amout of water it pulls. It worked so well i left it alone. I use about 21/2 qts. per tank of gas. or MUCH more under a lot of hard driving.We dont have to worry about freezing here in florida, so i am just running tap water.

[Duner]

Originally posted by 98 bird of prey:
Duner, My waterinjector system is very basic. I ran a hose from a aftermarket overfull bottle to the back of the airfilter on the blower,knowing that boost ment more airflow, I let it pull water from the tank. I played around with some Carb. jets to slow the amout of water it pulls. It worked so well i left it alone. I use about 21/2 qts. per tank of gas. or MUCH more under a lot of hard driving.We dont have to worry about freezing here in florida, so i am just running tap water.

Sounds good. OK, so it works on siphon principle only? That sounds very simple indeed. So no pump or trigger, just siphon action from airflow. Correct? Any idea what size jet you are running? I will give this idea a try in conjunction with my intercooler. Maybe if I can get it to not ping the entire length of the quarter, it might actually go faster! Thanks for the info!

[diecastle]

My Dakota is a 2000 QuadCab Sport with a 4.7L V8, 5-speed manual transmission, limited-slip rear end with 3.92 gears, sports handling package and pretty much loaded. So far, all I have done to it is lower it 2.5/3.5 inches with Hotchkis coils and leaf springs, Blistein gas shocks, installed 17X8 Centerline wheels on 255/60 Toyo Proxe STs, painted the bumpers red, tinted the windows and added a Gaylords X2000 hard tonneau (first picture was taken before bed cover was installed). I have plenty of other things planned as money and time allow.




Again, I have to say that it is soooooooooo cool that us Dakota owners have our own forum now.

Later,
Scott

[Mopar_Maniac]

diecastle,

sweet looking quad.

How does it ride with the lowered suspension?

How much was the suspension kit?

Later,
Jeff C.

[Duner]

Very nice looking Quad Cab! The painted bumpers are exactly what it needed... mine too. I have always been fond of red, and now that I have a white one... I wish I had stayed with red. Nice wheels and tires also. The Hotchkis kit is definately the hot set-up.

[diecastle]

Thanks for the comments, guys! I agree, the Hotchkis kit is DEFINATELY the way to go. It rides real firm, but not rough and choppy. It also handles real tight in the corners. The price for front coils, rear leafs and 4 Bilstein shocks was around $800 directly from Hotchkis. A local shop installed everything for $325. I didn't get the Hotchkis sway bars (another $500 for both front and rear) since I had the upgraded factory sports handling option. As far as the painted bumpers, I can't figure out why they don't come this way in the first place (after all, the R/T's bumpers are painted). Glad I went with red too. It should never go out of style.

[dakrt'00]

'00 Dak R/T! Great vehicle; but, then it is a Mopar and they are all great in my book!
Glad to have the forum.

Originally posted by Fastdak:
O.K. Dakotas. This forum is for us so lets all get aquainted. Who are you, what do you have and what do you want to do with your Dakota?


I'll start. I have a white 94 Dakota Sport with 5.2L. Not much on body styling yet, but I've done some engine mods (as listed below). Ultimately, I would like to run in the 13sec. 1/4 mile range and still be able to haul wood and tow my camper.

[Evil R/T]

2000 Black R/T Regular Cab, Intercooled ATI ProCharger, Full Hotchkis, Kenny Brown X-Brace, MP headers, Mesa Cat, Dyno-Max Race Magnum, Viper Seats... Much more at http://mid-mich-mopars.org/daks.htm

Evil R/T

[IMG] http://mid-mich-mopars.org/images/blkrtsc1.jpg [/IMG]

[Deep Dak]

1999 Deep Amythis 3.9L CC Sport 5-speed. QuickD TB & intake, JBA Headers, Flowmaster exhaust, and soon have 2/4 drop and gear change w/SureGrip.

How can I post a pic? I can't find an attach icon or button.

[This message has been edited by Deep Dak (edited July 19, 2000).]

[Hemi 'Kota]

Updated pix in sig (click on thumbnails to expand). 3wks, 3500miles!

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"...they don't make no seatbelt for the mind, so I can't buckle up for this ride..."
Jason (aka Mr Belvedere; aka Ford Fairlane)
2000 Dodge Dakota Sport. 4.7L V8, 5-spd, and 3.55gears.
<A HREF="http://www.zing.com/picture/p86280a12d704e4e6f4dacb6bc42d96e2/ff8e920d.jpg.orig.jpg" TARGET=_blank> </A><A HREF="http://www.zing.com/picture/p356034aa25684e60016ebd075f142002/ff8e920e.jpg.orig.jpg" TARGET=_blank> </A><A HREF="http://www.zing.com/picture/p4a618746da283caf32d6c7335db24330/ff8e920c.jpg.orig.jpg" TARGET=_blank> </A> <A HREF="http://www.zing.com/picture/pb64675cd7e4c9768be00493f5f1322d1/ff8e9209.jpg.orig.jpg" TARGET=_blank> </A> <A HREF="http://www.zing.com/picture/p865e226ce7720ad3d94e91393ef83c14/ff8e9206.jpg.orig.jpg" TARGET=_blank> </A>

[This message has been edited by Hemi 'Kota (edited July 20, 2000).]

[GS -]

WoW! you guys have some fine Dakotas. Here's
my Daks layout: (Black regular cab)

'98 5.2L, Hurst 5 speed stick, 3.90 suregrip, A.R.E. tonneau, ported TB, Flex
dual elect. fans, Mopar 1.6 roller rockers, .080 pushrods
and Heavy duty guides. Western Chassis lowered
1.5" springs (front) W.C. shackle mt. 3" drop
in the rear (also removed the overload spring) and much, much more to come....


[This message has been edited by GS - (edited July 25, 2000).]

[diffrnt]

Just got a 3.9 5 speed (no one else tell me I shoulda bought a 4.7 please) I like my 3.9, and with the chip on the way it'll be much quicker... I am hoping that with a pooling of some birthday$$ and a little pocket money I can buy the new Vortech (I think) for the 3.9... they say it'll be out real soon.... GOODBYE WARRANTY!!