I went to a local TnT Friday night. I was expecting low 15s with this build. it's a 90% stock 5.2L reg cab Dakota with an NV3500.

mods to the engine are a 220 duration cam at just over .500 lift, 114 LSA. M1 single plane 2bbl intake for the EFI, shorty headers, and a computer SCT tune on the factory PCM. rear end gears are 4.56

First run was ok. buggered up the 1-2 shift, let the clutch out too soon and missed it a bit. ran a 15.2 at 94. 60' time was a 2.2

2nd run was a 14.8 at 96, 2.3 60'

kept getting faster and ran a series of 14.7s

best of the night was a 14.61 @ just under 97 MPH. 60' was a 2.35 I was thinking of taking off the tail gate, drop the spare tire, leave the tire tools/jack, jumper cables, and all the other little stuff in the truck. aero would be unchanged without the tail gate due to the bed cover I have.

had I been able to hook up and duplicate the 2.2 60' time, combined with the reduced weight, I bet it could have been a low 14.5, maybe into the 14.4s

4,000 lb truck with me and a tank of gas, so that night at the track was probably around 3900 lbs with just over a 1/2 tank of fuel.


I have to admit, I was surprised at the times.

had the track done some prep, it could have launched harder, but it was TnT night, or aka "high schooler's night with their stock imports" lotsa stock honda's toyota's, red neck 4x4 trucks, etc.

to the serious racer, you would have been appalled...no tech inspection, people racing in shorts and flip flops, convertibles with the tops down, no helmets, crowds of people standing around the starting line, no track prep or cleaning at all, etc. but, on the other hand...the track is providing a cheap ($10) venue for kids to bring what they got and have fun safely at the track.

in fact, out of my 5 or 6 runs, I was faster than everything I ran upagainst, but the only serious contender that I thought would beat me was a mid 80s 5.0 mustang...but he ran a high 14 to my 14.61

there was a VW buggy that I thought might be faster, being a stripped down cage with wheels and a motor--I know there's some fast VWs out there, especially with their weight advantage, but I think he was pretty stock, with his low 15 sec run.

http://youtu.be/7DiZvl3oUYg

definitely need more practice on my RTs though went at first light of 3rd yellow and went .040 red. then I was gunshy and averaged .8-.7 the rest of the night. oh well. $10 for a night of fun, can't beat that!

I've got my eye on a few Auto-cross days coming up too, looking forward to pushing hard while sawing back and forth on the wheel at the same time

what was your 1/8 e.t ?

Nice! My Gen 2 with a 5.2/NV3500 combo went 14.28@98 with all the Mopar bolt ons available. I had horrible traction and bad 60's too. These Dakotas are a lot quicker than people think, especially the early 5.0 guys like you encountered.

yea, I really wasn't worried when I ended up lined up against hondas and stuff, even with their V6s. there was an early 80s Monte Carlo that I thought might be a good run, figured he had a SBC but I think he was bone stock, running low 15s. but when I ended up lined up against the Mustang, I thought for sure he'd be a low 14 second run and would beat me. maybe it was worn out, beat up, and the kid couldn't drive? surely those 5.0s are faster than that?

my 1/8 miles were averaging 9.6 my best of the night, during the 14.61 run, was 9.51 @ 76.65 in the 1/8th.


in fact, here's a breakdown from that run:

60' 2.35
330' 6.30
594' 8.92
1/8 9.51 @ 76.65
1/4 14.61 @ 96.98

well I never ran my truck in the 1/4 only 1/8 mile a flew times .I always wonder what it would run in the 1/4 is why I ask. I ran 9.10 spining was the best.

cool...sounds like maybe low 14s. what all did you have done to that R/T?

I don't know whats in the motor. I bought it that way..I drive it to work every day..It is fun to drive.I blow off new mustangs with it and piss them off I can tell you that LOL.

Not bad! Definitely not stock though. Stock R/Ts are low 15 sec trucks.

Its always nice to be quicker than you think it'll run

Very cool, lot's of fun finding ET and MPH. Hell yea I would had that thing empty of everything after the 2nd or 3 rd run!! It'll go much faster.

Reminds of the night at the Fri night street drags. It started raining real light and then stop. I couldn't run this drag bike that I had with me, so I ran this 87 360 quadrajet carb equiped ramcharger. It had a 250 NOS plate under the last year for factory four barrel.
It would run 14.4 with NOS, one night I was the fastest thing there because the mustangs were spinning with a moist track.
This was around 1989-90 and stock 5.0 stangs were at around 14.9s if I remember right.
Spend many a day at the track looking for ET.
Here's a picture of both. The bike is what gave me the racing bug, it went 9.22 @ 140.
The ramcharger had 33" tall tires and 4.11s front and back that I installed with a Rough Country lift.

Not to many pics of the truck.This one old and not very good..

Don't get started on the drag bikes ..My wife made me sell !! *()*(&*&&^%^#$

Don't get me wrong my wife loves racing and spends alot of time at the track..But she never took to them bikes