Re: FIRST DAK MOD?

From: Will (will@cyber-strength.com)
Date: Thu Jul 22 1999 - 09:07:28 EDT


Thanks for the information Bob. Iam getting a lot of good advice of which
direction to head into first. I really wanted to stay away from the computer route
because of the cost of premium gas. I like the cheap stuff just fine, heheh. As
for the HEADERS do you find that the ypipe going down is any lower than the
original OEM part on your dak? Reason being iam concerned about ground clearence
because i go offroad alot on little goat trails taking my boat to good fishing
holes. Need the good ground clearence my 2WD dak provides.

Thanks!

Will

Bob Tom wrote:

> At 12:47 AM 7/22/99 -0400, you wrote:
> >I was just wondering what you guys thought would be the most cost
> >effective mod to bring my 99 Dak's 1/4 mile times down. Right now she is
> >doing 16 roughly and completely stock. Will HEADERS make a huge diff in
> >cabin noise? That's what i am leaning towards and was worried about that
> >and the cost of ceramic coating. Do you have to get them coated, meaning
> >is the heat without the coating bad for the plastic and what not in the
> >engine bay? Will T. 99 Dakota CC 318, Auto 3.55
>
> Will
>
> The best et that I got in my first three 1/4 runs was 16.7 ... that was
> with a cat-back, a dropin K&N, all-season street tires and about 200-250
> extra lbs. in appearance bolt-ons. On the next three runs, I put in the
> '96 MP SBEC and dropped to 15.9 sec. No other performance mods has given
> me such a performance improvement to date. IMHO, it's the most cost effective
> improvement that can be done.
>
> There is one drawback with using the '96 MP SBEC. Your instrument gauges
> (water, oil, voltmeter, speedometer, tach., etc.) will not function.
> It also requires the use of 92 octane. I drive using an aftermarket tach.
> and, at regular intervals, put the OE PCM back in to check that everything
> is functioning correctly. I am now comfortable driving (5 months) with this
> setup.
>
> The addition of headers (Mike Leach's, in my case) gave an improvement of
> 1.5-2.0 sec. A little low end torque was lost as the headers moved
> the power band up about 500 rpm. I had the headers ceramic coated but
> I believe that the Leach headers are nickel-plated (which should be good
> enough for rust and stain protection). They give off a lot of heat but
> do not damage anything in the engine bay. The plus side is that they
> cool off very quickly. Personal opinion = not a huge difference in cabin
> noise.
>
> Good luck.
>
> Bob
> Burlington, Ontario
>
> '97 CC Sport, 5.2L, 3.55, auto., 4x2, flame red



This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Jun 20 2003 - 12:15:05 EDT