Swapping a LS1 into a 99 Dakota R/T

[98tadriver]

I talked my buddy into doing this after his dakota with bolt ons barely beat my saturn from a dig and lost to it from a roll lol. We just started on it tonight. had the motor/trans out in 2.5 hours. He can weld anything and make whatever he needs to fit the LS1 in his truck :D He's also putting the truck on a diet. The curb weight is 3481lbs according to what I found online. Between the lighter motor/trans and things that he's removing, we feel it will be around 3000lbs w/o driver; possibly less. The motor will be internally stock for the time being, but will have intake/full exhaust/UD pulley & tuned of course. Eventually a nice sized torque converter will be installed. He already has 4.56 gears in it, however we might go back to the stock 3.92's.

I'll post up some pics a lil later. We're shooting to have the new powerplant installed this weekend

[maroman88]

i love those trucks, should be fun

[greenformula92]

in for pics and progress

[Mike]

my parents 99 durango 5.9 rt ran a 16.9 they were NOT fast lol

[sweetbmxrider]

What up Ron! Def in for pics and vid

[BonzoHansen]

Ron will get this done before Al's car is done!

[BigAls87Z28]

Ron will get this done before Al's car is done!

Meh

[98tadriver]

What up Ron! Def in for pics and vid
wasssssssssssupppp!? lol

Ron will get this done before Al's car is done!

I havent been on here much an am so far out of the loop these days lol what's Al doing?

If I had to guess, I'd say we have a few more weeks. mostly because my buddy Donald works late everyday and works saturdays lol. Im gonna upload some camera phone pics 2nite.

[98tadriver]

stock motor
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd186/98tadriv/1.jpg

boat anchor delete mod
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd186/98tadriv/2.jpg

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd186/98tadriv/3-1.jpg

oil pan was hitting kmember until we did this
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd186/98tadriv/5.jpg

and this
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd186/98tadriv/7.jpg

All better :)
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd186/98tadriv/4.jpg

custom motormount plate. just need to secure to frame
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd186/98tadriv/8.jpg

rough idea on where it will sit
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd186/98tadriv/9.jpg

[98tadriver]

after it's sitting solidly in place, the next thing to do will be to make the trans Xmember work, then he will have to fab up some longtubes, as the stupid A arms are in the way. other things left to do, make a driveshaft work (has a 3.5 or 4" aluminum one to cut down to correct size) get U joints/swap yoke,re-weld and then get balanced. run fuel line, then wiring and some other minor things after that. Also, I am starting to think that the truck will be closer to 3000lb with driver lol

[98tadriver]

a little update for today. the motor was set in place and pedestals welded in solid. tomorrow after we get home from work, we will be modding/fabbing a trans Xmember and securing that in place :D

[greenformula92]

Any updates?

[98tadriver]

oops i forgot all about updating lol

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBasv66J4PI&feature=relmfu


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgaeT2IgCn8

[Blackbirdws6]

Lol that's pretty cool. Well done. Any future mods planned?

[98tadriver]

Lol that's pretty cool. Well done. Any future mods planned?

thanks!

He put the stock 3.92 gears in recently. wet kit is installed. He also wants to go with a stall converter, most likely in the 3400-3600 range. and a LS6 intake

[Jersyboyy]

if he ever sells that truck i call dibs now, seriosuly thats an awesome build and pm me when he wants to get rid of it. :)

[98tadriver]

thanks man but from the sound of it, he'll be hanging onto it for a long time lol. If i remember correctly, The Newer Colorado's have 5.3 V8's in them if you're looking for a potentially fast truck :D

[98tadriver]

He's got the LS6 intake on it and a Chummma tune now. Got a hold of Chris from Circle D specialties, and will be getting a converter for it soon

[steverc0034]

Can't wait to see the truck run on spray.

