If you really look at it...you'll be spending money on either one - V6 or
V8. If you really get down to the actual modifications, $3000 - if spent
wisely - will go a long way. I agree with ya on the R/T purchase...most of
the used ones that do come through here (occasionally) are either beatup,
really high mileage, or neglected.
If you stick with the V6, you can get away with $1500-$1800 and build it up
with some extra HP in the process. Then, put the rest into a trans "freshen
up" and be happy with it.
On the HP/Price issue - doesn't matter what Dodge vehicle you drive...it's
just that way. GM and Ford made it easy...Dodge is way behind the game in
the User Friendly realm for modifications (no easy or inexpensive way to
tune them with a laptop).
- Bernd
-----Original Message-----
From: msnbcnnbcbs@hotmail.com [mailto:msnbcnnbcbs@hotmail.com]
Sent: Monday, April 02, 2007 12:11 PM
To: dakota-truck-moderator@bent.twistedbits.net
Subject: Re: DML: 3.9L cylinder head work
You're making an excellent point and one my friend is constantly telling me.
Initially I had considered purchasing a used R/T and going from there, but
in
that case it is impossible to find an R/T that:
is NOT a rebuilt/salvaged title
has an excessive amount of miles (of the 2001-02-03)
is in generally good shape and does not need major engine/body work.
The V6 was a way to save myself a lot of money but the horsepower/price
ratio
just plain sucks.
In article <eur96i$n82$1@bent.twistedbits.net>, jon@dakota-truck.net writes:
>
>
> msnbcnnbcbs@hotmail.com wrote:
> > My issue is if the cam needs to come out, things start getting
> > prohibitively expensive. between a new cam, a valvetrain that can
> > handle 55000+ rpms, and the custom tune, along with all the items i
> > described below, i may be looking at close to $5,000. My budget was
> > around $3,000. He is telling my upgrades are a waste of time without a
> > cam swap. Besides, this truck is a daily driver and I didnt want to do
> > anything too radical.
>
>
> This is probably not the reply you wanted to hear but I figured I'd
> throw my $.02 in anyway. :-) If it were me, I'd question spending that
> kind of money on a V6. Granted, some people enjoy getting as much power
> out of any given engine as they can, and there is something very cool
> about beating up on the V8s with an engine that "shouldn't" be able to.
> :-) If that is your goal, then by all means, have at it! However, from
> a strictly cost/benefit ratio, $3K is an awful lot of money to drop into
> that engine for the amount of power increase that some head work,
> rockers, headers and a chip will net you. As far as head porting goes,
> I'm sure it would help, but truth be told, these Magnum heads are
> actually fairly decent, as factory heads go. If you have the know-how
> and/or the Mopar Performance templates to do the work yourself, or if
> you can have it done very inexpensively then its probably worth doing,
> but it seems to me that in general, having head porting done is usually
> not a great beneift on a power per dollar basis unless the heads you are
> starting with are pretty bad.
>
> For the same budget, you could likely swap in a (used) V8, or you
> could go the forced induction route with a turbo or blower. Either one
> of the above options would probably give you more bang for the buck.
>
> Like I mentioned above, if you're looking to stick with the V6 for
> the "cool factor" of making power with a small motor, then just ignore
> this post, but if your perspective is instead getting the most power for
> the least amount of money, I think there are probably better routes to
> take.
>
> On a somewhat related note, be aware of your transmission as well;
> depending on what you got from the factory, once you get to a certain
> power level you may be looking at an upgrade in that department in order
> to ensure reliability. (i.e. 42R series to 46R series, A500 to A518,
> performance rebuild of 46R series or A518, etc.)
>
> --
> -Jon-
>
> .- Jon Steiger -- jon@dakota-truck.net or jon@jonsteiger.com -.
> | '96 Kolb Firefly, '96 Suzuki Intruder, Miscellaneous Mopars |
> `-------------------------------- http://www.jonsteiger.com --'
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon May 07 2007 - 19:04:35 EDT