Just registered! Turning 92' Dakota, v8, into project truck, would LOVE help and guidance. (Full Version)

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Just registered! Turning 92' Dakota, v8, into project truck, would LOVE help and guidance.

  

lenmeok -> Just registered! Turning 92' Dakota, v8, into project truck, would LOVE help and guidance. (5/8/2008 4:42:09 PM)

Hey guys I finally got myself to fix up the truck my father gave me. It's a 1992 Dodge Dakota LE with the v8 Magnum. I love this truck but I would like to fix it up and get it to perform better as in better gas mileage but more on the lines of performance. Such as hp, torque, low-end, high-end, etc etc. Also cosmetically as you can see the flaws on it in the pictures below.

I need guidance on this journey because as of right now the only thing I can think of doing so far is a full exhaust system such as Flow Masters and/or a performance racing chip of some sort.

I use GTX High Mileage on this truck.

Here are a few pics and a short video of me starting it, (the video was taken about 6-8 months ago).

[image]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v415/kid-fighter/IMG_3505.jpg[/image][image]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v415/kid-fighter/IMG_3507.jpg[/image]
[image]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v415/kid-fighter/IMG_3511.jpg[/image][image]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v415/kid-fighter/IMG_3520.jpg[/image][image]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v415/kid-fighter/IMG_3521.jpg[/image][image]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v415/kid-fighter/IMG_3529.jpg[/image][image]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v415/kid-fighter/IMG_3531.jpg[/image][image]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v415/kid-fighter/IMG_3550.jpg[/image][image]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v415/kid-fighter/IMG_3561.jpg[/image]


VIDEO OF ME STARTING IT


It currently has 23x,xxx miles on it and has a hood bra that covers the broken part on the
front part of the hood.

First question; Any suggestions at first glance? What I can do myself first. What I should start to do.

  
Crazy4x4RT -> RE: Just registered! Turning 92' Dakota, v8, into project truck, would LOVE help and guidance. (5/8/2008 4:59:55 PM)

Looks good! I like the hood. Here are some preformace stuff you can do. Check this post. http://www.dodgeforum.com/m_1300430/tm.htm

jlbritt1 -> RE: Just registered! Turning 92' Dakota, v8, into project truck, would LOVE help and guidance. (5/8/2008 7:43:16 PM)

For me, the first thing would be to take care of the rust. The door looks like it can be taken care of with some serious sanding, body putty, and paint. The rear wheel well will have to be cut, or the whole bed replaced; cutting it will be cheaper. It can then be replaced with some new metal or just some nice fat fender flares. I'd go with the flares if you're not that familiar with bodywork. Just have to measure and cut both sides the same to get it looking right. Beyond that, as far as cosmetics go, the truck doesnt look that bad. A LOT of sanding, a little putty, a decent paint job, and you'll have a nice looking truck to play with.

lenmeok -> RE: Just registered! Turning 92' Dakota, v8, into project truck, would LOVE help and guidance. (5/10/2008 7:23:19 AM)

Crazy I don't really understand your post about the thread you gave me. It was a little confusing to me what you wanted me to see.

Jlbritt, since my older brother will be helping me out this summer with the truck him and his friend are going to fix the rust and I will tell him about the sanding, body putty and paint you told me here.

Question; I was wondering if I could replace my current muffler with a Flowmaster 40 Series.
             Right now the truck has a stock exhaust I believe because it was replaced about 2 years
             ago? Anyone have any insight on that issue?

Crazy4x4RT -> RE: Just registered! Turning 92' Dakota, v8, into project truck, would LOVE help and guidance. (5/10/2008 7:43:40 AM)

I was just trying to show you the Performance stuff you can do. And chips dont work.
quote:

Well the mopar comp. will give more horsepower. I have one, Im guessing they say that because it might start pinging on some hard situations while towing. Just go to a colder spark plug and that will take care of it. I tow quite a bit and no problems. Its deffintly better than if I didnt have it. The jet chips are junk too. They can screw up your pins.(thats what happend to mine) To burn up. There was a post where others have had problems with them. You can do a search for a full list of problems. For larger throttle bodys you can go to fastmans.com, or any of these for any parts. Ebay.com summitracing.com jegs.com Moparperformance.com
Some stuff will not be listed under the truck. Rams and durangos have the same engine. You can try for them. Or just do a search by engine size and make. For injectors they are all pretty much universal. Do some research and find out what flow rate stock is and go up one or two. You mentioned body injectors. Im not to sure what that is. A typo? You can get colder plugs. The platnums dont do go with our engines. Use autolights 3223 some thing like that the site below has it. You can get Msd coil and wires and cap and rotor. You can get a 180 degree thromostat. Performance pullys will help but lower your alt. power at idle as well as cooling. Becafull if you buy some. A lot out there are 6 ribs while stock is 7. There are a few small cheep stuff you can do. Like a kegging the intake, which is basicly opening up the intake on the inside. Do a search for more details. Here is a good site for tips http://www.v8performance.com/tipsandtricks.htm
One more thing you can do to get more power is change your rear end ratio. Go lower (numaricly Higher) gears. That will give you more torque, which is good if your going to tow.
Then there is the enigne stuff like cams, 1.7 rockers, flat top pistons, You can deck the heads and block, and bore out the engine.
The exhast. Get headers. Do a seach to find them. Get a better muffler larger pipes high flow cat.
Hope all this helps.
And be best of all a turbo system OR A SUPER CHARGER. Or do an engine swap. Bad96 did a 3.9 to 5.2 and he did a great post on it.
There are tranny stuff like shift kits.
Try to stay away from anthing that adds stuff. Stick to replacing and upgrading existing parts.

Bad96_3.9 -> RE: Just registered! Turning 92' Dakota, v8, into project truck, would LOVE help and guidance. (5/10/2008 6:33:10 PM)

the flowmaster 40 sounds pretty good on these, i have a single in dual out on my truck with no cat. converter. here is a link to how it sounds   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyTrKplN0ZY.

  

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