It's out of the shop

ND13

Got the Dakota out of the Body Shop today. They did a fantastic job. I'm a pro and if I didn't know, I would not be able to tell where they did the work. It was very minor damage. New fender, grill, headlamp assembly, bumper, and bug shield. The hood suffered no damage. The truck did exactly what it was supposed to do. Absorbed the energy at the crumple zone. They did the work as I requested. The fender was painted off the truck, no tape lines that way. They feathered into the door to ensure a match them cleared the whole door, all the trim, glass, mirror, etc were removed so no tape marks.

I celebrated the truck coming back with a new exhaust system. Did a cat-back "Flowmaster" duals, with polished stainless steel 3 1/2" tips. The 4.7 V8 sounds soooo sweet!!!!! :cool: Can't wait to get in and drive it home to hear it purr and growl when I step on it

I'll try and post pics in the morning. To dark for pics tonight. I'm jumping in that cab in a minute or two to head to the house. Be back later on, peace!!

nadams

So much for any gas milage you had :P

Must be nice to have it all back and good as new

audiobliss

Good to hear it came out well. And, congrats on Flowmaster cat-back system. A necessary part of any car, I say.

ND13

I actually get about 20 on the hwy and 15 city. It only has about 3900 miles on it. The exhaust should help a little on the mpg. Maybe 1-3 mpg better, mainly in the city though, which I don't drive in very often. It won't make as much of a difference when doing 80+ on the highway.

audiobliss

Shouldn't you be on your way already?

And, 80+ on the highway? Do you really have speed limits that high up there??

nadams

Noel- it'll only help your MPGs if you keep your foot out of it

I have a Flowmaster catback on my truck, and it's got a nice resonance at right before 3k RPM... I let it hang in there for a little bit, then shift. The hotter the exhaust, the higher the resonance, so in the morning it's around 2500.

On the highway, it does drone for awhile. On some of those 8 hour driving days it gets a little tiring, but I alternate exhaust and my stereo, so neither gets boring. It's usually exhaust on surface streets, and stereo on the h-way

audiobliss

The last few times I've driven our Jetta (about the only times), I've actually elected to not listen to the radio. Just so I can hear the engine and hear what it's doing so I can get used to it and how it behaves. Besides, I like hearing the turbo spool up. I've never driven anything with force induction before. Or a diesel, for that matter. I enjoy it.

nadams

Those TDI's look like they'd actually be fun to drive. What kind of MPG do you get w/ that?

audiobliss

I think it is fun to drive. It's not quite as peppy as my Cherokee off the line, but once you get it to about 2800, it pulls nicely all the way to 4200. And it handles better than my Jeep, too!

In September Dad took it down to Hilton Head Island, SC (from triad, NC). On just the highway he averaged 45mpg. So, it's not quite as great as they advertise, but it's still plenty good. Especially to be so much fun.