1996 Dodge Dakota v8 Magnum
One of the coolest trucks out there; the 5.2l Magnum V8 powered Dakota. This one is even cooler and more special because it has an NV3500 5-speed manual transmission as opposed to the standard 4-speed automatic. It’s also a regular cab, rear wheel drive, short-bed truck when most of the 5.2l trucks were extended cab, 4 wheel drive, and regular-bed. So it’s light, fun, and with 300ft.lbs. of torque and a 3.55 rear axle ratio with LSD, quite quick! The only mods it has are an open-element air filter conversion (the old-school round style on top of the throttle body) and a catalytic converter delete. I want to throw on some shorty headers and do a dual exhaust set up with glass pack mufflers and 45 the tips before the rear wheels, and maybe a good ECU re-flash to get it up closer to the 300hp range.
And yes, I plasti-dipped my wheels black. On my way home from college one weekend, I lost a hubcap somewhere along the freeway so I decided to throw the other 3 in the toolbox and dip the wheels black. I think it fits with the character of the truck better and I think it just looks better.
Sitting ready to go out on the Auto-X course
It’s green and rusty and but it’s been pretty trusty. It didn’t start out that way though.
When I bought it, it only had front brakes. The rears were totally fubar.
The second day I drove it the clutch blew up on my way to school. So it sat in my driveway for months until I got the motivation and funds to replace it. I wanted to try and get access to a lift which is why it sat for so long but my friend got me motivated to do it, so we just did the job in my driveway which wasn’t as bad as I though it would be. I upgraded to a Centerforce dual friction unit so I don’t have that problem again anytime soon.
A few weeks after that, it would cut out and stall randomly. After some research I found that the crankshaft position sensors like to go bad on these motors. So I put a new one in after a new ignition coil and wire from the coil to the distributor, and it ran great! Until about 6 weeks later… It started doing the same thing as before, sporadically stalling and not running. Assuming it was the crank sensor again, I had that warrantied and replaced it the next day because it decided to die at my high school. (I was there for an alumni-band event. I’m a bando at heart, ok?) Anyway, It still didn’t run. Luckily I had some spare ignition coils in the toolbox so I threw on the one I replaced originally and it ran great. Just goes to show that just because something is new, doesn’t mean it won’t go out quickly.
Now it’s running strong and it even does Auto-X from time to time! It does surprisingly well, too!
Here’s a video to prove it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeVFNu1gSzQ
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