Greetings all:
It's good to see the Dak list is still alive and well. It's been about three years since I last
stopped by.
I was one of the first owners of the re-designed Dakota in 1997 (on the list anyway). The truck
(4x4 Club Cab Sport 5.2L 5-spd) has been running strong for about 4 1/2 years now (I took
delivery in December of 1996). The only major mechanical problem has been when the battery
up-and-died and I ended up leaving a pile of $$$ at the dealership.
When the truck was just a few months old, I installed a Gibson 3" cat-back. The cat-back
system has lasted about four years but, alas, the Wisconsin and Michigan winters took their
toll. Last week, the 3" pipe snapped just behind the Gibson muffler. The pipe had rusted all the
way through.
My truck now sounds like Sean Meldrum got ahold of it! The exhaust exits the muffler run in
front of the rear axle and it rumbles like a stock car. Not good!! Sean likes that sound but I hate
it.
Since I'm going to replace the cat-back, I figured I might as well put the headers on too. When I
installed the cat-back four years ago, the first headers for this truck were being developed out in
California. Enough time has now gone by that they should have the kinks worked out.
Is anyone else running the Mopar Performance headers on a 4x4 with 5-speed? Any problems
or gotchas I should watch out for? I seem to rememeber something about building a special "Y"
tube.... Does that still hold true?
I plan to install the headers and run them into the factory cat. Then install a brand-new M.P. cat-
back system (which should look a lot like the cat-back I'm currently running) behind the cat. I
think this should work just fine...
Oh, I've also beening running one of Jules' throttle bodies for over three years. I never took this
truck to the strip to see how much of a gain I received from the t.b. but this truck will bark 'em
hard coming away from the light.
Any and all advice concerning the M.P. headers is greatly appreciated.
-Scott, 1997 Dakota Club Cab 4x4, 5.2L, 5-spd, Gibson cat-back, Jule's t.b., K&N filter.
WI plates "MOPAWR" ;^)
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