I have a 00 Durango R/T and searching for some affordable performance upgrades. I am thinking hard to buy that fastman throttle body that dodgegirl is offering to the users here but I have yet to hear some solid positive feedbacks from those that bought it. Anyone else have any good affordable performance addon's? I pretty much gave up trying to gain a few extra MPG's. It just don't exist and it is not worth the big bucks to get it.

 

it all depends on your idea of a performance upgrade.. If your looking for a little bit of a jolt there is always the normal crap intake exhaust etc.. But if your really looking for a kick in the pants you wanna get rid of that Jug style intake plenum and go with something with a little better air flow. Then there is the trusty ole supercharger which I think there is a kit available, im not sure by who but start with kenne belle. If you havent done the head gaskets yet, When you do finally have to you can do all the fancy headwork i.e. port grind the intake/exhaust journals (port polish) injectors fuel pump yadda yadda... But all that would be like spittin in the wind with that Jug plenum. Bored out throttle bodies are ok. You can mess with the gearing in the front and rear differentials... The list goes on and on and on........

 

Tearing down the engine to upgrade internal parts are getting into serious upgrades is not what I am looking for. Superchargers are great, but not affordable. Last time I spec'ed one out for a R/T runs $4400. Wifey will not go for that. She says better to get another vehicle. I am leary about the intake/exhaust upgrades as I do not think it will add any meaningful power for what you pay for it. At least for the R/T model. The Jugg manifold and throttle body replacements makes alot of sense. I will problaby get me a Fastman as my first upgrade piece. But I have not come across any performance manifold upgrades. Do you have any suggestions on where to direct me to do some research on any companies that makes performance manifolds for the 5.9? This is what I am looking to upgrade so far as far as having a minimum budget goes. Basically just spend a couple hundred bucks here and there, one piece at a time. Married and have a family and cannot go blowing away big bucks. Also, my R/T is my everyday driving vehicle so some intensive upgrades won't do for everyday driving.

Fastman throttle body upgrade
PCM upgrade/retuning - Haven't heard any positive feedback from users on reliability and longevity on these upgrades.
Manifold upgrade - Like to look into this one. If cost is not too expensive.

Hopefully these 3 upgrades will give me some good noticable power and possibly give me an extra 2-3 mpgs on the tank! Premium fuel is too expensive.

 

I know there is an intake plenum upgrade for the dakota R/T its the same motor so try searching for Dakota R/T parts as well.. Exhaust really wont do you much good unless you do everything from headers on back. Most air breather setups are virtually the same. Some claim to make more HP than others but their all pretty much the same. You usually end up gaining more Torque than HP anyways.. Headers and a good exhaust will give you the most MPG and HP (Besides an Intake Manifold HP wise) Believe me I know how the wifey thing goes im in the same boat!!!

 

I have heard good things about the Mopar M1 Intake
As far as headers go, I was dissapointed in the Gibson headers. They took away too much bottom end torque, but ran good above 3200 RPM. If you are set on headers I recommend giving Stans Headers a call. He is a good guy to work and won' tsteer you in the wrong direction.

I have an 02 R/T that the wife drives. I also have a 2 & 4 year old so I feel your pain. I got a good deal on a F&B throttle body and have also upgrade the air intake using a system from Intense Performance. Super nice guy to work and I felt they had good pricing.

As for exhaust, I am looking for a nice dual exhaust, if I can't find one, I may fabricate one.

Hope this helps,

Bob

 

My 5.9 Durango responded great with the following upgrades: Fastman TB, Accel Ignition, JBA wires, 3" Exhaust, cold air intake, IAT mod, transgo shift kit, 180 thermostat, one step colder plugs and brass cap and rotor. It runs a 15.2 in the quarter which is over a second faster than most other Durangos. Note, I don't have any computer upgrades.

If I were you do the Fastman TB, Exhaust, intake and a 180 thermostat. RT"s are a lot heavier than my 2wd so understand you may not get the exact results as me. Hope this helps!

 

I would problaby do a fastman T/B and the 180 degree stat first. I just recently replaced my wires/cap/rotor so can't go wasting them until the next mainteance schedule. I would love to see my R/T run 15.2's. But being heavier and stuck with the crappy full time AWD, I doubt I can get those figures without serious upgrades and a deep budget! Wished dodge has a full/part time on the fly 4x4 option! It would cut back on fuel while in 2WD plus I can chirp the rear tires every once in a while for fun!

 

Actually I think the AWD is better especially if you have more HP and more Torque, instead of spinning the wheels it puts all the power to the ground, if you ever doubt the power of AWD, look at how fast the Audi S4 is, another example is the WRX, etc. Plus I think of the AWD as a safety factor, more grip more safe, especially in the wet, snow, etc.

 

If you watch roadracing, you'll notice the all wheel drive cars are much better at a standing start, too.

 

That's true..however it takes more power to get it going. Over on the DOC forum I've talked to guys that have supercharged RT's and they aren't faster than mine. There is more grip but in this case it doesn't improve acceleration..maybe in a car that is 3,000lbs but not the RT.

btw, my 60 ft. time is 2.21...I don't think an RT could pull that even if it had the same mods as mine.