Hey Andy welcome to the list, its nice to see another person from upstate NY
(I'm from just south of Albany myself) let alone someone else from
Clarkson...
As far as your questions go, the 180 t-stat was the first mod I did and
it's pretty easy I should only take you around a 1/2 hour if that to do.
It's not that much of a difference but if you plan on doing more mods it
will be later.
The stock intake sucks so get a new one... The K&N gen II or the Quick-D
http://www.quickd.com/ are your two best options on a 99. You'll se a big
difference once you replace the filter in MPG and power. Another good mod
is the Throttle Body there are several guys out there selling them, quickd
R&D performance, Magnum Performance and Bruce and Frank. Its well worth the
money, it was the best mod I did on my truck both powerwise and MPG.
As far as the stereo goes I'm very happy with my Pioneer head its din and a
half so it fits in the dash perfect its the DEH-85 and its got just about
everything you'd want in a cd player... Take a look at
http://www.carmedia1.com/ to get some good prices crutchfeild is way too
expensive.
Go with a cat back exhaust as soon as possible don't wait until your muffler
dies, it make a huge difference when your change it to an aftermarket one.
I've got a dynomax on there and it's kinda quiet in my opinion I'd say go
with a Gibson or a borla...
>From what I've found advance and pep boys are worthless unless you need the
most basic parts, I've had a hard time even finding an oil filter for my
truck there... Summit and jegs are all right for some stuff mail order but
there isn't much selection for dodges.
I'm sure you'll get lots of Ideas for mods on the list as well as some great
advice...
Chris Lang
93 V8 CC 4x4
----- Original Message -----
From: Andy Levy <andylevy@bigfoot.com>
To: <dakota-truck@buffnet.net>
Sent: Friday, October 08, 1999 9:50 PM
Subject: DML: Out of the woodwork
> Hey guys, longtime listener, first time caller. I got on the list a
> couple weeks ago and you guys are driving me nuts with these stories &
> mods (not that I mind).
>
> I got a 99 Dak CC 4x4 Auto (yeah, I know, I know...) 318. I've loved
> Daks since....a long, long time. And the new design is probably the
> best-looking truck on the road right now (except maybe the Humvee, but
> that's in a class by itself). One of my roommates last year got
> basically the same truck I have now, I saw it and was totally hooked.
> As soon as I got my job offer and accepted it, I hit the road truck
> shopping. I was driving an 89 Toyota Coroll-over (owned by my parents)
> and went to, I am not kidding, EVERY Dodge dealer within 50 miles of
> Albany, NY. Time was of the essence, as I only had a week (was home on
> spring break). Finally, at the last dealer, I found my baby. Walked
> in, told the salesman what I wanted, and lo and behold, they had just
> rolled one off the truck 2 days earlier. That night was the absolute
> latest I could have found the truck and gotten the loan and paperwork
> taken care of in time to get back to school.
>
> Long story slightly shorter, I returned to school without that POS
> Toyota :) The only option I don't have that I kind of wanted was the
> overhead electronic console with the compass, thermometer, etc. I can
> live w/o it though. I can tell w/o a thermometer if it's hot, ok, cool
> or damn cold. Good enough for me.
>
> Back in May, after a VERY buggy drive, I threw on a bug deflector.
> Other than that, my truck's stock, but I'm thinking mods now that my
> money situation has stabilized and I've settled into my new job and
> apartment. Here's my list so far:
>
> 180 t-stat - How easy to swap it out? Noticable performance difference
> (from what I've read here, sounds like it)?
>
> New filter/intake - I looked closely under the hood when I got home
> tonight, and discovered they're suffocating my engine! Whose bright
> idea was it to put the air filter intake (for lack of a better word) in
> the right fender, with no clear airflow? Was this done so cleaner air
> got in there, or what? Makes no sense to me. Seems to me that the
> engine is having to SUCK air from in there, rather than being fed air.
> Recomendations? I hear real good things about K&N, anything else that's
> hot? Seems like it's an easy install. Mileage/performance increase?
>
> Tonneau - I was looking at that trick hinged soft tonneau, but was
> warned away from it by a shop here in Syracuse, they said the frame bent
> REAL easy if you opened it with snow on top (and there's lots of snow
> here). But my brother's shop out near Albany says it's their most
> popular cover. So I'm confused now. Hinged or regular? What brand?
> Real experiences? I don't want to go with a hard cover, as there ARE
> times when I need to move things taller than the bed, and taking the
> hard covers off looks like it'd be a pain.
>
> Stereo - I got the base 4-speaker deal from the factory, the salesman
> talked me out of getting a CD player from DC, said I could do MUCH
> better getting something later on (and, looking around at Best Buy and
> Crutchfield, he was right). Any favorites? Does a CD changer really
> fit under the front seat (I'm either getting a changer right away or
> setting up the stereo ready for one, I'm sick of tapes!)?
>
> I've been checking out those Gibson cat-back systems too, but I'll wait
> till my muffler croaks. Any other relatively cheap/easy mods I should
> look at? And how much of this stuff do I have to mail order? We have an
> Advance Auto Parts and Pep Boys around, plus a custom shop,
> Installations Unlimited, which I wasn't thrilled with the one time I
> poked my head in. Any other good places in the area?
>
> Does anyone know which of the 2 dealers in the Syracuse, NY area (Sam
> Dell in the city, and the shop in Fayetteville) is the better one?
>
> And where around here can I take this bad boy and open it up? I haven't
> seen the high side of 80 for more than a few seconds at a stretch, and
> have yet to nail the throttle from a standing stop.
>
> --
> -andy
>
> http://home.twcny.rr.com/andylevy/ --- andylevy@bigfoot.com
> ----------------------------------------------------------------
> Remember, amateurs built the ark. Professionals built the Titanic.
> ----------------------------------------------------------------
>
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