what is differant on the lightning engine than on the stock engine? i know they put a supercharger on it, but did they lower the compression ratio, or run forged pistions , or anything else?

also, what is the stock boost of a lightning, and what is the max amout people run without major mods?

 

I should know more since I had a 99, but here's all I can tell you. Yes, they have forged pistons. They also have heavier duty rods. The stock boost is 10 pounds, but can be raised easily with a pulley change. There is an air to coolant intercooler sitting in the valley under the intake. The airbox, air intake and air filter are all different then the regular F150. That's about all I know about the engine. The rest of the truck has a lot of different parts too, but you didn't ask about that. Are you thinking about switching brands? I started out with Mopars with a couple of 340 Darts, a 340 Demon, a 400 Roadrunner, a couple 440 Charger R/T's, and a 383 Charger R/t. I switched to Ford when the best Dodge could do was Cordoba's and K cars. Their trucks are a lot better this year, but have yet to go a little further to catch up to Ford.

 

k-cars..lol by the way, have you seen donovan's 9 sec k-car? its pretty cool, but anyway...

im thinking of superchaging my dakota, and i was just wondering what precautions ford did for the superchager. do you know if they used differant head gaskets, or head bolts? over 7# of boost blows them on the V8 dodges, but if you upgrade to ARP bolts or studs, and use felpro gaskets it will take 11#'s no problem. one guy races on 15#'s

how does the intercooler cool the air when it is under the intake manifold? i have looked at a lighting engine, but dont remember how seeing the intercooler, or anything like that.

do you know what max boost lightning engines can take before stuff starts breaking?

i really hope DC puts the hemi in the dakota. that would be fun.

 

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 24-Apr-02 AT 03:18 PM (EST)]I guess I misspoke myself on that deal about the intercooler being under the intake. It's actually a heat exchanger that's under the supercharger. The intercooler is in front of the truck under the radiator, and has it's own electric pump to circulate the coolant through it and the exchanger. You can't hardly see the heat exchanger, because it's down in the valley of the engine. It's overhead cam, so there's no lifters or cam in the valley. I don't know about the gaskets and head bolts. I know guys who have pulleys that add 3 pounds of boost with no ill effects. Good luck trying to get the primitive OHV Dodge engine keep up with the OHC Ford engine. No lifters, no pushrods = fewer moving parts and more stable at higher RPM's. That design came out in I think 1967 as the 273. As far as the Hemi goes, that would be a sweet combo in your truck, but it is even more primitive, since it came out in the early 50's. Now maybe if they redesigned it for the new millenium......

 

ok that makes sence with the intercooler. thanks for the info.

dodge did revise the hemi for 2003. it will be in the ram and HOPEFULLY the dakota. its a 353Ci with 355 hp and 360 ft lbs. of torque (thoes #'s might be off by 2-5) it will have coil for each cylender and 2 plugs per cylender, and have aluminum heads. there is more, but i dont have the info with me.