The pre obd2 ecus are difficult to retune, and finding the tools to do it or someone with the experience to do it is even more difficult. The obd2 trucks are now supported by hp tuners which makes them much more accessible but that only works on the 96+ trucks of course, mine is a 92. A stand-alone ecu is still more capable than the stock ecu though so for me a standalone was the best option but depending on the build a tuned factory ecu might be a better fit.
Back in the day I had a 1994 302W swapped 94 Eddie Bauer Explorer with an Explorer Express Eaton M-90 supercharger kit and it made 456 whp at 16 psi with no cooler or anything. It was also jacked up with a 6" Skyjacker body lift and sat on 33x12.50s and 15" chrome bullethole wheels. I had a buddy who had a 98 Dakota with a 3.9 and a 5 speed manual (NV4500?), we put a junkyard T3 on it and it was SO much faster with bigger injectors, a bigger fuel pump, and very low boost with a Vortech rising rate FPR.
Dude, you have to come over at Lee County to add a GT3582 turbo kit in my 1995 dakota 318. 😂 that looks amazing, And quick question: Can the 5.2l magnum handle that much air coming in when the engine is completely stock?
Just saying anything over 15 psi on the stock crank you are at risk of shearing the crank ive have seen videos where they were pushing 18 or 20 psi and crank or the rod berrings bit the dust get tri metal main and rod bearings if you intend to keep it atock bottom end. Congrats on those numbers though that thing is a beast
Haha it’ll probably be in there forever, it doesn’t bother me. The shifter has to be in park for the ignition switch to roll over so I’m not sure if I can just remove it. It’s not worth swapping the column for me to get rid of it.
A lot of manufacturers use external regulators but most are mounted directly to the alternators like Volkswagen for example. In the 70s and 80s Chrysler had their voltage regulators mounted on the firewall and they are pretty reliable usually outliving multiple alternators. Where they made a mistake was their decision to move the voltage regulator inside the ecu in the 90s and making it non serviceable. If the regulator goes bad the ecu has to be replaced or an aftermarket regulator has to be wired in. The best part is the regulators in the aftermarket kits are exactly the same as the ones found on the earlier cars just with the addition of a wiring harness lol.
There's a HEAVY DUTY version? Is that the NV3550 with the removable bell? If you're looking for parts of your Savoy. I know a guy down in Northwest Mississippi that has a few.(just south of Memphis international Airport)@RustBeltGarage1
@blownaway4371 yes but it's only uprated from 300 to 330 for torque and there's no hd specific rebuild parts, 90% sure it was only used in the dakotas and maybe the 1500 rams of the Era with 5.2/4.7, gm used the regular duty even on their 350 models
Did you just finish an engine rebuild? One day I’ll have to do this one but I’m gonna put it off as long as it’s still running and see how far it will go haha.
I always buy and still buy the Nitto nt555 tire they're still are available in the 255/55r17 size I've done the nitto 420's but they quit makin the 255/55r17 size but u can get them in 255/50r17 which isn't really noticeable in looks or feel. but I've have had several over the years I come across here in Arizona that are low mileage R/T's that get traded in at a few of my freinds family's dealerships it seems like every few years most are well kept with low mileage and I use my dealer liscense to buy them from them at what they paid for them when they are traded in and alot still drive like a new or like a 2 year old used truck because most were dealer maintained from my freinds dealerships ever since they sold it to them brand new I got my 1st one 2 years after they started makin them even tho my 1st was used but it still had the new truck smell back then and man imagine having something that drove tight with no squeaks and could carve the road like no other truck cuz those tires just gripped the roads here in Arizona it wad really something else and even tho ther used and older now they still perform quite well.. I can say even if u have a prestine one they still drive at best 80%-90% out of the 100% they once did when they were new.. the regular cabs are by far my favorite and you can still get rocker panels to fix urs ther really not that hard todo I helped fix a couple wrecked ones and was alot easier than I thought it'd be
sorry to write so much but they are by far my most favorite truck to own, well that is in the regular cab configuration they did come with beefier front and rear sway bars along with a high flow muffler that gave it the 5-10 xtra horsepower also came with thicker progressive rate coil springs up front to give it that better handling for carving corners on the highway better.. I've towed with all of my dakotas and they really shine going up the mountains here in Arizona I can pass anyone no matter what I'm towing weight wise, I also install H.D. rear airbags on all my R/T's right when I get them that are rated for 5500lbs the bigger bags let u run lower psi so when empty they don't have a stiffer ride to them plus I add the 5 gallon air tank so the air goes back into the tank on harsh bumps instead of the air being stuck in the bags I can run my air tools like inpact to remove wheeels when i get a flat or just to air up trailer or truck tires when I need to via a quick connect I mount next to the rear liscense plate.. im getting ready to install a ZF 8spd transmission in my current truck here as soon as tranny shop finishes building me a built one for me which I can't wait for
Where are you finding those nitto tires at? When I looked last year I found them at a few places but they were out of stock. The 555 would be a great summer tire for this truck if I get another set of 17s or if I just get a full set of 16s with winter tires for snow season. I definitely benefited with the 235s driving through the snow this winter and surprisingly it still has decent traction from a stop on the narrower tires but mounting them on a 9” wide wheel was a nightmare lol.
