Well, my 16 year-old self has decided that a HEMI swap needs to be done. I heard that frenicx crashed his...glad he's alright though. My plan is to buy a wrecked ram and steal the motor out of it, possibly rebuild it and throw it in mine, while salvaging what I can and selling it. My question is, how hard of a swap is it really? I have to consider every detail. I know I'll need custom motor mounts, new torque converter, tuning(not sure where from...hemifever maybe?), and wiring mods. What I'm really looking for is a comprehensive list of everything I need to complete this swap.

 

Check out Frenicx's thread on the swap. Everything you need to know should be in there.

 

Good for you! +1 on checking frenicx's thread. That is about as good as it gets. Good luck. If you sell salvage parts and your old motor it could be relatively inexpensive.

 

There is a company out there that makes everything you need in a kit. Oil pan, engine mounts etc. and another that makes a fire harness complete! Google it. I cannot remember the name.

 

Alright, thanks guys. If I make some further progress I'll be sure to make a thread of it. The expensive part that I'm more concerned of is rebuilding the HEMI....But I'll be working full-time so hopefully all works out. By the way, brando, I have seen kits for 2nd gen dakotas...so far none for third. If anyone sees one please let me know. Once again, thanks.

 

I was sitting on the john earlier today, typed up a very detailed response on my phone and when I tried to submit, it failed.. lol. So now that I have some more time, and a computer, here goes.

It honestly wasn't hard at all. My background is mostly in electronics and IT of all kinds. I do all my own maintenance on my vehicles though, and have tackled a couple big repairs here and there.. but I'm ambitious and made it happen.

You don't actually need a new torque converter, the stock 4.7 one will yield a bit more with the 115 extra horsepower, which just makes it act like a higher stall, which is a good thing.

I did a lot more with my swap than was required, so I'll just list the bare minimum that I know I would needed for a bone stock hemi swap.

Motor mounts:

Custom drivers side block bracket
Passenger side block bracket from 4wd 4.7 Dakota
Drivers side isolator from 4wd 4.7 Dakota
Passenger side isolator from 4wd 4.7 Dakota

Trans to engine:

Structural collar (inspection cover) for 5.7/545RFE (ram or durango part)
Dust cover (separator plate) for 5.7/545RFE (ram or durango part)
Dowel pins for alignment purposes, might already be in used engine.. my new engine didn't have them.

Cooling:

Flex hose for lower radiator
Random hose that fits for upper, I have the part number for the one I used somewhere.
Cooling became an issue for me, so I recommend a very high CFM efan... but clearance is also an issue... my ford fan has only 1/4" of clearance and that's after I hacked off the threaded portion on the water pump. See my efan thread for more infos

Wiring and electronics:

Original 4.7 harness to start from
5.7 harness with or without the injectors section.
An oil pressure switch from the 4.7
If you want EGR, you need to route 8 wires from the back of the drivers side head, to the front of the passenger side head. I didn't want to, so I left EGR off and got some block-off plates from shophemi.com. Hemifever can program it out with SCT tuner.
You'll need an SCT tuner and custom tunes from someone, sean/hemifever did mine and I recommend him. HPTuners just released a new firmware that supports A LOT of chrysler vehicles, so it might be worth asking Sean if it's a better and/or possible option for the Dakota PCM.

Misc:

Cable operated throttle body from BBK or Mopar Performance, it's the same exact part from either place but Mopar charges $200 more for it. There may be other manufacturers out there now though.

All the drive belt accessories from the 5.7
Run new heater core hoses
Run new low-pressure power steering lines
An after market trans cooler is highly recommended
Adding an auxiliary power steering cooler is a must, a huge one. Infact, find a place for another trans cooler and route the power steering to it.

Stock exhaust will work, but new flanges need to be welded to the old piping. But, it is a smaller diameter, so a full custom exhaust is recommended either with highflow cats or no cats if that's allowed.

When the exhaust is done, it's very helpful to have a wideband bung welded in so you can pick up a wideband sensor and gauge.. this makes email tunes possible. If you don't get a wideband installed, then you still need a tuner (SCT), but a dynoshop can do the tuning.

and.. um.. that's about it.

 

What was your total cost, if you don't mind? Also, why is the power steering cooler needed as well?

 

well, I got most everything new

Engine was $3100 after I finally sold the 4.7
Throttlebody was $350 but I had it bored by HiPoTeK for another $125 IIRC, btw I just saw this on eBay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/5-7L-Hemi-BB...-/181355056076 great price even used...

I forget the cost of the 4wd engine mount parts, somewhere around $100 total, then the structural cover was $30.. exhaust was $400, headers $400, intake $150, tuner with tuning $350, custom block bracket was easy at just $30,

Basically it all just nickle and dimed me to death, but if you go with your plan of getting a parts truck to scrap, you will still want to prepare for at least $1500 in other stuff to get it all together. That's considering tuner, throttlebody, exhaust, and all the other random stuff you will run into, but even then $1500 might not be enough. But when you part out and sell off the parts truck, you might make up for that.

All hemi vehicles came with power steering coolers, if you try to use just the tiny metal loop that the Dakota uses, it will get way too hot and probably melt the reservoir. I have a measly aluminum fin cooler in series with that loop and it still gets too hot after a canyon drive. I can hear it get louder and louder as it starts to get hotter and hotter... starts to sound like the power steering from a 90s ford. I will eventually get a cross flow transcooler from BBK to replace the loop and the finned cooler.

 

How much do you think I could get for my engine? It's got 115K but I maintain and treat it well. What size throttle body did you use too? I know your thread is pretty detailed, but is there anything not on there I should know? My plan is to buy everything, prep it, and hopefully only be without the truck for a week.

 

If I had been more prepared, I probably could have had it done in a week.. I know I could if I were to do it again with the experience I have gained. As it was, I had it from tear down to first start in 2 weeks, buttoned up in 2 more weeks and was racing it on the drag strip.

I got 900 for my engine, but really I could have gotten a lot more. It had 76k but I needed it gone fast. You could probably get 1100 for yours if you hold out for the right buyer and list it in many places.

Right off hand, I can't think of any big things that I ran into that I didn't put in the thread. I don't remember if I added how I did the motor mount, but I just lowered the engine in the bay, bolted it to the transmission, bolted the passenger side down and then used the hoist to level the engine in place. With the drivers side isolator in, I took some 1/8" ABS plastic and made a plastic bracket, took that mockup to a welder and he made me one from 1/4" steel for 30 bucks.

By the way, do you have 4wd or are you 2wd?