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03SXT
Dodge Dakota
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2/22/2004
19:34:05
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 Subject: When was the Dakota R/T born?
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Im really curious, when did Dodge first introduce the Dak R/T? ive seen some pics of older model Daks and the people say that it has a 360 in it, i assumed that the persone put a 360 in there. i wish they made 5spd R/T's. I mean now they make a SRT-10 Ram with a 6spd, why all the Daks have to autos? i so would have bought an R/T, but i wanted a stick. well anyways, this was just a question i thought of....later....
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WipLash
R/T
2/22/2004
19:45:46
|  RE: When was the Dakota R/T born?
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1998 was the official first year of production for the Dakota R/T. Mopar Performance offered the R/T package in 1995 that you could buy and install on your 5.2L. They sold this kit at the dealerships as a seperate do-it-yourself bolt on or you could pay the dealer to install it for you. It was actually a better performing package than the 1998 Dak R/T ever was. It supposedly made over 270hp with the 5.2L. The R/T enblems came with the package. To answer the question, the official first production year for the R/T Dakota was 1998.
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01Motorsport
Dodge Dakota
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2/23/2004
17:30:33
| RE: When was the Dakota R/T born?
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Around 1994, Dodge made a one-off prototype of the R/T on the GenII design that was lowered, and had swaybars from Western Chassis, and had a 5.9 and body-color 4x4 flares. Pretty much a prototype for the production R/T.
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BLK00DAK
Dodge Dakota
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2/23/2004
19:32:23
| RE: When was the Dakota R/T born?
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Anyone have pics of the Gen II R/T's?
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WipLash
R/T
2/23/2004
20:14:37
| RE: When was the Dakota R/T born?
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Unless you want the one prototype they made there isn't one. I'm just taking 01motor's word that they made a prototype. I've never seen it. They sold the emblems so you could put them on, but that was like in late 1995 or early 1996.
Also, there wasn't a body kit included on the "bolt-on" R/T kit. So, if someone had an R/T package installed on their 1994 Dak, you wouldn't know it from the outside unless they put the emblems on.
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01Motorsport
Dodge Dakota
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2/24/2004
09:16:13
| RE: When was the Dakota R/T born?
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The GenII was a spare time project of some Chrysler engineers. One of them was on this board about 2 years ago talking about it. Unfortunately, some flamer ticked him off, and I haven't heard from him since. The truck was strictly off-the-shelf stuff that showed the Dakota's true potential, and thus the R/T later, no doubt. Truckin' and Sport Truck had articles on it.
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94DAKR/T
Dodge Dakota
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2/24/2004
13:25:52
| RE: When was the Dakota R/T born?
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my truck is basically like the prototype..except it uses the 98 r/t block and r/t wheels. It was built by an egineer at DCX in Auburn Hills, MI...waqs built basically like a 98 r/t in a 94 body...lowered with the 9 1/4 out of the 98...the insturment cluster out of the 98...pretty much everything from a 98..but in a 94 body. When i sa the ad for the truck i thought it was one of the 95's...but was pleasantly surprised to find the truck that i now own!!
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hater
Dodge Dakota
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2/24/2004
13:32:32
| RE: When was the Dakota R/T born?
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98 insturment cluster?
heh
right
pics?
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94DAKR?T
Dodge Dakota
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2/24/2004
13:56:20
| RE: When was the Dakota R/T born?
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I will take pics of the cluster tonight and will try and post them tomorrow..the guy really did a good job on the truck..the only thing that was not good on the truck was the exhaust..but i am redoing that now. mike
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WipLash
R/T
2/24/2004
20:46:49
| RE: When was the Dakota R/T born?
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BLK00DAK,
I found a pic of one in a magazine. Go to the mag rack and purchase the Mar 2004 issue of MOPAR Collector's guide and on page 81 there is a custom gen2 dakota with what they call the R/T hood and front bumper-skin/air-dam. It looks sharp.
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capone
Dodge Dakota
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2/24/2004
21:52:05
| RE: When was the Dakota R/T born?
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I don't suppose there is a chance I can get that R/T kit now, heh?
Even if I could get that kit, would it be better to drop in a 360
and work off of that engine?
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WipLash
R/T
2/24/2004
22:25:42
| RE: When was the Dakota R/T born?
