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Has anyone turbocharged a 3.9 Dakota? Seeking info.

Posted By: poorboy

Has anyone turbocharged a 3.9 Dakota? Seeking info. - 10/24/13 06:31 AM

I have a 90, LA 3.9 throttle body efi, 5 speed Dakota I am considering adding a turbo to. The motor has around 140k and needs to be rebuilt, rings are weak.
Has anyone gone there before that can offer wisdom, or convince me its a dumb idea? Gene
Posted By: 70Cuda383

Re: Has anyone turbocharged a 3.9 Dakota? Seeking info. - 10/24/13 05:41 PM

Not a V6, but I know a guy who just boosted a 4-cyl Dakota. Ill see if he has a user account here and can chime in
Posted By: ahy

Re: Has anyone turbocharged a 3.9 Dakota? Seeking info. - 10/25/13 12:11 AM

It was a few years ago but there was a belt driven centrifugal blower kit for the V6. The guy I met loved to tear around town in it.
Posted By: 76dodgeboy

Re: Has anyone turbocharged a 3.9 Dakota? Seeking info. - 10/25/13 01:57 AM

Try a Dakota or Turbo Forum? Im sure somebody has.
Posted By: 70Cuda383

Re: Has anyone turbocharged a 3.9 Dakota? Seeking info. - 10/25/13 03:13 AM

I guess Tim forgot to come chime in. One thing he pointed out when I texted him, was that you'd be better off if you converted to OBD-II and ran MPFI, because those TBI LA systems only ran about 6 lbs of fuel pressure, and cannot handle boost.
Posted By: poorboy

Re: Has anyone turbocharged a 3.9 Dakota? Seeking info. - 10/25/13 03:37 AM

Quote:

I guess Tim forgot to come chime in. One thing he pointed out when I texted him, was that you'd be better off if you converted to OBD-II and ran MPFI, because those TBI LA systems only ran about 6 lbs of fuel pressure, and cannot handle boost.




This is kind of what I was wondering about. If I have to change the wiring, I might s well step up to the Magnum V6 as well.
I was looking for a little extra kick, going from a wore out LA v6 to a fresh Mag v6 with the mpfi might be all the extra kick I'm looking for, probably a 25+ hp increase. Gene
Posted By: SLOW67

Re: Has anyone turbocharged a 3.9 Dakota? Seeking info. - 10/25/13 03:49 AM

I had often thought of turboing a 3.9 using a buick 3.8 as a guide. My buddy's old GN ran 7.90's in the 1/8th with a 60mm turbo, 42 lb injectors, 3in dp, and a tune. This was in a 3600+lb car with him in it. The magnum 3.9 has better heads and also gets you a roller cam which the buicks didn't have, and both have cast pistons so theres no gain there. I think a 3.9 with a better cam, 30lb injectors, and a holset HX55 would fly! Only problem I've ran into with the whole idea is the tune. I'm used to ford EEC systems where tuning is easy and software is cheap lol
Posted By: 70Cuda383

Re: Has anyone turbocharged a 3.9 Dakota? Seeking info. - 10/25/13 11:59 AM

guys have used SCT to tune their OBD-II computers while feeding them upwards of 12-14 psi of boost. They also swap out the MAP sensor for a 2-bar map to handle boost and vacuum readings
Posted By: poorboy

Re: Has anyone turbocharged a 3.9 Dakota? Seeking info. - 10/26/13 04:39 AM

Quote:

guys have used SCT to tune their OBD-II computers while feeding them upwards of 12-14 psi of boost. They also swap out the MAP sensor for a 2-bar map to handle boost and vacuum readings




Pretend I'm dumb, what is "SCT" and what is a "2 bar map"?
I do understand the "OBD-II and the 12-14 psi boost very well though.

This Dakota chassis and drive train is in my 48 Plymouth coupe. More kick would be fun, but I don't want a V8. Gene

Attached picture 7901042-white&bluecoupe2.jpg
Posted By: 70Cuda383

Re: Has anyone turbocharged a 3.9 Dakota? Seeking info. - 10/26/13 01:10 PM

Quote:



Pretend I'm dumb, what is "SCT" and what is a "2 bar map"?
I do understand the "OBD-II and the 12-14 psi boost very well though.

This Dakota chassis and drive train is in my 48 Plymouth coupe. More kick would be fun, but I don't want a V8. Gene





Paging Mopar Magainze editor Randy Bolig!! see above!?