[98tadriver]

lil update for anyone whos interested-

got some new mods :)

Last time at the track (june 5th i believe) with 456 gears, it ran 12.91 @ 106mph on a 1.92 60'

This time it sports 3.92 gears, LS6 intake, tune and of course the new converter/shift kit. Im gonna say 12.40s @ 108 mph on a 1.7 60' Might even go a lil faster

[98tadriver]

Going to test out the new mods this thursday at Atco Raceway :) If anyone is going, keep an eye out for a yellow dakota with a black 6 pack style hood. feel free to say hi lol

I forgot to add, he's thinking of hitting it with a 100 wet shot. He's hoping to get booted for going 11.49 or faster w/o a rollbar

[98tadriver]

oops i forgot to update this lol.

whatever site gave me the curbweight on the truck, was way off.
even after weight reduction, he weighed in at 3680 with him in the truck (185lb)
cant remember if the bed cover was on though. regardless if the website was right, we wouldve been lighter than 3680 lol.

he had some traction issues on the night he ran. best pass was a 12.63@107mph on a 1.89 60' gently rolling into the throttle to get some kind of traction.

then he hit it with the 150 shot from 2nd gear on, and ran 11.9@115 on a 1.92 60'
he said it felt like the n2o was turning on/off. later found out he forgot to program the WOT switch on the zex kit.

this week- ditched the zex noids' for some NX noids' and also picked up a digital window/WOT switch.

also ditched his heavy wheel/tire combo for some 15x8 draglites with m/t slicks and 15x3.5 draglites with a bias ply frontrunner. That shaved 144lbs of rotational weight off the truck (90lbs off the front, 54lbs off the rear)

Installed my own home made ram air, which is pretty awesome lol, and a meziere electric waterpump as well.

in good air with traction, I'm thinking 11.9-12.0 on a 1.67-1.70 60' at 109-110mph (bolt ons)

on the 150 shot, this one is gonna be tough because i dont think it will dead hook in 1st gear

i guess a 11.1 @ 121 mph 1.6 60'

[mc73nova]

Nice build.

[sweetbmxrider]

Ohhh mannn

[B4C]

Are those vacuum cleaner parts....

[98tadriver]

Nice build.

Thanks :)

Are those vacuum cleaner parts....

No sir. It consists of a 4x10" or 4x12" register with 4" flexible aluminum dryer duct. if i shined a light inside it, you could see throttle blade :)

[98tadriver]

I should probably update this lol

We went a lil faster a few months ago

Bolt on pass
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ya64lxm5_xw&list=UU9UEVuPEe_XY40GAyRLocbg&index=7

nitrous pass
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BDYBTPQDMQ&list=UU9UEVuPEe_XY40GAyRLocbg&index=6

Got new tires, doing some suspension work, and he went crazy with weight reduction. If I had to guess, he shaved about 300lbs off. He's building his rollbar for it soon.

[98tadriver]

Lexan windows all the way around, new hood, and a few other minor changes. I like it

[Featherburner]

Looks good, Ron.

[98tadriver]

Looks good, Ron.

Thanks! Im pretty sure his truck is 350 lbs lighter than last season, and thats after the rollbar is installed lol. New slicks out back and better suspension. Could very well see 11.6's with bolt ons and definately 10's on nitrous this season

[steverc0034]

DAMN!

[Tru2Chevy]

Looks good!

He should get a custom "Dakota 5.7 R/T" decal for it and see how many people notice....

- Justin

[98tadriver]

Looks good!

He should get a custom "Dakota 5.7 R/T" decal for it and see how many people notice....

- Justin

Great minds think alike lol

[ThoR294]

lol @ that intake. nice project! i want to do this to my 92 dakota :P

[WSex]

Update?

[98tadriver]

Update?

My bad, I haven't been on here in a while lol

Still bolt ons, weight reduction as mentioned above.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XltwrOSxe5I&list=UU9UEVuPEe_XY40GAyRLocbg&index=4

on a 200shot (never tested it before going to the track)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_d2oA6ttiUk

Since that day, he decided on going with a 383 LS1, heads & cam, TH400 trans, and maybe losing some more weight in certain areas. Definitely will be spraying on top of that. He recently bought a new home, so progress wont be as fast as last time lol. However, we do have the trans, converter, motor is in the process of being built, and we have the heads/cam for it. We might ditch the stock dana 60 (if I remember correctly) and put a custom built 8.8 ford rear with a spool in it to save weight

[98tadriver]

lol @ that intake. nice project! i want to do this to my 92 dakota :P

if you're talking about that HVAC register in the front, it got blown off from a nitrous backfire lol. Aluminum intake for the win there