Explain to me the merits of a $500 Dakota

A coworker offered his Dakota for $500. Runs and drives. 4 cyl, 5 speed. What would you do?

They are hard to find and that bellhousing is the golden ticket to putting a 2.2/2.5 into a rear drive platform.

Offer $350 and enter it in a demo derby.

Pay $500 for parts getter?

If it checks out and doesn't need anything major. . . It would make for a good, but slow parts hauler.

Buy it.

Convert 2.5 SOHC to DOHC add Holset and Toyota R154 5-speed, lowering uprights and rear shackles, Koni/Bilstein, along with springs from a V8 Dak. Take to Challenge and enjoy.

They make a good chassis to swap under pre-war cars since they have fairly decent front suspension and the track/wheelbase are fairly close to a number of them.

I'd buy it.

That is already LeMons priced...

Runs and drives? Buy it and run it on oil changes and nothing else until it dies. Then take it to the scrap yard.

mtn wrote: Runs and drives? Buy it and run it on oil changes and nothing else until it dies. Then drop a Hemi in it.

FTFY.

Verbal commitment, picking it up tomorrow.

BABE Rally.

So, I gather that the a/c and power steering are going out. How much is involved in taking them out and getting a new belt to accommodate the reduced accessory count? Will I need to blank them off or anything?

Edit: and it is a '99.

I'd buy it in a heartbeat. Turbo conversion as outlined above and run it till I was bored then use the bellhousing ect to rwd convert something with the same Powerplant

Mitchell wrote: So, I gather that the a/c and power steering are going out. How much is involved in taking them out and getting a new belt to accommodate the reduced accessory count? Will I need to blank them off or anything? Edit: and it is a '99.

Let me fly my fickle finger of friendship in your general direction.

I would change out the whatever is broken in the PS system. They are a pain without it, even though the previous generation could have came with manual steering..... Then just snip the AC belt. Then after the 4cy dies, Hemi swap. Or rile up the Slopar freaks with a LSx.

Buy it, swap in a Turbo 2.2 and blow the doors off of lots of surprised people, all on the way to and from Home Depot and the town dump.

Oh wait... it's a 99?

Umm... Buy it, swap in a Turbo 2.4 DOHC SRT4 motor and blow the doors off of lots of surprised people, all on the way to and from Home Depot and the town dump.

That said, I bought a $500 1997 Dakota last year and I love it.

Is it 2 or 4 wheel drive?

Tom Suddard wrote: Is it 2 or 4 wheel drive?

IIRC, you could only get 4by's with the V6 or V8. Even the V6 4x4's were slow arthritic dogs.....

Mitchell wrote: A coworker offered his Dakota for $500. Runs and drives. 4 cyl, 5 speed. What would you do?

Run away?

If it's a 99 It's the AMC 2.5 with an AX-15 5 speed. The only 4cyl options on Dakotas were 2wd 5 speed trucks. 87-93 used the Chrysler 2.5 with a new venture (new process) dubbed the A535 by chrysler. 94-95 used the Chrysler 2.5 with the AX-15 Aisin (Toyota) transmission that Jeep used. In 96 they switched to the AMC 2.5 as the SOHC Chrysler 2.5 was phased out for the new 2.0/2.4 DOHC engines.

/history lesson

I'd drive it til I got tired of it or til it had a catastrophic failure and then I'd sell it off for 500 bucks

I'd buy it, do what needs to be done to use it, use it, sell it on when I'm done.

It's hard to know how great it is to have a truck until you have one, then you wonder how you ever lived without it.

I love cheap trucks (assuming they can be fixed within reason) because you're all the more willing to use them as trucks should be used.

What year, I think 4 cyl Dakota's are some of the slowest "modern" vehicles you will find

Honestly I'd probably rather have the Chrysler 2.5 over the ANC 2.5 in one

Bought it! But I'm not taking it home. Why? Someone else wanted it more than I did, and I offered it for 675... Essentially I was paid 175 to not to buy the truck.

1300zuk wrote: What year, I think 4 cyl Dakota's are some of the slowest "modern" vehicles you will find Honestly I'd probably rather have the Chrysler 2.5 over the ANC 2.5 in one

This is true. The 2.5L SOHC motor just isn't powerful enough to do much of anything useful until you add a turbo into the mix. Add another camshaft and a set of valves to go with that turbo, then you've got something that isn't yet another V8 swap.