Well not really. Waiting for the weather to consistently be better so I can use a tree limb to come a long up and off the box. I have a prearranged deal to buy a complete 8.75 rear end from a member here as soon as he gets his new Dana. With the box removed Ill enlargen its wheel houses and move the leaf springs inboard. Then install the 8.75. But no real work done on it as of late. I have decided to go old school with the powertrain. I'm accumulating parts for the future engine and trans swap and bought a new used Weiand tunnel ram and a Hurst pistol grip quarter stick shifter. The engine will eventually be a forged piston 360. Trans will be a RMVB 727. Goal is 400hp naturally asp with a 150 shot of nitrous. I bought some new chinese EQ heads. They checked out as flawless by Holland Automotive and Machine. I had them cut down the guides so now I can safely run a 550 lift cam. I began porting those heads. I may be driving it yet this summer with the stock drivetrain but with the big Hoosiers radials out back and skinny frontrunners.

Sounds like a fun and fast truck. That's good to hear about the New EQ Heads or you just got lucky to get a decent set. Anyways,thank you for the update and enjoy.

Some head porting pics. Exhaust port and bowl before and after. No where near done though

Hey now everyone can see why they flow way worse than a stock magnum head, they are rough as heck and the dimensions are quite a bit smaller as well. Politics aside I can't believe people would rather run a set of those over a set of stock heads with totally harmless cracks that were there when new.

. I bought them from a shop out of las Vegas. Vegas parts and cores. They receive raw castings then machine and assemble in their facility. They have the LA intake bolt pattern.

Your Build sounds like its coming along nice. On the bed they are not that heavy
I removed the one off my 91 sport by myself. By picking it up and sliding it off the back of the frame. Two people ought to beable to remove it by hand pretty easy. I have been thinking about putting a tunnel ram on my dakota. But then I get stuck and can't make my mind up if I wNt to build a 408/426 stroker magnum engine or a 392/ 426 gen3 hemi engine. I have a block and syeikee kit to build a 392 out of a 5.7 hemi. So what to do. Lol please keep the pictures coming on your build.

I've used 3 sets of EQs. The first set was great (bought bare and built up myself) the 2nd set was questionable the freshly built engine they went on drank oil, my son re rebuilt it at 6000 miles and turned it into a 408, and sent the EQs thru the machine shop with the rest of the engine) don't know if it's thirst for oil was in the heads or bottom end) the 3rs set was a complete disaster. (Engine didn't go 6 miles. Valves stuck and kissed pistons)
2nd 3rd set were bought complete "ready to bolt on out of the box" which they certainly weren't.
The first 2 sets came from Vegas, the 3rd set I picked up off the dock here in Chicago, got the last head off if 1 pallet, the 1st head off another pallet)
first set was bought in 2009, 3rd set late 2016, 2nd set bought somewhere in between.

Quality isn't what it used to be on a lot of things. Around here, I don't see as many Magnums lately and have slightly more 4.7L and a couple of 5.7L Hemi truck sprinkled in at the salvage yards.

I knew going in that the current EQ heads are not the superior Australian cast units of the past. But with my careful porting I'm confident my goals will be met and its just nice to have truly brand new castings. The LA intake bolt pattern is nice too for my tunnel ram.

Nice truck. I have a 94 very similar.

That's a clean machine. The Dakota in the mid early/mid 90s was so highly praised. The magazines testing the 318 couldn't believe how powerful the 318 was.

Even the Mopar Magazines praised them especially with the Mopar Performance Parts.

I have the passenger leaf spring temporarily mounted where it will eventually be permanently mounted. Directly under the frame. Created about 4.5" of tire clearance. Remember fellas this picture is just of mock up/ bolted together. I will soon disassemble, remove all the rust- box the frame at the mounting points and weld it all together. The 7.25 rear in the pic will be replaced by a stout 8.75 soon too. Top pic is of the UN MODIFIED driver side. Bottom pic is the modified passenger side.

The rear slider will be welded last. At rest with the full weight of the vehicle resting on it the eye bushing bolt should be about 70% toward the rear. I sat my 250lb butt right on the center of the rear frame to simulate the box being bolted back on and get a start position. But I will slot the mount holes to get it ideal with the correct weight on the frame (The box) then final weld it. This pic shows the position with no box and no substitute weight on the frame. It moves a little bit when I sit on the rear.

Fun build to watch, see it develop. I agree, the mid 90's Dakota is the best looking, I like the curved bumper and grill versus the flat front. The 96 to 2004 it ok looking, but the 2005 and on are butt-ugly. Chrysler screwed up on the development of the Dakota.

Seeing how rough those ports are in the head makes me wonder if Chrysler did any better with the heads on the 4.7.

Andy the pics of those head ports are of current Engine Quest brand and not OEM Mopar. EQ used to be cast in Australia and were fantastic heads- performance heads but now they arecast in China and "just a head." Great quality- thicker castings but not a performance head as is. Thus my porting.