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young_dakota
Dodge Dakota
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10/16/2005
10:46:49
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 Subject: Cheap ways to make truck faster
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Hey i have been lookeing a round for a while now to see if there is any how to make my 91 5.2/318 dodge dakota perform better, and cheap. if there is anyone out there that can help me that whould be good thanks.
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N56629
Dodge Dakota
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10/16/2005
11:02:03
|  RE: Cheap ways to make truck faster
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Other than your basic tune up horsepower will run you about $20 to $60 per horsepower gained.
Since you can't search this site for the info anymore you could try these -
http://www.dakota-durango.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=99
http://dakotausa.com/vBulletin/forumdisplay.php?s=&f=119&page=1&pp=25&sort=lastpost&order=desc&daysprune=365
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Need4Speed
Dodge Dakota
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10/17/2005
19:54:00
|  RE: Cheap ways to make truck faster
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Well, first thing I would do, as stated above (if you havent already done so) is a complete tune-up on the truck (cap, rotor, wires, plugs, oil change, fuel filter, fuel injector cleaner, and get a K&N air filter for it). Also you can hollow out the catalytic converter, and replace your stock muffler with a glass-pack to increase flow (such as a cherry bomb, or a thrush). I dont know about a '91, but my '94 had a strange plastic cover over the end of the air intake which was situated behind the headlight, I removed said strange cover to increase airflow. Stay away from those fancy-looking chrome air cleaners, all they do is let the engine suck hot air, kills performance (BUT, it does sound cool). The more COLD air you can get to the engine the better, Dodge's love the cold! I hope this helps some.....
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Mopar318
Dodge Dakota
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10/17/2005
20:57:17
| RE: Cheap ways to make truck faster
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"Stay away from those fancy-looking chrome air cleaners, all they do is let the engine suck hot air, kills performance (BUT, it does sound cool). The more COLD air you can get to the engine the better, Dodge's love the cold!"
Where are your facts to back up that statment. Why do I keep hearing "Cold Air Cold Air!!!" It is not going to matter much on our trucks with the aluminum intake manifold. The manifold disaptes heat slowly so your cold air wont help much. I might help on a 4.7 with the plastic intake. I gained 7 RWHP when putting on my open element K&N on my 318. If it was all about cold air then how come none of the drag racers use fancing tubing going to a cone filter out of the engine compartment. I believe N56629 was conducting a study on the temps of the manifold on different intakes. How is that study going?
Now for young_dakota: your 91 dakota is only making about 170 HP stock. Your best way to gain some power is get rid of the TBI. There is a manifold available for your truck to convert it to carb. If your not wanting to suffer from the gas mileage then there is really nothing "cheap" you can do for that engine.
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N56629
Dodge Dakota
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10/17/2005
21:51:41
| RE: Cheap ways to make truck faster
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I decided to stick my Edelbrock Pro Flow back on yesterday. Instead of the usual 65-70 degree difference between manifold temp and the OAT I was getting a whopping 80 degrees difference. That was no doubt due to sucking in all that hot air. My butt dyno says I lost 1.5% of my horse power.
Based on what I've seen so far the most anyone is likely to see is a 20 degree difference. I have a cowl hood which may let more hot air flow out of the engine compartment than average so obviously the test only applies to my truck.
Your horsepower increases by about one percent for every ten degree drop in your intake temperature. If you accept twenty degrees as the maximum expected drop with a cai that means you will not gain more than two percent increase in horse power from the cooler air alone.
This is actually consistant with the claims when you add the ability to flow more air at high rpm's. What might be disappointing is the difference between the stock cai and a very expensive cai. Virtually all the gain has to come from a more free flowing filter and not any drop in intake temperature.
I did make a slight mod to a stock intake by removing the flap next to the radiator and running a piece of four inch tube up to it. The only reason I did that is because my MSD occupies the area up by the fender opening.
Here's what part of the setup looks like.
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Need4Speed
Dodge Dakota
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10/17/2005
22:54:27
| RE: Cheap ways to make truck faster
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The whole cold air thing comes from MY butt-dyno when I mash my truck off the line... The difference between the stock air cleaner and my chrome one is quite noticeable. With the stock cleaner on (and the K&N inside) the truck has WAY more take off than with the open element. The truck also idles smoother and starts better with the stock cleaner on. I found that in order to prevent spark knock with the stock computer I had to run 93 octane with the open element. I can run 87 with the stock air cleaner. Now that I have the mopar performance PCM the open element is out of the question, the truck spark knocks like mad, even with the 93 octane, while using the open element.
Take your truck out on a hot summer day (80-90 degrees) and see how it performs, then take it out on a cool day (50-60 degrees) and see the difference! My truck runs WAY better this time of year than in the summer, and the only thing that has changed is the outside air temp. I've tried both, and I DO agree that an open element will flow more air to the engine, and helps a little at high RPM's, BUT if you can get that extra air to the engine cool, it makes a big difference, especially off the line.
