Motor upgrade

[Bobs4X4]

i got my 1990 dakota 3.9 liter and takin it in for head gasket and maintence, i was wondering wat kind of up grades or wat could i have done to it to get some extra ponyss i also saw some 50 horse chips i can get for it supposed to get better mpg wonderin if anyone know good or bads about them

[Bobs4X4]

i know its just a resistor wonderin if its worth it.

[bubbatrucklover]

I would say it all depends on your wallet. If it has a stock exhaust look into ceramic coated headers and flowmasters(I say ceramic to help keep the heat down under the hood) .

You can look into a cam. K&N filter.Head machining.

Here is a snipit on under drive pulleys (#1 of 5 questions):

1. "Do underdrive pulleys really deliver more horse power?"

Every experience we have with underdriving engine accessories shows that yes underdrive pulleys do deliver more horse power by freeing up power lost to parasitic drag. The amount you will realize depends on your car and the accessories you are driving, a car with alternator, water pump, power steering, A/C and a smog pump will see a larger HP gain then a car with alternator and water pump only. Dollar for dollar underdrive pulleys are one of the best value for HP gain on the market.
But don't take our word alone on this, every magazine we have seen who have tested under drive pulleys has show a HP gain, some as high as 12.5 HP.

Now according to this article they also debunk what I thought to be gospel and going with a streetable electric water pump with stock pulleys on the other accessories vs. under drives only resulted in a 1 HP gain with the waterpump over the under drives.

So Moroso Water Pumps are about $240 and some pulley kits run around $100.

If you go with the pulleys and your engine starts running hotter they say swap out you T-stat to a cooler one and also some sub-par charging systyms have minor probs that can easily be fixed.

Just a few thoughts hope this helped.

[Lonesome7.3]

Have you thought about the basics yet? Headers, Better air flow, and other simple things to make it breath better. If you cannot afford to buy or biuld header(s) you can port and polish the stock manifold. The same goes for the intake, match the gaskets and port it real good. If it does not have one already look into a V8 radiator and an electric fan. A radiator from a V8 Dakota I am assuming should bolt in. I could be wrong I have never messed with one.