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Message:
The 5.9 has heavier internals than the 5.2. It revs a lot slower than the 5.2. The 5.9 is more of a torque motor. If your running a heavy gen3 or a Ram you'll be better off with the 5.9. If you are in a light weight gen2 then the 5.2 would be the better choice. You can lighten up the internals of the 5.9 with a drilled steel crank and some 600grm Ross pistons. Then you would have the best of both worlds. That would cost a lot of money and you still would have a sh!ty 360 block. If I was going to go through that much trouble, I would drop a 340R block in there.
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big_torque
Dodge Dakota
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2/25/2004
22:11:27
| RE: When was the Dakota R/T born?
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I heard somewhere Caroll Shelby had something to do with the making of the Dakota R/T. That true ? I know he made a 89 Shelby Dakota.
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01Motorsport
Dodge Dakota
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2/26/2004
11:18:06
| RE: When was the Dakota R/T born?
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I believe that Shelby was long gone from the Chrysler mix before the R/T Dak. The Viper was his last input. Ol' Shel and Lee Iacocca were buddies at Ford in the 60's and 70's, and Chrysler Chairman Iacocca brought him over during the bankruptcy recovery in the early 80's. The first result was the 1983 Shelby Charger (Omni 2.2), which did well in SCCA racing. The Omni GLH (Goes Like Hell) came out in 1985, followed by the Shelby Lancer (first production car in the world with a CD player!), Shelby Daytonas, turboed Chargers, and the GLHS Omni, which publicity-saavy Shelby used to beat a '65 Shelby GT-350 Mustang in a lap around Riverside, CA road course for HOT ROD magazine. Blasphemy for the Ford fans! I loved it. The V-8 Shelby Dak filled a void, which any current owner of a V-8 Dak should be eternally grateful. I'm not sure, but I think the Shadow Indy and Spirit R/T were among the last to have Shelby's input.
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rtspeeddemon
Dodge Dakota
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2/26/2004
12:34:27
| RE: When was the Dakota R/T born?
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WipLash: A shi$$y 360 block?????
Get a grip this motor is great and produces gobs of power with the right mods.
Seeming you own one you would think you would praise it a little higher.
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bakindak
Dodge Dakota
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2/26/2004
18:06:03
| RE: When was the Dakota R/T born?
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Hey I have been trying to search those posts concerning that gen 2 r/t prototype, any help finding them would be great
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WipLash
R/T
2/26/2004
21:03:50
| RE: When was the Dakota R/T born?
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The 360 block is the weakest small block in the history of the small block dodge. Just read the post and you'll see how many bearing and crank failures there are on this engine. The cranks and bearings aren't failing because the cranks are bad. They are failing because the block flexes too much. They are fine for low RPM towing which is what the negine was designed for.
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Russ
Dodge Dakota
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2/27/2004
12:42:32
| RE: When was the Dakota R/T born?
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Guess you don't follow the R/T race boys on the National R/T club do you.
Several have their trucks running low 11's with the stock crank & rods.
2 people that I know of are dynoed at over 600+ RWHP with no block, crank, or rod failures.
If thats not a strong block what is?
Get your info correct.
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WipLash
R/T
2/27/2004
14:01:36
| RE: When was the Dakota R/T born?
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An engine doesn't have to stay together very long to do 1/4 racing. You can make anything stay together for under 15sec when all your making is 600hp. Try staying together for over 15 minutes at a time at RPMs over 6500.
I raced dirt track for 5 years in LATE MODEL. Very expensive class to run in. No one runs 360's. At least not very long. Anybody that knew what they were doing purchased the 340R block or they found a 340 block that was a pre-71 casting (higher nickel content). Endurance racing is the real proof of how strong an engine block is. The 360 is Dodge's weakest engine just like the 400 is Chevy's weakest engine. In fact the only engine weaker than the 360 Dodge is the 400 Chevy. Those 2 engines are in a class by themselves. They define the word "DOG".
You need to get your facts straight. If the 360 was such a good design, why did NASCAR go with the 340 block? They could have chosen either block and made the 355ci engine. They chose the 340 because it was STRONGER.
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01Motorsport
Dodge Dakota
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2/28/2004
09:13:53
|  RE: When was the Dakota R/T born?
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10-4 on the 340. It helped make Richard Petty famous. You don't hear about 340's as much anymore, maybe its supply and demand, but the 340 really was the foundation for small block racing performance for years, in both ovals and drags here in East Tennessee. Just ask Hensley Performance.
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00R/T CC
Dodge Dakota
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2/28/2004
11:35:30
| RE: When was the Dakota R/T born?
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Petty was famous long before the 340 came along.;)
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