@RustBeltGarage1 I get them locally from Tire Pro's it's like discount tire company but totally different owners I know tire rack sells several different styles of nitto's but in 255/50r17 or 260/60r17 but for winter nothing does as well as the nitto 420's do for me in the snow which beleive it or not we just got nailed with a foot of snow this past week ya, I know in Arizona what?? but ya where I live in lakeside we're at 8000ft in elevation even though Arizona is just known for our hot desert in the lower elevations we still have a wild winter but our snow is more a dry light weight fluffy snow which is nothing like your guys heavy wet stuff so it's easier for us to get around on xcept for the black ice thats still the same no matter where you are..lol.. but ya Nitto makes some if you can't find any the 255/50 or 255/60 isn't really much different
@@RustBeltGarage1 I was just up there picking up a car the other night. I've been thinking about buying that Dyno. The owner of the shop is a friend of mine.
Absolutely, I hated the fender dump actually but it was quick and easy. I got tired of the noise and fumes coming in the cabin pretty quickly. When I get back around to working on this thing I will be putting a full exhaust on with some sort of chambered muffler
We were doing the earlier pulls in 3rd gear to try and save the drivetrain from exploding so it was running through the rpm’s fast. The final pull we did was in 4th gear and that pull sounded much more normal
Very nice man. I love it. I have an lnf ecotec motor with a Pontiac solstice 5 speed and am debating putting that in my 92 Dakota and can safely get 400hp with a bigger turbo and less weight than a 318 but I really want a 318 in mine at the same time 😮💨
@@RustBeltGarage1 ok as far as I can see he's on the right path with it the orange color the wheels and body kit looks close to Craig lieberman.s supra he's doing a good job on it
@@juwanhowardhll8019 it was a really cool car, I don’t know much more about it but it’s probably a lot further along now. This all was filmed a year ago.
Gives me ideas, I gotta replace the rod knock 318 in my 95 Dakota 5 speed 4x4. I have a lead on another motor, but I’ve never been impressed by the stock 318 power, so a power adder is a thought.
Sorta, it’s an NV3500 which was used by both GM and Dodge in their half ton trucks and Dodge did use it in some Dakotas. The transmission in my truck came out of an 03 Dakota.
Ole buddy, hate2 piss on your parade.....but that thing is a (DOG)@!!!! OMG...400HP???? AND....WE REALLY DIDN'T SEE 400, THE LABTOP SCREEN WENT OFF@!! But....5.0 fords making 1000 hp and little 4.8 LS engines making 1500 hp...and your happy????? OMG....WHAT A 🤡
To each their own, I like these trucks with these engines in them and I’m very happy with its performance. Not everyone is out trying to make as much power as possible, sometimes it’s more about just having a good time with a build and not worrying about numbers or what other platforms are doing
I've not seen many big numer 318s. I always heard the magnum had bad crank deflection once you try to get past 600. This is interesting. Needs mpfi for more injector. What fuel you got going? Water meth could be cool too.
