Re: Gary Pinkley's 1997 Dakota Modifications

From: Dave (ded74@yahoo.com)
Date: Sat Aug 24 2002 - 17:30:50 EDT


Man, I'd give a kidney to have that Viper 6-speed in my R/T :) Maybe one of
these days, heck even a decent 5 speed that can handle the power would be
awesome.

--
Dave
Bensalem, PA
'02 R/T RC Flame Red
http://www.twistedbits.net/WWWProfile/dakota/Ob4o9sCNwrxqM/

"Christopher Blancher" <campybiker@mindspring.com> wrote in message news:3.0.1.32.20020821112700.007a6100@pop.mindspring.com... > > > DML'ers > > Gary Pinkley: Hotchkis Product Engineer provides info about his > 1997 Dakota truck modifications in the Oct. 2002 issue of Truckin > magazine. > > The article was 'Hotchkis Hot Lap Day' and it listed that > you have now a 5.2 liter V-8 with all the performance goodies. > The real eye opener was the Viper manual 6 speed gearbox, > Viper brakes front & rear and Fikse 19 inch wheels. > > Please provide some insight on the engineering standpoint > of the Viper manual 6 speed gearbox and front & rear brakes. > > The easy one to tell you about are the wheels. I originally bought them > when I did not have the fender flares on the truck, so I have a 1" spacer on > the truck to run them with the flares. They are a Fikse FM/10 19x9 w/ 7" > backspacing in the front, and the rear is a 19x10.5 w/ 9.5" backspacing. > Keep in mind, that I added a 1" spacer to get the wheels to look proper > with the Flares. > > The front brakes: This is a tough design to do, You have to highly modify > the Dakota spindle and build an adapter plate to mount the viper caliper in > the proper spot. Basically, you chop off the factory cast brake caliper > sliders and clearance for the large, 4-piston viper calipers. Then you need > to design a mounting plate that ties into the dust sheild bolts (also, drill > and tap them for larger 10mm hardware). Be forewarded, if you do this and > use the stock 17" R/T wheels, they will require 0.68" thick wheel spacers to > clear the Viper caliper. I have heard, that an early viper spindle (first > or second year) can be adapted to the dakota with only a little work. I > have not done this swap myself, and cannot say for sure that this works. > Caveat Emptor. > > The rear brakes: These are not quite as bad. You have to fabricate a mount > for the caliper back there that mounts to the original drum backing plate. > You will have to pull the axles to do this. Also, you will have to turn > down the OD of the wheel flange on the axle to fit inside of the Viper brake > rotor. > > The 6-Speed: This is not for the faint of heart. This is a very involved > process. Originally the trans was modified, at Chrysler's encouragement, > for a 2000 Quad Cab 4.7L project truck that we did back in 99. It was built > to simulate the exact packaging of a stock dakota 5-speed, and we jumped > through a lot of hoops. We started with a Viper T56 transmission. The > input shaft was sectioned and then welded together with a 5-speed one to > give the truck style splines. The Bellhousing, from a V-6 AX-15, trans was > machined down and a new trans mounting plate was made and welded to the > bellhousing (we call this the FrankenBell). Chrylser also wanted us to move > the shifter to the factory location hole, so the shifting mechanism was > modified, and moved forward. Right now, I have the trans out to redo the > modifications. I am planning to make the bellhousing work with the factory > viper input shaft (I didn't trust the welded shaft for high horsepower and > torque applications). I also, am planning to return the shifter to the > viper location, as I want the shifter moved back towards the driver. That > way, I can get a shorter throw on it. My truck is a 97, so I have the > trans-mounted speedo gear, so I am having a box built to convert (and be > able to re-calibrate) the speed sensor signal to the Dakota signal. > > Hope this helps all of you, > -Gary Pinkley > > > >



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