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1. If I understand you used the orig. transfer case. Is it the same as the one used in v8 Dakota's?
Yes, I am using the original NP231 transfer case from my ’89 Dakota V6. It bolts up to the ’97 NV3500 I am using and it also accepts the original driveshaft. I do need to rebuild it first though. Check this, but I believe your ’87 may have a NP207 transfer case, which I read has a 21 spline input for manual transmissions, 23 for automatics. 2. What did you have to use in addition to the transmission, ie shifter, and if so did it come out of the floor in the same place as the 2500?
Nothing else really. If you use a NV3500, your best bet is to look for one from a gen2 Dakota, which shouldn't be too hard to find. The shift tower ends up in almost the exact same place as your original tranny. Even the old shifter screws right on to the new tranny! The original rear tranny mount will work, but you may need to modify it a little. The front pair of the mounts bolt holes will line up, but the rear 2 will be right at the edge of the mount, so you may want to weld on an extension. Avoid the NV3500 from a Ram 1500, the shift tower is located further forward. 3. Clutch hydraulics, what were you able to re-use there?
The original hydraulic clutch system from my NV2500 worked, I just had to trim the plastic flange on the slave cylinder a little, to clear the bell housing. 4. Did you have to change the driveshafts, ie, due to length?
That's one I'm still hanging on. I don't have the T-case or the drive shaft in the truck yet, but I know the new tranny is about 5/8's of an inch shorter than the original one, which obviously means a little less contact with the splines.
FWIW I plan to swap mine, (87 4wd, 5sp, 3.9 motor) to a 5.2 motor. But mine is carbed already from the factory, so I plan to use a magnum 4bbl intake, 600 cfm carb, and a standard HEI dist.
Is your 5.2 a crate engine? You're going to have a lot of fun! There's not a lot of info on doing these swaps for a 4WD, but it's really not too hard.
Thanks again for the write up
There aren't many folks interested in my obsession around here, so its great having a place to share it! I will post a drawing I did that compares the dimensions and mounting points of the NV2500 and NV3500. It may be useful to you, if you can read my scratchy writing. It's not to scale, and the measurements are probably only good to about a 1/4 inch, but it helped me quite a bit.
RalphP, I'm with you man! I've fallen "asleep" on this project a couple of times, months go by and then someone posts something or I'm inspired by something at a car show, and I'm back at it. I've been going strong on it for the last year, which for me means a lot of 30 minute to 2 hour windows of time, - but I won't be stopping now until I drive it.
I printed out your drawing to make sure I don't loose that. I have not purchased a motor yet. I found one out of a jeep that I want to look at. My orig. thoughts were to re-use the nv2500 and 207 transfer case for now. And be searching for a 3500, and as you said, my transfer case is going to be the wrong spline. So I will need to look for that as well. I would really like to keep the mech. speedometer. Not sure what year they switched to electronic, and if it is possible to convert the newer transfer case to mech. drive.
But back to the motor, I think, I can reuse my v-6 flywheel. I will be going with a carb intake, so I wont need any sensor feed back from the flywheel. Any advise you can give me will really be appreciated.
I've finished the bracket plates that will hold the electric fans in place. The brackets will bolt up to the existing studs that supported the AC condenser on either side of the radiator. I try to avoid drilling new holes in the body as much as possible.
The brackets are made from 2 inch wide by .125 inch thick aluminum flat bar, cut to length and sprayed with an epoxy paint. Fasteners are 1/4 inch stainless.
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The Intrepid fans mount on the engine side of the radiator in their factory location; "puller" style. Due to the space limitation in a Gen1 V8, I'll be placing them in front of the radiator; "pusher" style. This image shows the fans from what will be the intake side:
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Same fans from the exhaust side, which will be toward the radiator:
I assume you will not have enough room to locate the condenser in front of the fans?
FWIW on another website, I found a link where they relocated a condenser under the side of the bed. I will try to find it and send it to you.
Thanks 93Ragtop, I'd like to see how they did that condenser relocation. I purposely left out the AC to speed up the project, and since I didn't have the needed parts on hand anyway, I figured I could add it later. I have thought about how I'd mount the condenser and presumably I could cut the shroud away from the fans and make room for it in front of the radiator, but I've also thought about a new location for it. Having it under the bed is an interesting option.
Sorry, I somehow overlooked your question about T-cases earlier. I can't remember exactly when Dodge switched their speed sensor from the T-case to the rear end, but I know that for trucks that use the mechanical speedometer, the important thing to have on your T-case is that hole where the speedo plugs in. As long as that's there you can plug in the combo speedo/sensor module that trucks like mine (and your's?) have. It has the speedo cable receptacle and a connector for the speed sensor. If the T-case has no hole for the speedo, you'll have problems figuring out how to make things work. I tried to figure out if the newer T-case (without the hole) retained the speedo drive gears on their main shaft, but I was never able to verify that. If they did retain the gears then it might be just a matter of swapping on a new extension housing that has the hole. My guess is the gears were left off the newer shaft, so you might have to swap shafts as well extension housings. I can't say for sure whether even that is workable though. You'll be fine if you stick with a Dodge T-case that has the speedo take-off hole, and of course has the correct splines.
Regarding the flywheel, you'll be fine with the V6 flywheel on a carb'ed engine. The 3.9 and the 5.2 are both internally balanced, unlike the 5.9, which requires a flywheel that provides external balance.
Very interesting write-up, and even included a year later follow-up on the performance of the modified AC. Thanks for that. We have a Dodge Sprinter with a roof-mounted AC unit, driven by a compressor on the engine. Something like that should have many parts that could be re-purposed for a remote condenser setup, including extra long refrigerant lines.
09-30-2014, 09:09 PM
