2006 Dodge Durango Sxt Sport Utility 4-door 4.7l on 2040-cars

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Junkyard Gem: 1987 Dodge Ram 50 with V8 swap

Chrysler did very well selling Mitsubishi Forte pickups with Plymouth and Dodge badging in the United States, even after Mitsubishi began moving the same trucks out of their own American dealerships in 1982. The 1987 Ram 50 2WD short bed weighed in at just over 2,500 pounds, so it was reasonably perky with its 2.0-liter G63B four-banger making 90 horsepower… but there's no replacement for displacement! At some point along the line, a Chrysler small-block V8 engine found its way into the engine compartment of this truck, now residing in a car graveyard in Sparks, Nevada. This was the cheapest new Dodge-branded pickup Americans could buy as a 1987 model, though it had to compete with its near-identical Mitsubishi Mighty Max twin for sales. The 1980s were great times for little pickups in the United States, but a desire for bigger cabs and more creature comforts doomed them by the dawn of the following decade. The most interesting thing about this engine swap is that it didn't involve a Chevrolet or Ford small-block V8. Both the Chevy small-block and Ford Windsor V8s are a few inches narrower than the Chrysler LA-series V8, which makes them easier to stuff into a small vehicle. It appears that engine length was the critical dimension in this case, since the Mopar seems to have had enough side-to-side clearance to avoid any slicing of Mitsubishi steel to make it fit. My guess is that whoever did the swap happened to have the engine handy and that's why it's here. Keeping it all Dodge might have been a factor in the decision as well, though the truck's Mitsubishi ancestry makes that unlikely. It was over 100°F out when I found this truck, so I wasn't motivated to check block casting numbers to determine exactly which LA engine we're dealing with here. The easiest LAs to get cheap for the last four or so decades have been the 318 (5.1-liter) and the 360 (5.8-liter), so one of those two is the most likely candidate here. Power levels for these engines got pretty dismal during the Malaise Era, but anyone with the wrenching skills to do this swap would have applied some basic power-enhancing wizardry before the engine went in. We can see there's an Edelbrock Performer intake manifold, and you might as well stab in a better camshaft if you're upgrading the intake. How much power? With a four-barrel carburetor on a dual-plane intake plus a meaner cam, 300 to 350 horsepower is easily achieved with one of these engines, even with stock exhaust manifolds.

FCA recalls 1.1 million vehicles worldwide due to confusing shifter

Fiat Chrysler is recalling 1.1 million vehicles worldwide to address the problematic shifter used on cars with eight-speed automatic transmissions. The issue is that the console-mounted shifter acts like a rocker switch and always returns to the middle position after moved. This has been deemed confusing to drivers – confusing enough to cause some to exit their vehicles without first selecting Park and leading to the car rolling away. FCA says 41 injuries are related to the shifter problem, and no evidence of equipment failure has been found. The company will enhance warning chimes and alter the shift strategy, meaning alert messages will be displayed in case the driver door is opened while the engine is running. With the door open, the transmission will prevent the car from moving even if Park is not selected. The affected vehicles are certain model-year 2012–2014 Dodge Charger and Chrysler 300 sedans, as well as model-year 2014–2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee SUVs, an estimated 811,586 US vehicles in total. The recall also affects 52,144 vehicles in Canada, 16,805 in Mexico, and 248,667 vehicles elsewhere. The shifter is used with ZF-designed and ZF-built eight-speed automatic; Audi uses a similar shifter setup in some of its vehicles, including the current-generation, which predated Chrysler's use of it. Chrysler uses a different, a rotating-dial-type shifter on eight-speed-equipped Rams. The company moved away from the problem shifter design in 2015 for the Charger and 300, and the Grand Cherokee's shift lever was modified for 2016. Owners of affected vehicles will be notified of the recall when service is available. Fiat Chrysler urges customers to follow the instructions in the vehicle's owner's manual in the meantime. Related Video: News Source: FCAImage Credit: AOL Recalls Chrysler Dodge Jeep RAM Ownership Safety SUV Sedan

Chrysler's next-gen minivans will get more expensive

Chrysler introduced the value-oriented Great American Package on the base model Chrysler 300 in 2005. That morphed into the American Value Package available as an option on the Dodge Grand Caravan in 2012, which made it the lowest-priced minivan in the country, now with an MSRP of $21,395. Automotive News reports that Chrysler is going to kill the value package when the new Town & Country arrives for 2017, because the new platform and technology of the coming minivan make it "a difficult price point to get to." AN says the next-generation haulers will come in around $26,000 and can go beyond $45,000 with options; clicking every "Add" button we could find on the Town & Country build page, we couldn't get past $43,000 for today's model. That entry pricing in 2017 would eliminate the first three trims on the Dodge option, the American Value Package, the SE that starts at $24,195, and the SE Plus that starts at $24,995. This makes us think the next-generation haulers will take a sizable step upscale in terms of feel, content, and trim, a la the Chrysler 200. In this writer's opinion, if they do as good a job as they've been doing recently, the extra money will be worth it. There have been spy shots and a lot of rumors about it, like the Caravan minivan going away and becoming a crossover, but we'll see it revealed at the 2016 Detroit Auto Show. News Source: Automotive News - sub. req. Chrysler Dodge Car Buying Minivan/Van chrysler town and country price dodge grand caravan