Also "The manifold disaptes heat slowly so your cold air wont help much"..? Aluminum is one of the best conductors of heat, and also cools much faster than iron; so if your engine is running at 195 degrees that intake is going to be just about the same, which will heat the air charge going to the cylinders. The cooler air would make a difference, seeing as how your ACTS (Air Charge Temperature Sensor) is going to sense the cooler air charge and richen the mixture, giving better performance. PLUS cooler air is denser and contains more oxygen per unit volume, which will also yield better performance. The hotter air would lean the mixture and MAY give better mileage, but certainly not better performance.
Sorry to ramble, but I have gone through this issue with every vehicle I have owned (8 so far) and come to the same conclusion every time, cooler air = more power. If your running 10 grand on the tach, then go with the open element, but for our stock, 48-5200 RPM's I think the cool air is the way to go.
'94 Dak, 5.2, A/T, K&N, Accel Super Coil, Autolite Platinum 3924 plugs, Mopar Perf. PCM, electric fan, open cat, single thrush exhaust
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N56629
Dodge Dakota
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10/18/2005
06:59:29
| RE: Cheap ways to make truck faster
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"The hotter air would lean the mixture and MAY give better mileage, but certainly not better performance."
I would say that this is an old wives tale but it is really just a carry over from the days of non-computer managed carb engines. Today the computer compensates for warmer and cooler air by increasing or decreasing the flow of fuel. You get better milage with warmer air because the computer is injecting less fuel and not because the air/fuel ratio changes.
The amount of air an open element will flow is mostly dependent on the amount of filtration area and the filter material. The same is true for all types of air intake systems whether you call the cold air intakes or just an ordinary open element.
Shaping and directing the flow of air into the tb or carb can be just as important as your filter. Many drag racers discovered long ago that totally removing the air filter did not improve air flow. At the very least they found that leaving the filter base on the carb was necessary to get the best flow.
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Need4Speed
Dodge Dakota
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10/18/2005
12:23:14
| RE: Cheap ways to make truck faster
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Sorry I wasnt quite clear enough on my "leaning the mixture" comment.... I DO realize that the computer is what adjusts fuel flow, same difference.
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N56629
Dodge Dakota
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10/18/2005
13:14:18
| RE: Cheap ways to make truck faster
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No, air/fuel ratio and quantity are not the same. You can increase and decrease the quantity of fuel and still maintain the same air/fuel ratio. When you have warm air entering the intake the computer shortens the pulse width of the injectors. This maintains the constant air/fuel mixture so that it does not become leaner.
Using the term "lean" to mean both a lesser quantity of air and fuel and a change in the air/fuel ratio is confusing.
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Brian22
Dodge Dakota
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10/21/2005
20:54:32
| RE: Cheap ways to make truck faster
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A good cheap way to get a few HP and reduce drag on the motor, is get rid of your 15 pound engine fan clutch and go with an electric fan kit, adding a different thermostat, a 180 degree would be best and of course a K&N filter, all that combined should give you somewhere around 10-15 rwhp at least thats my guess
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daddio
Dodge Dakota
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10/21/2005
21:19:25
| RE: Cheap ways to make truck faster
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young, the first post by N56629 made sense. what exactly are you looking for? if you have a few hundred dollars the first thing i'd get would be some 1.7:1 ratio rocker arms. probably the best bang for the buck.
you could also use all synthetic fluids(oil trans fluid, diff lube). this may get you a few hp.
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gerkey4.7
Dodge Dakota
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10/24/2005
17:03:07
| RE: Cheap ways to make truck faster
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if you want to go extreme......
drilling holes in the counterweights in your crank adds a few hp, also grinding the weights into blades help the crank cut through the cloud of oil in the crankcase adds a few hp as well... under drive pulleys reduce drag and add a few hp. these are tricks i pull with my race motor, so i dont know what the effects on your production motor will be, but the little things are what make the power add up.
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ewraven
Dodge Dakota
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10/24/2005
21:40:54
| RE: Cheap ways to make truck faster
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I put an open element K&N air filter on my 1999 5.2 and my truck has never run better.
It really feels like I've gained around ~15 horsepower. Even in the 110F heat we had here just a month ago it ran better.
Of c ourse, this truck won't be seeing any racetracks for a long time; so the only evidence I have is the gas mileage which has gone up around 1.2mpg in the past six fillups.
At the same time though, I also replaced the air cleaner hold down with an S-Screw bent from 1/4" threaded rod that I bought at Lowes. That right there is probably the cheapest mod that one can do on these Magnum engines.
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aaron93
Dodge Dakota
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5/15/2013
05:58:18
|  RE: Cheap ways to make truck faster
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Message:
Well all yall are sayin the cold air intake doesnt work but I
put one on my 4.7 Dakota an it seem to be alot faster.
Another way u can get more horse power is get u a chip to
put on just no what u doing or get somebody to help u.
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