that wouldnt scare me, if it had a built 460 and weighed 3800 pounds then i would be scared

 

yep they sure did but the best muscle truck of that era was a dodge, best bang for the buck too. I had a 1995 2wd reg cab dakota sport with the 318 magnum, 5 spd and 3.91 sure grip gears that stock would flat crush either of those trucks modded up. I had buddies of mine that had lightenins and it wasn't even much of a contest with either of them against the lighter (3400 lbs) Dakota. Not bad mouthin the Ford but the magnum v8 dakotas always seem to be forgotten when they were in fact the fastest muscle truck back then, second only to the rare scyclone/typhoons. I had done some work(cam, rockers and bolt ons) to my Dakota and it was runnin high 12's with wheel spin. sure do miss those mid to late 90's fun times racin trucks

 

So you're comparing a v8 Dakota (ranger sized truck) to a fullsize.
How about you compare a 1500 dodge with a 360 to the ford and gm truck.

That's like saying a mustang with a 302 is faster than an impala with a 350.
I'd sure hope your mini truck with a v8 could keep up with a fullsize.
I had built a v8 ranger extended cab longbed, with 373 and an aod automatic, and it was darn fast. So I know what you mean when you say the Dakota was fast.

 

untwist your panties and first of all the Dakota is a midsize truck not a mini like the ranger and S10. I was talkin "factory trucks" of which the v8 dakota was one in the sport truck segment always gets left out of the discussion for some reason. In fact the 454ss and lightenin were limited edition trucks while the v8 Dakota was just a run of the mill truck but still spanked em both for thousands less at that. I have seen v8 rangers and s 10's that barely ran in the 15's in the 1/4, so a v8 in a mini truck still doesn't promise any super fast street truck. I am not brand loyal at all and just call it like I see it. Don't forget the lightnin had the limited production gt-40 heads, gt-40 upper and lower intake and I think a hotter cam, 4.10 gears, traction bars, so is that fair? Now if you want to talk about speculation sport trucks like a f 150 with the efi 460, how about the 96 ram sport I put together with the magnum 8.0 v10 with the mopar perf cam, borla shorty headers and a few other mild performance tweaks. I removed a few bits of weight here and there (rear bumper, smog pump alum rad in favor of the heavier brass) but it was still under 4500 lb curb weight with the iron v10. I like sport trucks of any American brand, would have been nice to have seen a vortec 350 or 454 version of a ss truck, those tbi trucks ran forever but were always sluggish in the mid to top end dept.

 

Takes more than that to get my panties in a bunch.
So you built basically an srt10 truck before it ever come out. Cool.

I had a lightning... I wasn't happy. The gt40 heads are ok, but the gt40 intake is only a slight improvement for a 351. It's good on a 302, but I don't believe in it on 351.
I built a rcsb 4x4 with an older 460 from a 68 tbird or Lincoln, can't remember, but at 360hp stock it was a very fun truck, and fast.
I would love to swap an efi 460 into my 90 F150, but I think a stroker kit will be fine... With some boost.

The old blocky v8 Dakota's I'm thinking of are the ranger sized ones. Not the style of the r/t 5.9 trucks.

 

Rangers and S-10s were the same size as a dakota. And better built too

 

If you want a 460 that screams, put in a set of pistons that brings the compression ratio as close to 12:1 as you can get, slide in a RV rated cam and put on a decent exhaust system, THEN, buckle up, shut up and hold the hell on. If you have a traction problem, put in a Lock-Right locker.

 

you are 100% wrong, Dakotas were slightly larger then the ranger/s10/toyota trucks and slightly smaller then the full size trucks, they were a true mid size truck. Now the 87-96 dakotas were a tiny bit smaller and lighter then the 97-04 dakotas. Everytime Dodge restyled their trucks they seemed to get bigger. As far as build quality goes, they were all on par for their time. Again not knockin the fords at all, I'm impressed with my wifes 351w 1994 ex cab 4x4 low down torque, turns the 31/10.50-15 tires over easily but sure does like the gas when ya do it

My v10 Ram was more meant for the drag racin then the stiff and a lot heavier later model srt10 rams. Like I said I simply love the sport trucks, nothin more fun then spankin a sports car in a truck, regardless of the make I wish ford would have made all aluminum higher output versions of the 302/351w and played with them a bit more instead of replacin them with the 4.6/5.4 mod motor turds. Now thanks to gas prices my latest truck is a 79 f100 with a 300 6cyl/c6/2.75 peg leg rear and my only concern is tweakin it for every last mpg, pretty sad lol

 

Not really. The stock EFI 460 heads don't flow anything.

 

I wouldn't call the 4.6 or 5.4 a turd. I had a built 5.4 4v that was a mild setup on stock cams with decent heads and some compression that was over 500 crank hp and very capable of a lot more. I just hate working on the modern wiring. I still think it would be cool to coyote swap my truck, or throw in a raptor engine.

 

was this in a truck? I think the torque curves for the mod motors in a heavier truck application is what makes it a turd IMO, took boost to get em to do anything stock. They didn't seem to last as long as the engines they replaced (302/351w), they weren't any better on gas, have/had reliability problems (spark plugs blowin out with the threads) Looks like todays mod motors are a little bit better. Congrats to Ford for that, they are finally at a level where Gm was in the mid to late 90's with the vortec and LS based engines. Dodge screwed up the same way when they dumped the 318 magnum for that 4.7 pos, good thing they got the hemi or they'd have no good gas engines. Just my opinions from workin at dealerships both in the sales and service depts and at late model salvage yards where I got to see the common problems with all the vehicles. The 4v mod motors do look cool though, kinda like an old boss 429.

 

I'll give you that. This was in a mustang that was built to rev high. In a truck it wouldn't be ideal unless it were cammed differently and had a navi intake but it could have been made to run well. It's all in the setup. As far as reliability goes, I never had issues with a mod motor that wasn't my own fault. I only blew up one and that's because I shattered the oil pump gears going way too fast on some country roads and getting her up in the air.

I do think they need to make some more bigger cube modulars for the trucks, it was a good move with the 6.2 but they need to make it an option in more trucks. Livernoise makes the 6.6 stroker kit with twin turbos that put down over 600 to the ground with 37" tires. I'd drive the **** out of that.

 

yea the mod motors remind me so much of the old 351c, didn't do much on the low end but once the revs came on ya better hold on and they totally love nitrous/boost. Yea more stroke/cubes will help em out for sure. I'm sorry I hijacked the thread but I really get into talkin sport trucks, engines, truck comparisons and the "what should have been built trucks". I'll shut my piehole now

 

Not to keep this thread off subject BUUUTTT....

My brother had an ext cab Dakota with a 360. You wanna talk about one helluva ride!!! I wanted one for myself but in a crew cab 4x4. Theyre hard to come by anymore. And that 12 mpg highway would eat ya up in a hurry

 

They made a Silverado SS with the Vortec 6.0 and even AWD. Im not much of a newer chevy guy but theyre pretty neat!