Exhaust, Intake & Control Module on a Dodge Dakota - Air, Spark & Exhaust
| The first thing we did was get the truck over to Connie and Dick's Service Center to have some baseline numbers recorded. The crew strapped the truck down and made a few pulls.
Dodge built a very nice truck with its V-8-powered Dakota. You almost want to grab those Mopar engineers and throw them a high-five for stuffing eight holes in a small truck. Does that mean the truck is good enough for us power-hungry mongers? The answer is no. So how do we squeeze extra ponies out of the motor? Going back to basics, we know that if we stuff our 4.7L full of air, ignite it with a hot spark, and then get it out much faster, we'll be smoking them down the street.
After a small bench-racing session, we sat down in front of our computer and logged onto www.truckperformancecenter.com. With our vast knowledge of theory, we used a tried-and-true method of combining the parts needed. With the last round of Rock, Paper, Scissors done, a Volant air intake, JET control module, and Flowmaster muffler and tailpipe were on their way. With everything installed, we fired up the truck and were already impressed. The Flowmaster had a deep, throaty tone, and when we cracked the throttle, we could now hear the air sucking in, much like the sound of a '70s cop car with a spreadbore carb. Once we were done farting around, we closed the hood and went on a testdrive. The truck had a noticeable increase in the bottom-end pull that anyone could see from the two black marks behind the truck. It pulled nicely throughout the rpm range, only dropping off at the red end of the tach before the transmission snapped into Second. These essentials will work on any truck, but follow along as we show how this Dodge got hooked up.
