Basically they took a Dakota Sport, lowered it and put on a heavy duty suspension. But that's not enough, sayeth the engineers, baby must have new shoes, so on when 17" rims with a set of 255/55-17 tires.
Good start, they thought, now lets give it an attitude: so they dropped in a 5.9 liter (360 cid) motor with 250 HP and 345 ft/lb torque. And to get things going they tied this together with a AOD automatic and 3:92 posi rear end.
Yep, removes tread like a good R/T should and it's a blast on curvy roads! We take vacations in the R/T instead of Janice's Camry ...... sorry Toyota, it's just not INTENSE enough.
Then I decided to make the R/T even more "playful" so I added a few "enhancements" (listed below).
OK, now its time to really "Rock and Roll"!!!!
To make the whole package come together I put on a VORTECH supercharger. The Vortech set up is great, it comes with everything, including the ignition system with ignition retard. If you don't have ignition/boost retard adjustment, the pre-ignition will blow head gaskets! It delivered full 8# of boost out of the box with no "tweeking" (although I have added a 10# pulley). All you hear is a little whistle from the supercharger at idle. Unfortunately Vortech doesn't make a kit for the Dakota R/Ts anymore; you will have to go with Paxton
OK, the only problem is TRACTION! Even at 20-25 mph, full throttle would break traction like you are sitting in water with the stock Goodyear RSAs (Really Spins A lot?). I replaced the Goodyears with NITTO 450 Extreme 275/50-17 to finally get SOME traction.
S/C UPDATE: After over 6 years the Vortech Supercharger is flawless. Would I do it again? Yes, only MUCH SOONER. And I still have the original head gaskets!
ALCOHOL INJECTION: I can tell which stations have good gas and which have "muddy water" with the supercharger. Let's see .... the pump says 93 octane .... but that must have been in someone's dream. So, instead of looking for a can of octane booster I put on an Alcohol injection setup from SMC Enterprises. You can adjust the trigger point and amount of alcohol needed from controls INSIDE the truck. It's slick! I can run less ignition retarding under boost .... which means more horsepower! I have absolutely NO pinging under boost in 95 degree + Texas summer days.
LIST OF MODS:
Vortech S/C 10# boost MOPAR PCM Split Second AIC2L Controller
MOPAR Headers Fastman 52MM TB Adjust your auxillary injectors
MOPAR M1 intake (2 BBL) Magnaflow Muffler (5x11X22) with your laptop .... COOL!
Car Sounds CAT SMC Alcohol injection (Installed after the dyno run to correct
(you expected more?) 12.8 A/F, should be around 12).
ON THE DYNO: It has pulled 400 rear wheel hp and 444 rear wheel ft/lb torque which is almost 500 HP at the motor. And I haven't gotten into the engine .... YET.
When the truck was stock it only made 195 rwhp. Now this is an increase I can live with!
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