DODGE DUNE BLASTER

Jesse Taylor Did It Simply Because It Hadn't Been Done

Dodge Dakota owners have always been on the short end of the customizing stick. There just aren't a lot of aftermarket accessories for Dakotas beyond performance related items. For Jesse Taylor of Lompoc, California, he wanted a midsized truck with a V-8. The Dakota was just what he was looking for, but the problem he faced was that there wasn't any big lift kits for the Dakotas. Being from an area that is big on lifted trucks and off roading both in the local hills as well as the beach dunes, this was somewhat of a turn off. But the owner of Pro Tint didn't let this change his views on fixing up the Dakota. Instead, it inspired him to build the biggest, baddest looking Dodge in his area.

As you can clearly see, Jesse pretty much achieved his goal! To say this Dakota is sick and crazy would be an understatement. The major modification that contributes to it being so wild is the extensive amount of work that has been done to lift the truck up so high. Taylor bent the ears of the guys at TTR Unlimited in Goleta, California to have them construct the big suspension lift. The entire suspension has been changed over to a huge four-by set up that consists of custom made front and rear four link suspensions crafted from big tube and heavy duty heim joints along with a trick center drop down and raised steering. King 16-inch reservoir coil over shocks mounted with custom tubing to the frame provide the ride and control. The entire front suspension was swapped out so that a Dana 44 front axle housing from an early Ford Bronco could be adapted to the new suspension set up. Both the new front housing and the 9.25 rear housing sport dual CV, high angle drive shafts, Dana Spicer 4.56 gears and a disc brake conversion along with Oasis differential covers. Most of the suspension has been painted black, with the exception of the four link bars which were painted blue to match the blue of the King coilover shocks. Of course all of this work by TTR Unlimited was so that Jesse could sit the truck on a set of big Interco IROK 41x14.50R20 tires strapped around 20-inch KMC Diesel wheels.



To trick out the Dakota body, Jesse hooked up with Montes Autobody in Buellton, California who addressed the cosmetic requirements. Most everything on the body was shaved, including the door handles, tailgate, trim items followed by molding in a Sir Michael's Steel Rollpan and installing a RamAirHood.com cowl induction hood over a Street Scene Equipment Speed Grille. When the body massaging was complete, Jesse took the truck over to Hot Rod Alley in Lompoc who then covered the Dodge sheet metal with a white base color followed by black over the top half of the truck which is nicely divided by flames using the top black color.

Since much of the idea of purchasing the Dakota was because of its V8 power, Jesse didn't ignore the 4.7L motor while having the other custom mods created. A K&N Engineering Fuel Injection Performance Kit (FIPK) air intake kit along with a 3-inch Flowmaster American Thunder Exhaust System was installed which not only gives the Dodge a mean sound, but helps out with a little extra pony production.


For the interior, well let's just say Jesse went buck wild! Like the exterior, Montes Autobody worked their magic inside the cab per Jesse's request. The goal was to smooth out all of the interior surfaces, primarily the entire dash, console and door panels which once smoothed, were then covered with shiny black paint like the top half of the truck. Of course there were numerous modifications made to the plastic surfaces too, many of which can be found on the door panels that now sport bolstered and molded speaker pods that house the midrange CDT Audio speakers. Where the passenger side air bag once resided, a seven inch monitor has been installed to go with the monitor face of the Eclipse 5495 DVD head unit.