hi i have some questions about the 3.9 magnum. i bought my 96 dakota sport 2wd 5speed from an older mechanic in town for $300 and all it needed was a left taillight and thats when i feel in love it. the best running vehicle i have owned and i have already had 5. in the last 1.5yrs i have put about 28k on the motor and recently its starting to show.
the most serious issue is sometimes when i put in 1st gear and try and drive it bogs down very bad to about 400rpms but when i take it out and hit the gas to rev it up and throw it back into 1st quick its fine. i though i resolved this issue by upgrading plug wires to higher temp quality ones but its happening again.

last night i was cruising around the land not even goin 60mph for about 45mins continuous and i noticed the oil temp gauge was reading hot, not all the way up but about 3/4. i pulled over and let it cool down for 5 mins then hopped back on the road. about 10mins later i decided to let the cars ahead travel up to make some room i then dropped it to 2nd and stomped on it till about 4500rpms and the dam gauge didnt budge, basically am asking should i be concerned.

the motor has about 158k and im considering a rebuild top to bottom and the thought of possibly upgrading cams came across my mind. does anybody have any other input on performance upgrades and if anything else would need to be changed if i upgraded cams.
thankyou to anyone who reads this and can help me out

 

These never had an oil temp gauge factory, engine temp might be what your thinking of.

As far as upgrades go, your best bang for buck on these isn't much. V8 Throttle body, headers, and a set of harland sharp 1.7 rockers are really all you can do for bolt-ons to get something noticable. couple those with a full exhuast you might hit 200hp, maybe. Hughes engines has a cam but for all the trouble of putting it in, it's really not worth the 3 hp you will gain from it.

If you want performance the V8 is really the best option to go with.

 

my first trick. the distributor cap has a vent hole between the center tower and the outer ring of towers. plug it with JB-weld. it lets moisture in., you dont need it

 

I've got a '96 4wd, automatic, with the 3.55 gears. And the V8. I'll tell you, it's a great truck, but performance is not awe inspiring. I would guess it may have something to do with the truck having almost 230,000 miles and the engine could be getting a little tired. But it uses no oil, doesn't smoke and it's just kinda leisurely in its approach to acceleration. Tough old piece of iron, but no hot rod.

Comparing it to my old Olds 88 with the 3.8 V6, the performance of the old lawyer's car was at least as good.

 

if you drive only in town a 4.1 gear works good. my MPG went from 8-9 to 11-12. cause the trany started going into O.D. at 35 MPH. NOTE: in town only

 

Doing the engine in my 96 now. Thought about the the V8 swap but just opted for a refresh of the V6.
Headers, matched ports on the head.
Roller rockers
V8 throttle body
Intake ported to match the head

Stayed with the stock cam, like stated above, cost gain just not worth it in the end.

Waiting on the block, crank, rods and pistons to be completed now.

Was not looking for a huge jump in power just about over 200 with 250 of torgue. Going to be very close.

Once, I get the engine back and on the stand, I will throw up pictures.

 

i did consider a v8 swap heavily but this is my only vehicle and i commute for what and i can risk not being able to work, that and it seems too costly. i love my truck and would love to put a v8 in it but from what i read its almost always cheaper to just buy one witha v8.

im going to look into the rockers though i didnt hear about them. i read somewhere if you take 3.9 stock headers off a 89-92?93?? they allow more airflow so im going to pick up a pair this weekend if all goes well

 

The earlier manifolds are better. I forget the year they changed but the headers are a direct swap for the current manifolds.

http://www.troyerperformance.com/scr...idproduct=1191

 

They changed in '94. If your going that route, your gunna want to get one's off of a '92 or a '93. Pre-magnum exhaust manifolds won't work on a magnum motor (as far as I know)

 

300$ car - big problem on it's repairing