This truck is now unfortunately wrecked. I totaled it in Sept. 2004. I will add my new 2000 Dakota page in a few weeks.
This is what my truck looked like when I bought it, before the addition of the stereo, tint, and other items. It was nice, but It didn't look like I wanted it to. It was too plain. It was just like any other black extended cab '96 Dakota Sport 4x4 that came off the assembly line, and that just didn't suit me.
Since then, I have added 60% tint to the front side glasses, and 85% tint to the rear side glasses and the back window. This, along with the AVS side-glass covers, has made a considerable difference in the appearance of the truck.
I now have installed an Extang BlackMax vinyl bed cover. I really like it, and it was easy to install. There will be pics of this soon.
I had to get rid of the awful factory radio. In its place, I chose to use a Pioneer P43 which is XM Ready, produces 50wx4 max, and has a remote control. I then added a Pioneer GM-X922 600 watt amplifier to push the Pioneer DVC 12" sub. I also have a digital top 1.0 farad capacitor to help the headlights stop dimming on low-frequency hits. I do not have a pic of the new amp or the capacitor yet. I'll put one on a little later. The sub is in a custom box. The amp is powered with a 4 gauge Scosche EFX wiring kit (I added 16 gauge remote wire instead of the 20 gauge, and 4 gauge ground instead of the 8 gauge to the kit). This runs parallel to the existing 8 gauge power wire I already had. I power the 3-way crossover mounted in the glovebox off the 8-gauge wire.
I also changed the factory 5 1/4" 8 ohm speakers to a set of Pioneer 6 1/2" 4 ohm 2-ways (which, by the way, fit the door openings much better than replacement 5 1/4" speakers do). The factory 8 ohm 5x7" rear speakers were changed to 4 ohm 2-way 6x9" Pioneers. To do the 5x7 to 6x9 change, I built a set of adapter plates to set the 6x9's in place of the factory speaker grilles.
The interior is beginning to shape up nicely. I added a pair of NOS series seat covers, the driving light switch on the left side of the steering column, and a switch in the console that interrupts the remote wire on the amp and allows the sub to be turned off while the radio is still playing. My most recent change was painting the dash trims glossy black instead of flat black, and painting the gauge bezel silver.
Under the hood, it is pretty much stock. The only current changes are a Holley Free-Flo air filter to compliment the factory Holley fuel injection that came on the truck, a chrome valve cover breather, and my latest addition, Spectre braided hose covers and 180 degree thermostat.
Another current change I made was putting on dual exhaust. I used a Magnaflow single 2.5" in, dual 2.25" out muffler with 2.25" tail pipes straight out the rear. I don't have tips yet, but maybe there will be stainless 2.5 - 3.5" tips later. I'll add pics of this soon.
The only other current changes are the addition of the Rally Driving Lights under the front bumper in the spoiler, the stickers in the back glass, and the Ram sticker on the tailgate.
Please sign my guestbook and let me know what you think of my truck.
List of Future Changes:
1)_Exhaust Tips
2)_Clear Corner Marker Lenses
3)_New Wheels
