All that said, I would like to say I ordered a Jacobs Magnum team (one step
under the Ultra team) They helped me through the process when I had a
problem or inquiry. I ran the thing for a month and it appeared to run
better (appeared because I do not have a way to test it except daily
driving) Near the end of the month I noticed it was making a noise that I
didn't like. So I decided to send it back. I called the factory and they
said no problem (at that time if it was within the month it would be no
charge, if over the month then a small charge would apply around $35 or so)
While I had the guy on the phone, and we were swapping information about
returning it, I mentioned that it appeared ok just that it made this damn
sound. He then said, if you like I could send you another Magnum team and we
could swap it for another one, plus I would get another month to decide. I
said no thanks, He then asked me to hold on while he went to talk to someone
else. Then he came back, and ask if I minded talking to someone else. Sure
why not. It was on his dime call. The next person said the situation was
understood, and asked if I would consider the Ultra team at no additional
cost to me, plus they would give me more hardware like a complete Ignition
plug wire set and separators, and of course the 30 days to decided once
again. At this point since they had treated me fairly I said OK. The only
part that I had to handle was to return the old set and the duty and taxes
in Canada. It arrived within 10 days. Wow it was way more hardware plus it
included a engine shut down if someone took the truck for a free joy ride. I
installed it as recommended regapped the plugs to .60" and haven't look
back. It appears to pull better, so for now I'm happy, but your results may
differ?
PS while the truck was still on Mopar Warranty and needed to go to the shop
for what ever, I would quickly disconnect it and would notice less pulling
and top end.
Just food for thought.
-----Original Message-----
From: Jon Steiger <stei0302@cs.fredonia.edu>
To: dakota-truck@buffnet.net <dakota-truck@buffnet.net>
Date: Tuesday, August 25, 1998 11:07 PM
Subject: Re: DML: any gains in electrical mods ?
>At 08:16 PM 8/25/98 -0700, you wrote:
>>OK, now its a fact that 92-96 daks are slower with ignition upgrades.
>>Now I ask you what are your facts based on and why is it that there
>>slower. Just because someone says its true doesnt mean its a fact. I
>>am about one paycheck from doing this and want to know whats the pros
>>and cons.
>>
>
> You're right; its generally not a good idea to just accept what someone
>says on blind faith. Especially so for that Bill guy. ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-)
> However, this problem has been noticed by several people, with both
>MSD's and Jacobs.
>
> It would be GREAT to be able to figure out once and for all why this
>is so, but for right now, all we've got is cause and effect. When the
>ignition goes in, you slow down. This is a repeatable phenomenon. For
>whatever reason, aftermarket ignitions slow down some vehicles. Its
>sort of like the joke where a guy tells the doctor his arm hurts
>"when I do this", so the doctor tells him "don't do that". So, that's
>exactly what we're (not) doing, until we can find the root of the problem.
>:-)
>
> A friend of mine read an article in a magazine about this once. It
>was a magazine about imports, but it might be the same thing. He had
>forgotten a lot of the article, and I forgot a lot of what he told me
>though. :-) I think it had something to do with plasma or some such
thing;
>I dunno. I'll check with him to see if he has that article; if I find it,
>I'll let the list know what it says and what magazine and issue its printed
>in.
>
> Anyway, there's nothing stopping you from buying an ignition, but if
>you do you might want to get some timeslips before and after (or even
>a dyno run before and after). The aftermarket ignition probably WILL
>make the engine start better and feel smoother, but a smoother engine
>is not nescessarily a more powerful engine. Just driving it on the street
>and trying to compare the power difference could be deceiving. (For
>the same reason that a louder exhaust may make the truck feel more
>powerful when its actually no different, or even slowed down. We human
>beings are weird that way.) :-)
>
> It might be a good idea to check with wherever you want to buy
>the ignition to see if you can return it for a FULL refund if it doesn't
>give you the results you want. Jacobs' advertisements say that they have a
>money back guarantee, but ITS NOT TRUE! They charge a healthy restocking
>fee (even if you're returning it because it didn't live up to its
>claims) which can add up to some serious money. I believe one DML'er
>lost well over $100 because of this.
> While I'm ragging on Jacobs... ;-) I noticed something very interesting
>(well, to me anyway) in their standard ad that they run in a bunch of
>magazines (for the "Ultra Team", I think. Its the one where they promise
>your money back if it doesn't live up to all these claims they list. (I
>think it says "subject to X% restocking fee" in there somewhere too.
>Anyway, that's not the point. The point is that after reading the entire
ad
>very carefully, it seemed to me like something was wrong, or missing. The
>way it was worded seemed un-natural, almost like "politician speak". The
>claims they mention sound like one thing, but could potentially be taken to
>mean different things. They never actually come out and say that the
Jacobs
>will make more power or make you go faster than stock. Instead, they
>say "improved performance" or something like that. It sure SOUNDS
>like "more power" or "you'll go faster", but what is performance,
>really? It means different things to different people. Could be
>gas mileage. Could be engine efficiency or smoothness. The whole
>ad is like that. It seemed fishy to me at the time, like they were going
>out of their way to not make any specific power claims, and it could very
>well be that it was purposely worded like that because there are some
>vehicles where it just plain doesn't work. The Dakota appears to
>be one of those vehicles.
>
> IMHO, YMMV, etc... :-)
>
>
>
> -Jon-
>
> .--- stei0302@cs.fredonia.edu ------------------------------------.
> | Affiliations: DoD, EAA, MP Race Team, NMA, SPA, USUA. RP-SEL |
> | '96 Dodge Dakota v8 SLT CC (14.85@90.72), '96 Kolb FireFly 447 |
> `----------------------- http://www.cs.fredonia.edu/~stei0302/ ---'
>
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