I am running mpfi and 60lb injectors, it’s running on e85. I’m still only running a walbro 255 pump so that’s probably why we ran out of fuel especially with it using e85. I’ve heard the same thing about the cranks too, if I ever want to make that kind of power I’ll probably have to find a forged crank or swap something else in.
Not a single legit dyno pull in any of those. A run at that power should be 8 seconds at a minimum. Not 0.02. Absolutely no load on anything. Just a slingshot against the load cell. More load than that a jack stand. Use the right gear, slow down the ramp rate, and tune it properly.
This is good advice, we ran less load and a lower gear in the earlier pulls because I didn’t want to be sweeping up drivetrain parts or launch a driveshaft into the nice clean shop we were in. We did run the final pull with more load to double check everything and get the final correct power number, but I wasn’t chasing a number so I didn’t want to run everything pull in that gear and risk making a mess and having to push the truck off the dyno with an incomplete tune.
You are very far from needing to worry about the rods and cranks and piston's even in that engine. Now if you get rid of the junk intake and do a camshaft you could definitely get this thing to the 500 mark with no problem
I actually did end up developing a bottom end knock a few months afterwards but I haven’t had a chance to take it apart and find out why. It could just be worn out rod bearings. Once I get my fuel system upgraded I’d like to get my hands on an m1 mpfi intake manifold and a cam/valve springs and go for more power. Unfortunately we hit 100% duty cycle on the fuel injectors but honestly the power level it’s at now will be plenty for a while as I gather parts and upgrade suspension. It’s a handful already
@@ufarkingicehole I would like to build an engine for it but it’s not in the budget right now. I am going to swap in another stock engine and try to run that for the summer if it holds up so I can get some seat time in it and dial in the suspension and a few other things a bit further
@RustBeltGarage1 If you are on a budget. 2 easy options. 1. Find a big block. 2nd option would be to stick a 318 crank in a 360 block. Bore it 30 over and and you basically have a 340. Can't remember which heads or rods to use but it works well. 3. If you keep a 318, you can save and buy a 390 stroker kit. Any of these options would work depending on your capabilities. If you go big block, I would try to find a 400. It has really beefy bottoms and can be bored / stroked to around 500ci and is Still cheap if you can find one. I had a 318 when I was 15 and spent as much as I could afford on it. I regretted it once I realized I could get far more power for less money by changing it up.
@@ufarkingicehole this truck will always have a 5.2 in it because it wouldn’t be the same to me with anything else in it, unless I put a 3.9 back in it, however I would like to get a second truck to experiment with other power plants with if I ever have the budget and space for it. I have a project truck thats way on the back burner that will use the 440 big block and 727 from my 68 Chrysler but I don’t have the time or space to start working on it yet.
Basically it’s because we were originally doing pulls in 3rd gear to prevent part numbers from scattering. We put it in 4th gear which is the 1:1 ratio gear for the last pull and the extra load on the engine is what produced the bigger number
@RustBeltGarage1 Was wondering what the deal was with the pulls. Started thinking the tuner was just playing around and beating on your setup. Glad there was a plan lol.
Trully some special. Congrats my guy. And appreciate you for the knowledge and documentation over the years. You are trully inspiring and staple in the Dakota community for ages to come.
You ever thought about putting a Getrag 238 6 speed out of the 4th gen Dakota / similar year range Ram in it? Seems like it's a pretty easy swap other than getting a custom drive shaft. Should give you better acceleration. I've never driven anything with the 238 6 speed but from the what I read about it, it should shift less like a truck more like a car trans.
I would definitely like to get something a little better transmission wise, the nv3500 is tough but shifts very much like a truck. The transmission tunnel is pretty tight on these earlier trucks so I’d have to see how big the 238 is. I’ve also considered an r154 swap but the Toyota guys have driven the prices way way up on them. The tried and true t56 is always on my mind too along with the cd009 but they would require more work and funds to do the conversion.
@@RustBeltGarage1 From what I understand the R154 is just an ax15 with different ratios and a different length input shaft. Not sure the R154 is worth the trouble.
Yeah I can send it to you, send an email to jaycobabailey1997@gmail.com and I’ll reply back with the tune file. You’ll be able to see my ignition timing map that way too because I don’t remember what it’s set at. If I don’t reply by tomorrow night just send me another email as a reminder.