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Travis Stout
Dodge Dakota
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12/30/2009
21:23:03
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 Subject: EASY MODS FOR A NEWBIE
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I JUST GOT A '02 QC 4.7 2WD AND I LOVE IT. NOW I NEED TO KNOW WHERE TO START MAKING IT MINE. I AM INTERESTED IN PERFORMANCE MODS AND MAYBE A ROLL PAN BUT NOT SURE WHERE TO START. I AM NOT A MECHANIC BY ANY STRETCH OF THE IMAGINATION BUT I DO MY OWN OIL CHANGES, BRAKE JOBS ECT. DOES ANBODY HAVE ANY SUGGESTIONS FOR AN EASY PLACE TO START.
THANKS
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topgun
Dodge Dakota
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1/20/2010
19:30:41
|  RE: EASY MODS FOR A NEWBIE
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I recommend you install a new motor & transmission. You may also want to have the truck lifted 4inches, this will help the wind get under the truck and made it go faster.
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Grease Gun
Dodge Dakota
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1/21/2010
16:51:21
| RE: EASY MODS FOR A NEWBIE
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Travis this forum is loaded with morons and 15 yr olds you just have to weed thru the dikheads.Start with breathing and exhaust or a chip.
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Chris G
Dodge Dakota
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1/21/2010
18:41:20
| RE: EASY MODS FOR A NEWBIE
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Travis,
You must be a mechanic by some stretch of the imagination. Don't sell yourself short. You'd probably be surprised by how many people can't do oil changes, brake jobs, & etc. Hell, ask someone what a "distributor" is and does. Alot of people will just stare at you blankly.
I'll admit, when I first started teaching myself this stuff, I bought a Haynes manual, and it took a long time for me to find my spark plugs (all the hoses and wires baffled me back then).
Regardless,
Start with the intake. Like a new "performance" air filter. K&N or cheaper similar brands work good with just replacing a panel filter (if you have an air box, I'm not familiar with the newer fuel injected model Dakotas). Or get a FIPK (Fuel Injection Performance Kit, or also a Cold Air Intake, Ram Air, etc) which usually consists of a conical filter, a tube that routes from your throttle body to your new filter, and sometimes a 'heat shield'.
Or, get snazzy, and fabricate one. PVC pipe and a cone filter, and maybe some rubber tubing in there. Can save big bucks this way. And you'll probably feel better about yourself with this route.
Then start with the exhaust, maybe a new higher-flowing muffler (Thrush makes good mufflers), depending on the mileage maybe a new Catalytic Converter is in order (or, how much crap has routed through your engine and into the screen in your cat).
Just ideas.
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warning
Dodge Dakota
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1/22/2010
12:46:21
|  RE: EASY MODS FOR A NEWBIE
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Idiots here are all suggesting old school mods that will do nothing for the street performance of your newer tech 4.7 that doesn't even have a distributor. All the mods that have been suggested on this thread will only empty your wallet. Do any of you idiots even own a 4.7?
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Chris G
Dodge Dakota
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1/22/2010
18:13:30
| RE: EASY MODS FOR A NEWBIE
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Nope. I'll admit I know little of this engine. I know older engines. This newer stuff is literally beyond me. But I figured I'd at least put my rather old 2 cents in.
I mean, I could've always just suggested a Supercharger, but that's a bit far and beyond, right?
Why don't you post something worthwhile?
And by the way, I HATE Coil-On-Plugs. Or whatever the hell they're called now.
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stevedak
Dodge Dakota
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1/23/2010
08:30:35
| RE: EASY MODS FOR A NEWBIE
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I have the 4.7 but I could also be considered old school. I have the 4.7 HO cams, the low end response is great. I got the truck with the cams so I don't know what it was like with stock cams. I installed a cold air intake which really improved acceleration. I'm not into performance, if anything, I look for more MPGs. The performance guys on this site would couple hotter cams (like the HO cams) with the HO intake manifold. Like mentioned earlier, if you make it breath, you gotta let it exhale too. I've done nothing with my exhaust, maybe when it needs to be replaced.
