3.9 liter dakota upgrades???

[3.9 liter blues]

Help!!!!!
I have a 98,3.9 liter dakota with a flowmaster exhaust and an air raid filter system! Is there anything else I can do to make this dakota smoke an R/T(possibly?).
Having trouble finding a supercharger for a 3.9 liter!! Please help if you have any suggestions!!!! Chips, power programmers, computers,anything!!!!!...PLEASE???????

[RAM MAN]

Here are a few performace ideas for your 3.9:

Magnecor Ignition cables are some of the best and they have them (and everything else listed in this post) for your 3.9 Might as well get the distributor cap with the brass fittings.

Under drive (power) pullies are available for some extra horsepower.

You could get a extrudehoned intake manifold, a roller rocker cam, headers and a custom throttle body.

Open the cat itself with a performance cat converter.

You could also go nuts and install some performance heads.

The parts are out there - just let you checkbook (and eventually your truck) do the talking.

[JOHN ORR]

3.9 LITRE BLUES, I SHARE YOUR PROBLEM, I HAVE A 1998 3.9 4X4 REG CAB WITH A 3:55 POSI
I HAVE INSTALLED A K&N FILTER AND HAVE LOCATED CAT/BACK SYSTEMS,HOWEVER NOBODY SEEMS
TO OR INTENDS TO MAKE HEADERS FOR THIS APPLICATION. A CO. CALLED "JET" DOES MAKE
A CHIP THAT THEY CLAIM ADDS ABOUT 15 HP. PRICE ABOUT $235.00. I THINK ITS STRANGE THAT MOST OF THE DAKOTAS ON THE ROAD ARE 3.9S
YET ALL THE PARTS BEING RELEASED ARE FOR THE TWO V8 OPTIONS. THE OLD DAKOTA NEVER SOLD AS WELL AS THE NEW ONE YET THERES SEVERAL PARTS AVAILABLE FOR THEM!

[400Magnum]

Hey Guys!

I can sympathize with you too. I have a 1990 D150 with a 3.9L in it, talk about little to no support!

However, I do have some suggestions for you.

A lot of stuff that I've seen being made for the V-8's will also work for the V-6, granted, it may take a little modification, but it will work. Just because it says "V-8", doesn't necessarily mean that it only works on a V-8. Things like cat-back exhaust systems, cold-air inlets, ignition boxes (like MSD, Crane, Jacobs, etc.) and spark plug wires.

Open up the exhaust with either a cat-back system or at least a good muffler, the popular choice being a Flowmaster, but I've heard good things about the Hooker Aero Chamber, Edelbrock RPM series, Moroso Spiral flow, etc. If you're real ambitious, go to a muffler shop and get them to bend up a custom dual exhaust system for your truck.

Headers are nice, but if you can't find any now, don't worry about it. I've been told that the new Magnum exhaust manifolds flow pretty well, certainly better than the old log style manifolds that were on my truck.

Try contacting some of the ignition companies like MSD, JET, and/or Jacobs to see if they make anything for the later models. I know that JET at least makes a chip for this vehicle. I've emailed many questions to MSD and I've always gotten a response. I'm especially impressed with JET's email tech support. On more than one occasion, they've had an opportunity to sell me something and were just honest and upfront with me and said that I didn't need that or could use something else instead.

Replace your thermostat with a 180 degree thermostat. In a nutshell, it makes the computer think the engine is running cold and sends a little more fuel in order to warm it up.

Get a good low-restriction air filter. contact K&N, Amsoil, JET, Unifilter, or even Summit for re-useable filters.

Depending on how much you want to spend, there are several companies that will port and modify your throttle body. From what I've read in other posts about the full size Rams equipped with these, they make quite a difference in performance.

Don't forget about gears! That can really make a difference in a vehicle to go from 3.23 open to a 3.91 or even 4.10 limited slip or locker.

While there is still some debate about how much you'll benefit, you could also look into putting synthetic lubricants into the engine, transmission and rear axle in an effort to reduce drivetrain friction losses. It doesn't really increase power, it just decreases the losses so that you get to use more of what was already there.

Use electric fans instead of the factory viscous unit, save a little weight and drag on the engine.

Start calling companies like Edelbrock, Vortech, Paxton, Crane, and even Mopar Performance to let them know that there is a market out here for cams, heads, headers, superchargers, intakes and other stuff for the 3.9L. If they smell a buck to be made, they'll do it.

Check out other sites on the web for Dakota's and see what others have done, maybe that will give you some ideas. For instance, the home page for the Dakota Mailing List has a page to show modifications that have been done. The address to that site is:
http://www.cs.fredonia.edu/~stei0302...TA/dakota.html

If you want to hear what a 3.9L sounds like when it's been fitted with a Flowmaster 2-chamber muffler on the stock exhaust system, click on this link:
http://www.smokindakota.com/bbs/messages/14.html

Good Luck with your project! Let us know what you do and what the results are!!

Regards,
400Magnum

[JOHN ORR]

THANKS VERY MUCH FOR THE INFO 400 MAGNUM!

[This message has been edited by JOHN ORR (edited September 09, 1999).]

[3.9 liter blues]

My thanks goes out to all of you that have replied!!! Please keep the suggestions coming!

[This message has been edited by 3.9 liter blues (edited September 14, 1999).]

[400Magnum]

Hey all,

If you're interested you may want to check out the post titled "Older throttle body fuel injection and superchargers."

Myself and a few others have been looking at a few items to boost performance (no pun intended) of my 3.9L and we've been throwing all kind of ideas into the mix and things that have been tried and what the results were.

The main thought was to try to figure out what would have to be done in order for the older throttle body injected engines to be fitted with a supercharger. No one makes a direct bolt-on kit, and I have an opportunity to possibly get a supercharger from a Ford T-bird Super Coupe. Since that engine is a 3.8L V-6, I figured the sizing would be about right, and I've talked to a few engineers at Eaton that have told me that the supercharger has plenty more potential than was being used on the T-bird. Ford kept things conservative on a production car for warranty reasons.

Anyway, it could be worthwhile just for background information.

Regards,
400Magnum