I've got a '93 Dakota 3.9. I keep blowing tranny's (that kinda sounded wierd) but anyways, the stock a500 is a hunk of junk. I figured while im at it I might as well throw a v8 in. BUT, I need my truck back and have little time to do fabrication and stuff. I have a medium street cam for an 80's 318 carb, and am trying to figure out if I should find a carbed 318 and make it fit in with a 727 or finding a 318 mag from a early 90's with harness and computer from a dakota and just dropping it in. Don't really want to fit in a 360, but want to make a mild street truck while i'm at it. Cam, headers, ignition maybe. What do you guys think would be my best bet?

Thanks.

 

3.9, 5.2, 5.9, 318, 360, all are *******ly the same engine. The only major difference is between the V-8 & V-6 which still share al lot of the same stuff. they will all bolt to the same transmisions although the 1500 won't hold up to the V-8s hell, even the weak V-6s are too much power for them. and that's freakin sad. my advice is to find a wrecked Truck and swap the Entire pkg over to yours.

 

Yeah I'm definatly putting a motor tranny combo in. What I would like to know is should I stick with a fuel injected magnum out of a ram or something that's the same or should I go with the 80's model carbed 318 and put this street cam I have in it. Anyway you look at it I'm putting a cam in it, but the cheapest one I could find for the computer controlled magnum is $400 and am trying to figure out how much difference the older 318's are compared to the magnums. Motor mounts the same? I'm sure the yolk will have to be changed on the driveshaft cause the output shaft will probably be different, but how about speedo, tach, and all the dash stuff? Will they still work with a carbed without the computer?

 

First of all, your '93 is a 1st gen, so this thread needs to be moved by a moderator.

Now that that is out of the way, here are the differences in the motors:

For the 318, '91 and older were referred to as LA small blocks. The '92 and newer are magnum small blocks. The differences between the LA and magnum engines are the magnum switched to a oil-through pushrod where the LA engines oiled through the lifters (I think). So that makes some of the internal parts different and the heads different as well. The magnum engines also used hydraulic roller lifters and therefore require a billet cam. This is why the cams are expensive, but $400 is high. Check summitracing.com and hughesengines.com for cheaper ones. Also keep in mind that you will need better valve springs for any cam you put in mild to agressive BUT, you don't have to buy new lifters. Hydraulic roller lifters don't wear to the cam they are paired with so they can be reused. Finally, the magnums switched to multi-port fuel injection (1 injector per cylinder) whereas the LA were either carrbed or throttle body injected.

The 360 is the same situation, but moved up a year for the switch... 93 and new were magnum engines.

If you are going for a v8 swap, my suggestion is to look for a 360. They are externally identical to the 318. The only differences between the two engines are the crankshaft, pistons, and cam... plus the block had a bigger bore. Keep in mind though that the 318 is internal balance and the 360 is external balance, so you need to stick with the proper flex plate and harmonic balancer. But the motor mounts for the 3.9 and 5.2 and 5.9 are all the same, you'll just need a matching computer and wiring harness (or you can simply splice in the extra 2 injector wires yourself).

Your speedometer, being a '93 is already cable driven, so that won't be a problem. The tach will need to be changed for a carb though.

As for transmission, keep in mind the 727 is a 3 speed and your gas milage will be **** poor at best! If that doesn't bother you, go for it, cause you can't kill a 727, but a 46rh (a518) is a 727 with an overdrive unit in it's tail. As long as you keep the transmission cool, they will last a long time. So the first thing I would suggest you do is lose the crappy factory cooler and switch to an aftermarket cooler.

 

sorry but i couldn't resist....my sig quote.

 

i thought the 2nd gens started at like 92? really, i can keep my existing wiring and computer and just splice 2 more wires in for the injectors? i thought each injector was pulsed by the computer? i did not know that. i was looking at a 360 i found in the junkyard but a couple people i talked to said i could get more street power out of the 318. the 360 was more for pulling or something they said. of course they also said the 360 had different motor mounts. thanks for the info guys. you have been a great help!

 

Nope, gen 1 is '87 to '96, gen 2 is '97 to '04, and gen 3 is '05+. Generation changes are always when the manufacturer does a complete makeover of the vehicle. Between '90 and '91, all that was changed was the nose was made longer to fit the v8 and the grill and lights were updated, otherwise they are the same. Don't let some of the other discussion forums fool you because I've seen a few that are wrong. Check allpar.com.

Well let me rephrase that. By splice it in I meant get the length wire you need and connect one end to the proper pins in the computer and the other end to the injectors. We have the wiring diagram available in FAQ2 of the 1st gen dakota section if you need a reference.

 

Sorry I should have caught this sooner. I will move it to the 1st Gen. sub-forum.

 

well damn. this whole time i thought it was a 2nd gen. thank you for clarifying that. ill check out the wiring diagrams. i figured im just gonna put a 360 magnum in with the 518 tranny. i still dont know what kind of cam i want to put in though. i want a semi aggressive street truck but dont want to high of a cam. i found a few different ones on summitt for 300 but dont know if i should go with the 480 or the 512 duration, lift or whatever. what would the difference be?

 

It really depends on what your wanting to do with the truck!

First off, lift is not the biggest concern with cam choice! Obviously the higher the lift the further the valve opens, so more lift is better, but lift is not what determines a mild or aggressive cam. The bigger concern with a cam is the duration and shape of the lobe. By that I mean most manufacturer's will give an overall duration and a duration at .050" lift. If you've been around cams, you can kind of picture what the lobe is going to look like by looking at those 3 numbers... lift, duration, and duration at .050". The biggest of those 3 factors that determine if the cam is mild or agressive is duration at .050". For a small block like our engine, anything over 220 duration at .050" is approaching aggressive, and anything under is more on the mild side.

When lift does start to become a concern is choice of valves and valve springs, clearance inside the valve covers, and stuff like that.

Now, keep in mind that typically (but not always), the more aggressive the cam gets, the higher and narrower the powerband is going to get. Hughesengines has a few very aggressive cams that would be useless in most any application except drag racing because of the powerband of the cam.

I think either of these two cams would be a good choice for an all around street truck:

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/CCA-20-745-9/

or

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/CCA-20-604-9/

They both have a practical powerband for our engines and for being a truck! The second one is a bit more aggressive than the first. Also keep in mind that you can get 1.7 RR to jump that lift up a bit more. Either one you chose, you have to get valve springs to match it... I'd suggest calling COMPCams and asking for a recommended valve spring if you chose either of those two.