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Grease Gun
Dodge Dakota
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1/26/2010
12:32:11
| RE: EASY MODS FOR A NEWBIE
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Good post Chris G, i dont have a 4.7 either but logic suggests if it breathes easier and exausts better, it should run better than stock and steve, who does own a 4.7 just backed that up. Did i miss the part where "warning" offered up a suggestion or was he just running his suck as usual.
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psssst
Dodge Dakota
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1/26/2010
17:26:33
| RE: EASY MODS FOR A NEWBIE
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Warning = Bob Lincoln
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Grease Gun
Dodge Dakota
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1/26/2010
18:42:28
| RE: EASY MODS FOR A NEWBIE
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Wrong
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02dak4x4
Dodge Dakota
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1/30/2010
14:54:10
| RE: EASY MODS FOR A NEWBIE
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I do have a 4.7 and I can give you some extremely budget minded tips for starters. I am unemployed so I have been forced to think outside the box here. Anyway, I made an elbow to remove the resonator on top of the intake, a 3" piece of pvc works great and you will notice a little bit. Also I got rid of the stock muffler in favor of a flowmaster (it was free). Though a magnaflow or dynomax would flow a little better and give you better gains.
All this aside, the typical works well, intake, exhaust, cams, and a chip/tuning. I personally have only what I mentioned above and I get 15mpg in the city and 21 hwy with a 4.7, 45rfe, 4x4 reg cab.
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Chris G
Dodge Dakota
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1/30/2010
21:42:40
| RE: EASY MODS FOR A NEWBIE
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Speaking of making it breathe easier and simple logic, I've been debating on a Cold Air Intake for my Carb.
By principle, it would work, right? But this'd be the first time I'd see it on anything other than fuel injection.
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NathanW
Dodge Dakota
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1/31/2010
21:59:56
| RE: EASY MODS FOR A NEWBIE
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Cold air intake is good on any car. Its logic is simple, cold air = more dense (whenever you open your freezer all the fog moves to the ground because its heavier). Now with that simple fact out of the way, what does a turbo or a supercharger do? it forces more air (Oxygen) in the cylinders! So a filter that is placed away from the hot engine will always suck in more densely packed oxygen molecules, then that of a filter close to the engine sucking in warm air... Now for the muffler part, REMEMBER UNLEADED FUEL CARS RUN BETTER WITH BACK PRESSURE, so dont go tearing off your muffler, usually a stock muffler is the best, but we want SOUND so we go for those open mufflers (these mufflers typically decrease the horsepower) the muffler determines about 1-2hp on the average car believe it or not so nothing special... Diesel on the other hand is best without any back pressure, so get that 12" exhaust kit youve always wanted lol.. More simple ways of increasing your hp, is to get some headers, other ways are to buy a ground wire kit, new spark plugs (a better burn = more hp DUH), new spark plug wires. If you dont care about the comfort in your truck, you can get rid of the whole AC, (this reduces the amount of "stress" on your engine by having one less pulley to spin.) Horsepower gains can usually be from 5-15hp more from doing this. You can even get a super chip, or even run higher octane gas (if your truck says its best on 87, then you should leave at on that) remember the higher octane you get the harder it is to ignite, but once it does its a bigger boom! so sometimes you will actually get decreases in gas mileage because less will burn. To high of octane and its not particularly good for your engine... these arnt race cars! hope this kinda helps you!
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stevedak
Dodge Dakota
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2/02/2010
06:24:36
| RE: EASY MODS FOR A NEWBIE
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BTW...I mentioned earlier that I have the CAI. when I installed it, I DID remove the resonator. I think that makes a big difference. Its much easier and cheaper to install a cone filter onto OEM tubing but I think its worthwhile to remove OEM tubing and resonator.
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Chris G
Dodge Dakota
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2/02/2010
16:36:08
| RE: EASY MODS FOR A NEWBIE
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While I understand the purpose behind a CAI, I also understand that a Carb works off of vacuum signals. I just wasn't sure it the pipe routing, as opposed to a round element, would affect said signal.
Well, only one way to be sure, heh.
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