My plan was to convert my '95 F-150 with the 300 six but after hearing about the power to weight ratio of a Dakota with a 318, I’ve been keeping my eye out for one. A little shop here in town has a Dakota Shelby. Driving by, it looks pretty clean. I haven’t looked under the hood or anything but I’ve seen it out in town and don’t remember any smoke.
He was asking $4,000. Now, it has $3,000 on the window. Other than the name, is there any advantage to a Shelby V-8 over any other Dakota with a V-8? They are all 318 engines. I’m not a Mopar guy so I welcome opinions.
One thing about a 318, there are plenty of hop up parts and a rebuild should be straightforward.
Those were pre-magnum engines, certainly TBI. Not the ideal, but workable. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shelby_Dakota. Article states 175 HP, vs the Magnum with 220 HP.
Shelby stuffed an 8 into the engine bay designed for a 6. Later models actually have longer noses to accommodate the 8 better.
Thanks… never knew about the longer noses on the newer one. I think I’ll just stick with this F-150. I bought .it a couple of years ago as a beater with plans of yanking the engine and using it to drive a 25kw generator. But, it turns out it’s such a nice truck, I want to keep it. Great, dependable transportation. I still want to build up a spare 300 engine with higher compression to see how much horsepower we can pick up when running woodgas and/or straight ethanol (no gasoline).