This page will cover information on adding performance to your Dodge Dakota Quad. For those of you that drive some other vehicle, I'm sure this information will be a good primer on showing you options that are available that could possibly be adapted to boost the performance of your auto.

Some might ask, "why should I be concerned about boosting horsepower on my truck, I'm happy with the power it already has", well for a the majority of people I have this to say, "your absolutely right".

For most drivers, boosting horsepower may be more trouble than it's worth and quite possibly the cost will not outweigh the benefits. However this section of the Dakota Quad Cab Owners Web Page is for the people who push their pickups to the max and desire to obtain the maximum performance from their trucks ......like I do.

300 Horses Would Be Nice

My Quad pickup has a 4.7 litter engine that produces about 235 horsepower, and for those of you who live in California, it's 230 horsepower ........ not to shabby I might say, however I'm thinking about 300 horsepower would be nice, without going overboard.

It's not that Dodge did a poor job on putting together a great engine in the 4.7, as far as I know they did a terrific job. But as we all know this truck as well as any other manufactures vehicle is built to be sold to the masses.

When they build something that their going to sell a lot of, their going to balance the cost of what they put in the car in proportion to the profit that their going to get out of it. Did they put in the best components that money can buy...... I don't think so. Do I blame them.... no, if they did most likely I couldn't afford and wouldn't have purchased a Quad.

But I would and I am considering sprucing up the components of the engine system of my 4.7 to increase it's performance.

That's what this section of the Dodge Quad Owners Site is dedicated to.

Not Available....Just yet.

There are quite a few manufacturers of high performance parts, additions & accessories to chose from. A few of them are established and reputable manufacturers of automotive high performance parts and have been producing their products for various high performance cars through the years.

However what I've noticed is that they only start manufacturing these components after the vehicle has been on the market a few years, and has established the potential to be profitable enough for them to introduce a performance component for it.

My take on this is that since the Dakota Quad is new for 2000 it may take up to 3 years before they start manufacturing that special high end performance part your looking for.

Thought the 4.7 & 5.9 liter engines are not exactly entirely new and have been in use in prior dodge vehicles, the Quad with the 4.7 and 5.9 have been improved upon and redesigned to fit the particular chassis configuration of the Quad. So, you may have to wait a little while for that certain horsepower increasing component.

You Can Double Your Horsepower!

Well...... not exactly.....not likely....well if your willing do drop enough money...maybe. Some manufacturers of these particular performance products seem to generalize on horsepower with sayings like: "up to 15 % horsepower gain." when in reality, what they are talking about, is the best case scenario, with the good possibility that .......your only dreaming if you really expect to see that type of horsepower gain from this product.

As with any advertising, what your being sold, is the Sizzle....... ( the same sizzle you put on the end of a line, to coax that 7 lb. large mouth bass you've trying to pull out of your favorite pond for the past season ) when what you really looking for and want is just some good eating steak.

Some performance enhancing additions will actually increase your trucks performance but it's a question of how much and how much, how much does it cost and how much additional horsepower will you actually get. Can you get a guarantee that it would be a 5% increase or will it be a 20% increase or will it be a claim like the makers of Spiralmax, who say your going to get an increase in horsepower somewhere from 0% to 20% .......... Gee, I guess..... there telling you the truth.

The big question here is, does it work and is it worth the cash and the trouble. I'll be answering these questions for each individual performance addition I can find as time goes on, and with the help of my fellow Quad Owners.

Your Choices

As to choosing what horsepower performance addition you will make to your truck, I would guess it is dependent on what quantity of money you might want to spend, and the amount of research you have done.

You should consider cost versus gain, For instance the K.N. air filter is relatively inexpensive when compared to a AirRaid system which cost is about 4-5 times as much. However I don't see the AiRraid system to be any more effective in increasing horsepower than the K.N. air filter.

Performance exhaust systems can be another costly consideration. How much increase do your really get? Do you chose a catback system from either Gibson, Borla System, Flowtech or a Flow master. Or consider the real deal and go all the way with a header system for maximum horsepower gain.

Supercharger systems are where the most promise may lie for adding a substantial amount of horsepower to the 4.7 or 5.9 engines. As they may add the most horsepower, they are also the most expensive of the high performance additions you may make to your vehicle.

Doctor.....It's Time To Operate!

The above mentioned performance additions are by no means the end of the list. There are many others that are in common use in other vehicles: computer chips, intake manifolds, carburetor ports, cams, pistons, spark plugs and quite of few that I can't recall as of this update to this section.

Again bear in mind that some of these performance components are not available at this time.

For the most part the above paragraphs represents the fine art of modifying the engine to tweak horsepower. Some can be done by just opening the hood some may require the removal of the engine.

Engine removal is usually necessary for machining the block, generally this is for the process of boring out the piston cavities to make them precise and smooth again. Generally the cavities of the engine block are bored out to max, .for the installation of oversized pistons. Oversized pistons increase the engine displacement , hence increases the possibility of increasing horsepower.

I've heard that the 4.7 was designed to run for 150,000 mile before some of the engine components would need servicing. When that time comes, I'll be looking into rebuilding the engine with all the available engine performance parts, plus boring out the engine to install oversize pistons (if available).

Original Warranty

There's a chance that some of these performance boosting components may void the warranty of your Quad. As of this update I'm not sure which would or wouldn't.

There seems to be some battle going on from the manufacturers of high performance components and Chrysler the makers of our Quads. The Manufacturers cite laws written by congress concerning their automotive add-ons claiming, it's okay to install their products in your vehicle without voiding your Chrysler warranty. I haven't read anywhere were they'll back you up in case you car need's warranty and it was refused by Chrysler.

And what does Chrysler have to say about this.............Nothing. Sometimes silence can be very loud.

I do know that once my warranty expires I'll have chosen my favorites and installed them in my vehicle and will post my feedback on them.

For those of you that will be or have installed any of the above performance parts, be so kind as to drop me a line or two about actual cost incurred and what you really think of the performance gains you received.

Thanks for driving in.

Check the front page for the last update date.

By the way, my name is Nick, you can email me by clicking this => Mail