well im sure alot of u on here know me, im looking for a DD/ race car/truck. that i can run at the track with my friends. i was gunna get an srt-4 but there alot of cash and the insurance is through the ****en roof so... a friend of mine got a dakota the otherday and i fell in love with it. so now im looking for a standard cab black r/t. first of all is there anything i need to know besides the standard the trans sucks. engine problems ( most i know of from my ram) hows the dakota hold up all in all? any special year i should look for? i figured i can get a high mileage rt for between 3-6k. then eventually have the engine bored to a 408 stroker, and then get a bullet proof trans... even possibly get a supercharger for less then what id spend on a srt-4.



so what i need to know?

 

360 heads are known for cracking, power steering pump, water pump, upper balljoints, tranny, look for sherd off exhuast manifold bolts to, exhuast leaks. I think there is some other minor stuff, but i would look for one in the 99-00 range they have way more options in a/m moding and parts, along with Tuning. Single Cabs are hard to find they made very few of them. I think my Bight White Single Cab R/T is 1 out of 114 made in 2000, not considering all the ones totalled and crushed, im sure its less then 99 on the road now, find one, and keep it for a long time. The single cabs look way better then the CC to me. lol.

I wanted a black s/c just to hard to find and i didnt want to drive over 500miles to get one. You can get a high milage r/t for pretty cheap probably around 4-6k, you can get a moded r/t for around 9-10k maybe less. I know somone just sold a 408 blown r/t for 12k. Not to bad..

 

I would get a 99. they are alot easier to mod and you can probly pick them up cheaper too.

or buy a 318 5 speed RC and mod the crap out of it.

 

318 will work just as good, 1 being that the R/T will be hard to find and if you are doing a lot of engine work, heads, stroke everything. It won't matter. The 318 is a smaller version of the 360 so it's all upto you. Id go the 318 route will be cheaper but you will be able to make that thing fly.

 

only problem is the i want a 408 stroker, the highest the 318 can be bored to is 390. im very firmilar with both the 5.2 and the 5.9 engine. my ram has a 5.2 with ported and polished heads, milled and polished intake, rockers, cam. i would like to find a real R/T as thats what i want because its just not a regular truck and to me its worth more. if i find a desent 5.2 5 speed id def look into it though. does the 5.2 have the same gears in the rear as the rt's?

 

no the r/t package came with 3.92 LSD, the others came with 3.55

 

the 3.92 LSD couldve still been an option, its just the R/T had them standard. More than likely a 318 5 speed would come with 3.55's.