[Dodgelife03]

Hello everybody I'm new on here I am looking for some information I have a 2003 Dodge Dakota SLT extended cab 4.7 v8 and I am looking either to get another 4.7 and build it or get a bigger motor which I need to know what would be the best way to go? Should I go with a hemi any information would help I get confused on here because everybody talks about different stuff I just don't know what I will fit down in my truck thank you for your help

 

[JeremyJ]

Hemi swap would be ideal. For the sake of ease, I'm thinking about swapping an '08+ 4.7 into my 2003 Dakota. It only takes a tiny bit of fab work and costs a whole lot less than a Hemi swap. If you search for "Dakota Hemi swap" on here or on Google, you'll find a bunch of stuff. Holley makes motor and trans mounts that allow the Hemi to drop right in, but they aren't cheap.

 

[radioactive]

Hemi swap would be ideal? How do you know? If that's the case why aren't you doing it?

What do you use your truck for? Everyday driver? Strip? Towing? Off-Road? Groceries? Show truck? Commuting?

My point obviously is that a Hemi swap is not necessarily ideal.

What's wrong with your current 4.7 ? There are clearly things you can do, short of a swap, to get more performance and without dropping a ton of cash.

 

[Dodgelife03]

Hemi swap would be ideal? How do you know? If that's the case why aren't you doing it?

What do you use your truck for? Everyday driver? Strip? Towing? Off-Road? Groceries? Show truck? Commuting?

My point obviously is that a Hemi swap is not necessarily ideal.

What's wrong with your current 4.7 ? There are clearly things you can do, short of a swap, to get more performance and without dropping a ton of cash.

Thank you for replying I use it for an everyday driver I do haul a little wood here and there with it I just want more power torque it cuts off at 98 mile an hour and it's got so much more I can go I just replace the head gaskets and had the heads rebuilt but nothing to performance just all factory

 

[Dodgelife03]

I got the truck for $500 and it had a blown head gasket and I tore it down replace the head gaskets and had the heads shipped off and redone I didn't go in and put no performance stuff in like I should have at the time didn't have the money but I use it as a daily driver I'll call firewood with it drive it back and forth to work I just want to build it up to have more power and torque play around have a little project put a little money in it because there's nothing wrong with the truck whatsoever no rust no nothing it came out of Florida so I bought it from a kid in Johnson City Tennessee there's so many people that's told me this that and the third I'm trying to find some people that knows what they're talking about when it comes to Mopar and Dodges because I just don't want to do something stupid and spend a lot of money that ain't going to work so I'm on here trying to get some ideas and hopefully somebody can help me thanks

 

[radioactive]

The cost and complexity of a Hemi swap is probably overkill for you then. You could start with bolt-ons like cold air intake, headers & exhaust, maybe a tune, then see if you still need more power....

Jeremy's idea of the later 4.7L engine is also a good idea if you want to go that far. Those engines make significantly more power than the early gens. And you can also use the cams and intake from the H.O. engines, I think those are '04 and up.

You can even make noticeable gains just by removing your mechanical fan in favor of a better electric cooling fan setup.

Let's face it -- a lot of us are still driving these old Daks because we don't want to spend $55,000 on a new truck. Count me in that group. Likewise, I'm not going to throw thousands into my 20 year old Dak, which in reality is maybe worth $6 - 7 K in todays market -- even though the body is mint and that's a rarity here in the rust belt. Sure, I'd like more power, but I can live with the mild tweaks I've done. When/if I need an exhaust system -- I may reconsider and put a little money into a less restrictive one.

 

[immattj]

I just want more power torque it cuts off at 98 mile an hour and it's got so much more I can go I just replace the head gaskets and had the heads rebuilt but nothing to performance just all factory

If I am not mistaken, shutting down at 98 mph is due to the PCM.
Mine shuts down at around 116, & like yours, it feels like it's got a lot left when that happens.
I once inquired (on the other Dakota forum) whether there was some reprogramming that could be done to eliminate/over-ride that saftey feature, but anymore, reliability is my biggest priority, & I am a bit concerned that messing with the PCM might incur other issues. That worry might be groundless, but it is not that often that I feel the need for speed, so I am still leaving it alone.

 

[JeremyJ]

I'm pretty sure handheld programmers like Diablo and Superchips will remove the top speed limiter.

 

[radioactive]

I'm pretty sure handheld programmers like Diablo and Superchips will remove the top speed limiter.

I have the Superchips tuner for my '03 4.7 and it's very limited on what it can do. It can't remove the speed limiter. It does add "octane" modes, towing, tire sizes, and not much else of any use.

