Ok guys I wanted to know how hard and what i need to swap a 89 dodge dakota shelby engine into a regular cab 89 dodge dakota. money limit is $2000. can i do it with that?

 

It shouldn't be to hard if you have all the parts to swap over. Do you have a Dakota Shelby for parts?

 

if the shelby V8 (318) has throttlebody injection i do not see a problem. everything will fit. some computer and wiring changes and your good to go.
as far as i know they took an 89 dakota sport and dropped a V8 in it. my 89 sport looked exactly the same as the shelby's, interior included.
if you want to save some money get a 360 throttlebody injected engine from a late 80's early 90's full size dodge.
don't forget you have to get suspension upgrades to go with the heavier engine.

 

yea well i can get a engine out of one but idk how to go about gitting the suspension upgrades. will the motor mounts work?

 

also on that 360 swap how do the motor mounts work? do i take them from the truck or do i make my own. Also take the ECM and wiring harness? what do i need from the donor?

 

The engine mounts will work. You should also consider the springs from the donor, as they were made for that application. The front suspension bar is thicker too if I am not mistaken.

 

I didn't know their was a 1989 Shelby? If you do this the most important will be the engine mounting hardware. Since I installed a 5.2 Magnum into a 90 that originally had the 3.9 V6 in it. It looked like all would fit no sweat till I dropped in the radiator from the donor 92 truck and found no room for the fan, shroud or even room for an electric fan. More on that if you need. Point is that the Shelby had special engine mount hardware no longer available from Dodge! You will not be able to mount a V8 into anything before 91 without that mounting hardware unless you fret and modify as I did!

 

In addition I measured the front springs, (V8 to V6), they are totally interchangeable, the same thickness and length, (I cut and flatted mine a half coil to lower the front end, got an inch, wish I'd done a full coil = 2", plenty of camber adjustment). I found that the tie rods are beefier from my 90. I don't know if that was a change from 90 to 92 or a V6 to V8 difference. Of course I swapped to the heavier hardware. All else was the same as far as control arms, their bushings and ball joints. The 92 Kota went to six lug from my five 90 lugs. I wanted to keep my five lug because of more wheel choices but noted that the six lug had thicker rotors but same calipers, (I always had rotor warp problems before), and the rear axle was beefier than the one from the V6. What would you do? I choose the six lug.
Last I transfered the donors anti-sway bar to my 90. It fit but I had to drill a couple of holes in the brackets to make it fit the earlier model that never had an anti-sway bar. This should be considered a required upgrade for any Dakota!!! I could not believe how much more cornering abilities I got from just that upgrade! I have in fact I've recently ordered a very expensive, ($175.00), rear 3/4" rear sway bar in hopes that I will gain more of the same affect...Dennis

PS: I installed a set of Lakewood traction bars on the rear today just for the 'BAD ***' looks. I couldn't believe they actually worked as advertised, holy crap!!!

 

The V6 engine mounts will work with the V8. You may have radiator fitment problems like I did, but nothing a smaller thicker radiator cannot handle. I opted for a low profile pusher fan in front of the radiator too. It fit nicely between the grill and radiator.