RE: 96 mods (was help)

From: Jon N. Steiger (stei0302@penny.cs.fredonia.edu)
Date: Tue Jan 21 1997 - 18:24:57 EST


>>Folks are wanting the 97 SBEC, and I say wait your turn, us 96 owners
>>were in line first !! ;^)
>
>AMEN!

  Yeah! No cutting allowed! Hey, quit pushing! STOPIT! ;)

   If the '96s are any indication, the '97 owners would be lucky
if they got a SBEC before the turn of the century. ;) Course,
it'd be just my luck if they were to say, "well, '96 was the last
year for that model, not a whole lot of them on the road, maybe
we'll just skip on to '97". :P What I don't understand is what
takes so long to get them out. Can the '96 engine really be all
that different from the '95? I haven't looked into it in any
detail, but I have always assumed that those engines were
identical. (Apparently they aren't, or we could just use
the '95 SBEC, eh?)

  Speaking of the SBEC and mods in general, do I have to take it out
to tow? I don't pull stuff often, but when I do its a 4,000lb trailer.
If so, I'll have to forgo the refund and keep my old chip. I'm
also toying with the idea of getting a supercharger. Can I tow
with a supercharger? (Of course, if I can justify the cost of a
supercharger, I'll probably have enough money for another Dakota, just for
towing.) ;) This would be years down the road after I've gotten headers,
exaust, etc etc, and it may never happen, but I like to dream about it
from time to time, while drooling on myself. It would probably be the
vortech, but I think the Dakota would look nice with a roots type intake
poking out of the hood. :) The hood scoop look (like Kuk's '95 sport) is
nice too.

   This stuff should probably be in a seperate thread, but I've come this
far, so why stop now? ;) Here's another question... Within reason,
how fast do you think the Dakota can be made to go, and what do you think
the horsepower figure would be? For a starting point, lets assume a
318 magnum with a 5-speed. (Unless the automatic is faster? Not as
much fun, in either case.) ;) I don't know about the rest of you,
but I'd sure love to have a 10 second Dakota. ;) Ok, I'll settle
for 11. ;) I would guess that you'd want to start out with a
short bed, short cab sport, 2x4? Or would an extended wheelbase
be a benefit that would be worth the extra weight? Maybe the extra
weight of the 4x4 would pay off in traction off the line? So many
variables... :)

>
>>My 96 has a new addition, I found a used flame red A.R.E. topper
>>last saturday that I snatched up (only fitting, since today is
>>my birthday !!). So for those that are giving up hope at finding
>>a used shell, don't! It took me 5 months, but I found one.
>
>Sounds nice... Speaking of additions, I just had my side windows, and my
>sliding rear window tinted. On the sides I had them put on the 35% tint
>(only lets 35% +/- 3% of the light in and is legal here) and it's only a
>shade lighter than the factory tint on the extended cab rear quarter
>windows. On the rear window I went with 5% tint (limo tint - very dark).
> Overall, it gives the truck a nice gradient look from the front side
>windows on back to the rear windows...

   Hmmm... That's one of the things I've been interested in doing, but I
have no idea what windows I want done and how much I want to tint them. I
was afraid that, if the tint was any different than the cab windows, it
would look funny. We're only allowed to go 30% here in NY. (Speaking of
which... If Dodge can sell the truck with those cab windows that dark,
does that mean I can make the side windows the same? Somehow, I doubt it.) :P
Ned, any chance you'll be updating the page with your new look? :)

>
>>Lee. 96 CC 4x4 V8 SLT All the Goodies but no port&polish or MPI TBI.
>
>Same here... (but still wish I'd gotten the factory fog lights)
>
 
   Nya, nya... Ummm, oh, excuse me. ;) I just looked at the picture(s)
of your truck on the web site, but I'm on a computer with a really bad
video board, so I couldn't make out details too well. Do you have the
holes for the lights? It shouldn't be too hard to add lights. I immagine
you've probably got the switch location in the cab. You'd probably need
to punch out a plastic tab or something. If you don't have the holes
in your bumper/airdam you'd have to do some cutting, which would probably
be the most difficult aspect. (Or rather, the most costly/noticible if
you screw it up) ;) If I remember right, the lights were about $90
extra. Depending on how much of the work you do yourself, I should
think that you'd be able to come close to that figure. Of course,
I've never actually priced the lights or the switch, so I really have
no idea what I'm talking about. :)

                                              -Jon-

    Jon Steiger - Network Administrator, Academic Information Technologies.
    .- steiger@ait.fredonia.edu -- http://www.cs.fredonia.edu/~stei0302/ -.
    | DoD# 1038, EAA# 518210, NMA# 117376, USUA# A46209, KotWitDoDFAQ |
    | '96 Dodge Dakota SLT V8, '96 Kolb FireFly 447, '91 Yamaha FZR600R |
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     - - Unless otherwise stated, these opinions and views are my own. - -
 



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