I'm a recently retired teacher in Kansas and an '03 Reg. Cab 3.9L Sport has been my everyday driver since I bought it new. The price was unbelievably low. I figured it was inexpensive because Dodge misjudged (by a decade) the amount of time it would take cassette tapes to become obsolete. Yep, it has a tape deck. I was 6'3" at the time and the regular cab bordered on being too tight. But the dealer went out of his way to send a runner down to Oklahoma to pick up one with the flame red color I had to have and an automatic transmission. I have driven sticks most of my life and wanted something easier to drive and the window sticker said it was rated 19mpg city or highway and you just don't see many trucks with a wide 6 & 1/2' bed that are that frugal. At first I thought I made a mistake. Kansas has no mountains but a good south wind and a hill would cause it to downshift, sometimes all the way to second gear. It was quick enough, even for an old hot-rodder like me. As it got broke in the problem became less severe. But now that I have time I would like to do something to pep it up a little. I bought a 1" spacer for the TB and figure the fresh air intake can be improved upon, other than that I haven't found too many speed parts except for F.I. systems. It was beautiful but is now losing it's paint. Otherwise it's very straight & rust free with 73,400 mi. on the clock. Someday I may paint it and stick the LS1 out of my old Vette in it (gonna pep up the Vette first). Can anyone recommend a way to get a few more ponies out of the 'ol 3.9? Also, it seems to leak a little more oil every year. Are the main seals too much trouble to replace?

 

Well it's probably a good idea not to use the spacer as fuel injection doesn't benefit from spacers. Maybe a good tuneup and some exhaust work.

 

Spacers do absolutely nothing on a port injected engine. As stated, a good tune up. Freeing up the exhaust and intake might net you a few ponies. Nothing you will really feel though. Check and see if a tuner is available for your year/engine.

 

A good tune up can help... A fassman throttle body and tuner will pep it up some... Wont be no bullet by today standards but will make it feel like a new truck

 

A few extra ponies won't do a thing for you. 40-50 will though. Costs money.

 

Take off the mechanical fan and install an electrical fan from a 3.8 liter Ford Taurus (or leave your stock efan alone, since 03 should have one). Did this on my 02 and it gave a noticeable improvement.

 

I owned a 92 Dakota originally and it had the 3.9 and automatic. It was a 4X4 and was RED! It was no rocket and got me around adequately, but no more than that. When I updated to the '01 I decided on the club cab but stuck with the same drivetrain and 4X4. My thinking then was I would probably get in trouble with the V8. As I crossed over the 60 mark I am regretting not having gotten the V8 but have also realized that the drivetrain is VERY limited in what it will do without lots of dollars injected. I guess the electric fan might help, but I've learned to drive within the limits of the truck, complaining when it insists on downshifting because the grade changed from flat to a 2% slope! (It gets really interesting with the cruise control on!)

I guess you might look into doing a swap for a 5.2 if it doesn't require a whole bunch of other things like tranny and differential. There's a few here that have posted making the change, but I never read the posts. Or maybe there's a supercharger available that can be retrofitted to the 6 cylinder, but either way the old saw holds true. "How much will it cost? How fast do you want to go."

 

Hi - I also have an 03 standard cab 3.9 auto. I noticed that I too have the electric fan and the standard pulley driven fan. Did you notice more power overall or at a certain speed and of course have you had any rise in temperature. Being new this year to my Dakota - didn't really understand why they had this dual setup. I don't tow and live at sea level.


Thanks for you thoughts


Mike

 

Thanks for your replies!