 

[AIR_RAM]

The great thing about the 4.7L is that it was built so under powered that its very responsive to bolt on's. The 4.7L makes 175-180RWHP from the factory... with 08+intake manifold, 70mm throttle body, cold air intake, HO cams or 2008+ Cams, electric fan, ATI superdamper with 25% underdrive pulley, headers, a true 3.0" exhaust and custom tuning... (Basically all available bolt ons minus ported heads) we can get that 175-180RWHP up to 245-250RWHP... thats 70HP gain with bolt ons!

To put this into perspective, the HEMI RAMs where putting down 250-260RWHP... So a 4.7L with bolt ons CAN make HEMI power.

Adding our Race Prepped heads with the above mods & custom tuning, we can get 315-320RWHP.

At the end of the day, all the mods above would cost less than a HEMI swap...

if you have any questions or concerns about building your 4.7L, feel free to contact me.

SPEED SAFE, AIR RAM PERFORMANCE

 

[Dodgelife03]

The great thing about the 4.7L is that it was built so under powered that its very responsive to bolt on's. The 4.7L makes 175-180RWHP from the factory... with 08+intake manifold, 70mm throttle body, cold air intake, HO cams or 2008+ Cams, electric fan, ATI superdamper with 25% underdrive pulley, headers, a true 3.0" exhaust and custom tuning... (Basically all available bolt ons minus ported heads) we can get that 175-180RWHP up to 245-250RWHP... thats 70HP gain with bolt ons!

To put this into perspective, the HEMI RAMs where putting down 250-260RWHP... So a 4.7L with bolt ons CAN make HEMI power.

Adding our Race Prepped heads with the above mods & custom tuning, we can get 315-320RWHP.

At the end of the day, all the mods above would cost less than a HEMI swap...

if you have any questions or concerns about building your 4.7L, feel free to contact me.

SPEED SAFE, AIR RAM PERFORMANCE

So you're saying I can take a 2008 intake manifold off of hemi and throttle body and bolt it on a 4.7

 

[radioactive]

So you're saying I can take a 2008 intake manifold off of hemi and throttle body and bolt it on a 4.7

How did you get that from his post?

 

[JeremyJ]

So you're saying I can take a 2008 intake manifold off of hemi and throttle body and bolt it on a 4.7

No. He's saying an '08+ manifold off of another 4.7. You'll need a throttle body adapter (from Air Ram). A bored out throttle body will help take advantage of the manifold's extra flow. I don't think any Hemi parts will fit the 4.7, but I could be wrong.

 

[Dodgelife03]

Oh ok thank you y'all just have to work with me on here I don't know how to get messages and message people back

 

[immattj]

Oh ok thank you y'all just have to work with me on here I don't know how to get messages and message people back

If you need to message some one, just click on their avatar & then a new page will come up & you should see a "start conversation" and then click on that.

 

[WallyR]

To put this into perspective, the HEMI RAMs where putting down 250-260RWHP... So a 4.7L with bolt ons CAN make HEMI power.

Better recehck those numbers, me thinks you're about 100HP off. Late model Hemis are 395 at the crank stock. No "built" 4.7 with bolt on crap that out there can hold a candle to a Hemi.

 

[Dodgelife03]

So what if I went with a bigger cam for my 4.7 how do I go about doing that

 

[JeremyJ]

The 4.7 is an overhead cam motor, so there are two cams. The only real options are either factor High Output cams or 08+ cams. There are three timing chains to mess with and it's a bit of an involved job. Search the forums for "4.7 cam swap" to find some instructions.

 

[radioactive]

Better recehck those numbers, me thinks you're about 100HP off. Late model Hemis are 395 at the crank stock. No "built" 4.7 with bolt on crap that out there can hold a candle to a Hemi.

Crank HP is different than RWHP. Probably not 100HP different. You're also comparing to "late model" Hemis. That's not apples to apples.

 

[Dodgelife03]

The 4.7 is an overhead cam motor, so there are two cams. The only real options are either factor High Output cams or 08+ cams. There are three timing chains to mess with and it's a bit of an involved job. Search the forums for "4.7 cam swap" to find some instructions.
[/QUO

The 4.7 is an overhead cam motor, so there are two cams. The only real options are either factor High Output cams or 08+ cams. There are three timing chains to mess with and it's a bit of an involved job. Search the forums for "4.7 cam swap" to find some instructions.

I've been doing some research I just put a new timing chain and everything in this thing and the only thing that I came up with is a oh Cam out of a newer model I guess because my heads do not have the oh stamped in it so I reckon mine is just the standard and I was also looking at intakes also because there's a bigger intake from a newer model I think. And what did you mean by the 08 + cams sorry for all the questions I'm kind of dumb when it comes to stuff like this I can do the mechanical work easily it's just getting the specs right