(sorry, I was told that Mopar Muscle was not interested in "a dakota article" numerous times to include an indepth article about what SCT is and how it works, and how it's applicable to more than just Dakotas because too many people don't know about SCT)


SCT is a way to reprogram the factory computer to increase timing, add more fuel by increasing the duration the injectors spray, adjust target idle speeds, shift points, remove speed limiters, etc.

You buy a hand held tuner that plugs into the OBD-II port under the dash (or wherever you relocated yours to on a retro swap) and you go through the steps on the hand held device. it reprograms your factory computer. When done, you unplug the SCT hand held, and you're good to go.

Also buy "unlimited tunes" which allows you to do a back and forth with the tune writer while you dial in your engine tune --this is best done with a wide band O2 sensor and a data logger, but can also be done on a chassis dyno or even "old school" by reading plugs after a run for timing tweaks and AFR adjustments.

SCT is currently discontinued the 9550 model tuner, but they did that to release a newer updated model that should be due out by Thanksgiving/Christmas time. when is SEMA? I think the rumors are that the release will be at SEMA.

Contact this guy for more 'how to' info or to place an order. He can tune Magnum engines -- 3.9, 5.2, 5.9, 4.7, 5.7, V-10s. And a cool trick is that he can even take say a 5.9 automatic computer from a california emissions vehicle, and program it to a 5.2 stick shift with federal emissions (which eliminates thrown codes, CELs etc.) and at the same time, change the engine tune to maximize performance, even if you're running a booster 408 stroker.

Hemifever@aolcom

www.hemifevertuning.com



2-bar MAP sensor is...well, I'm not sure how to describe it, but it's the Manifold Pressure sensor that's for boosted engines, and can handle vacuum from part throttle cruise and boost from WOT. The Neon SRT-4 MAP sensor is a 2-bar map sensor.
Posted By: ahy

Re: Has anyone turbocharged a 3.9 Dakota? Seeking info. - 10/27/13 04:09 AM

Quote:

Quote:

guys have used SCT to tune their OBD-II computers while feeding them upwards of 12-14 psi of boost. They also swap out the MAP sensor for a 2-bar map to handle boost and vacuum readings




Pretend I'm dumb, what is "SCT" and what is a "2 bar map"?
I do understand the "OBD-II and the 12-14 psi boost very well though.

This Dakota chassis and drive train is in my 48 Plymouth coupe. More kick would be fun, but I don't want a V8. Gene




For the MAP... MAP=Manifold Absolute Pressure. Atmospheric pressure is about 14.6 PSI which roughly equals 1 BAR (metric). A NA engine at WOT would see at most 1 BAR so they are equipped with a manifold pressure sensor that reads up to 1 BAR. With boost, manifold pressure can go higher so a higher pressure sensor is required. A 2 BAR sensor would handle 14-15 PSI boost or about twice atmospheric pressure in the manifold.

Stock cast pistons may not handle it though. Rule of thumb, over 5-7 lb boost go with forged pistons.
Posted By: 360view

Re: Has anyone turbocharged a 3.9 Dakota? Seeking info. - 10/27/13 11:24 AM

Bernd in Texas had a supercharged OBD-II V6

http://www.dodgedakota.net/boards/per/1113.htm

if you are going to copy a previous engine set up,
the "Miller Cycle" twin supercharger V6s in 1998 Mazda Millenias were very interesting:
"The fuel economy of a 4 cylinder with the power of a V8"
Posted By: poorboy

Re: Has anyone turbocharged a 3.9 Dakota? Seeking info. - 10/29/13 04:04 AM

Quote:

Bernd in Texas had a supercharged OBD-II V6

http://www.dodgedakota.net/boards/per/1113.htm

if you are going to copy a previous engine set up,
the "Miller Cycle" twin supercharger V6s in 1998 Mazda Millenias were very interesting:
"The fuel economy of a 4 cylinder with the power of a V8"




Link doesn't work.
Posted By: 360view

Re: Has anyone turbocharged a 3.9 Dakota? Seeking info. - 10/29/13 02:01 PM

sorry, that link is indeed 404 but it was up as recently as 2 days ago

here is another with some info

http://www.moparchat.com/forums/archive/index.php?t-63587.html
Posted By: poorboy

Re: Has anyone turbocharged a 3.9 Dakota? Seeking info. - 10/30/13 02:17 AM

That link goes back to 2002, nothing more recent? Guess I'll have to do a little Google search. Gene
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