Challenge FMV on my new ride?

So I have acquired a '94 Dakota from my father, who just upgraded to an '05 Dakota. I know it's not worth a lot, but I have some challenge aspirations and was wondering if you guys would give me your idea of FMV for it.

'94 Dakota Sport, regular cab, 2wd 2.5 liter four cylinder, five speed No options other than A/C and the Sport package (which means blacked out bumpers, fender flares, alloys, and pretty paint) 158k miles, runs great, transmission is going to need a rebuild soon (second and third gear synchros are weak). It's driveable, but you can't rush the 1-2 or 2-3 shifts at all. Rust in the rockers and over the rear wheels, clear coat thin in several spots, but pretty straight otherwise.

What do y'all think?

At the same time my dad upgraded this, my mom got a new car and gave her old jeep to my brother, who now has a beat '89 turbo Spirit that he is getting rid of cheaply. You can guess the rest...

Personally it does not matter what you value it as, you can sell off half the value in recoup. Call it $800.00 and sell the OE engine for $400.00 and bolt in your brothers old turbo Spirit heart and harness and get to fitting the 16x10s with race compound 255/50r16s.

Lower to taste and have fun.

Buy dad a nice steak dinner. Purchase price is the price of dinner (plus plenty of drinks if you're a good son.) Done.

Toyota R154 transmission FTW!

Use your old bellhousing, combine with R154 (supra, trucks, etc) gain better gearing and strength!

The stock 2.2/2.5 dodge turbo parts won't work as they point the turbo exhaust outlet at the control arm. If you used a turbo with a v-band setup you could flip the turbo or re-route the exhaust around the front suspension.

I vote for a 2.0/2.4 DOHC cylinder head conversion with a Holset diesel truck turbo on a modified stock exhaust manifold. The hardest part will be drilling and tapping the head and block for the plugs and fittings. The rest is just parts and some machining of pulley adapters, etc. Then you'll need a megasquirt EFI conversion to control everything.

From there, some wheels/tires, drop spindles/shackles with circle track shocks/springs ought to help with the handling. Bucket seats will help hold you in place.

I don't know whether the stock rear axle is strong enough to deal with any serious power output, but an axle from a V8 equipped Dak might be within budget. Just watch the gearing and try to find one with a limited slip.

Good luck!

Hmm. I like the steak dinner idea. Within the letter of the rules?

As for the suggestions on what I do to the truck, well, you guys are pretty close.

I like the idea of an R154, but theyre a little difficult to come by and not that big of a gain over the stock trans. Odds are I will rebuild the stock AX15 or find a good one (basically the same trans). If I get an R154, priority dictates that it go behind the V8 in my 73 Duster.

Thanks for the heads up about the stock manifold. I would think this would be a much more common swap, but I haven't found too many guys who have done it and documented it (haven't dug too deep yet).

I'm probably going to keep it SOHC with the Mitsu, but I'll have to find a way to work around the clearance issues. Maybe a new manifold made from weld els? I'm going for driveability and ease of installation over total balls out top end power...so spool is important. I'm planning on swapping the whole SBEC system out of the Spirit along with all the sensors and harnesses. I know nothing about the truck EFI other than it's quite a bit different from the car stuff and not nearly so well documented online.

Ive been away from turbo dodges for five years or so, but when I left the Frankenstein 2.4 head swap was just getting popular. Guess I need to read up on it again.

The comments on the suspension and tires are all what I was planning. Unfortunately, the Dak has some weird proprietary six bolt pattern (different from Chevy and Toyota, IIRC). But I bet I can find the NASCAR steelies I want.

The axle is an 8 1/4 Chrysler. Plenty stout for what I'll put through it. If I break it, I've got an 8 3/4 lying around that will fit if I move the spring mounts (which I'll have to do any way to lower it). Limited slips for either one are fairly cheap and easy to find.

If you want to keep within challange budget I vote for a freshened up v-8...find a good 318 from the early 70's vintage...cheap headers, carb...around here I have had some luck finding old duster engine/trans combos for about $100. (tourqueflight automatics though)

Just my .02

Or go completly wicked and get a slant six and boost it to the moon!!!

I remember seeing a page on it being done. I would probably look at hacking a stock exhaust manifold by cutting the end off an welding on a turbo flange.

You can buy the appropriate flange from here:

http://jgstools.com/turbo/index2.html

However, here's a fun idea:

I have a bolt-on B&M blower kit for the 2.2/2.5 that I'd like to sell.

It is complete down to the valve cover (it came with a FWD header that I sold)

You could mod the TBI unit from a V8 with MegaSquirt and have something truly different!

Anyway, if you search google and put in turbo dokota site:turbododge.com or turbo-mopar.com you'll get a few hits on turbo-charging the Dak.

interesting...what you looking for out of the blower setup? I have a feeling I would be budget ahead to do the turbo, but its intriguing...

I think a working truck has a bit more value than just a steak dinner, unless we're talking Ruth Chris for two. Do an autotrader/craigslist search and find a comparable.

Thanks!

Per

psteav wrote: interesting...what you looking for out of the blower setup? I have a feeling I would be budget ahead to do the turbo, but its intriguing...

Probably around $600. I have a dual dcoe sidedraft to 4-bbl adapter I'll include for that price. I can take some pics if you're interested.

I have the manuals scanned on my club's website under the tech section if you want to read up on it first.