Well I picked up yet another Dakota, this would be number 5. Its a 96 Sport 2wd with the American Motors 2.5 4cyl and a 5spd. Its in pretty good shape, the interior is near perfect and the only rust is on the fenders down by the lower valence. 140k and seems well maintained.



So first off what to do with this drivetrain?! The jeep motor isnt gonna cut it, its as bad as I thought it was gonna be but its still lacking power. I know theres tons of info on 3.9/5.2/5.9 swaps but noe on the 2.5 of either variation. My first thought is to do a 5.9 swap, anybody got any input on how I would go about doing that since im starting with the 4cyl?

Second, I want this drop...
(note: this is not my vehicle and will take down at owners request)


I did some reading on the shackle swap from a 4wd but couldnt find any real info on how much it dropped a 2wd. I really wanna stay away from lowering blocks. Im assuming the front of that truck is just lowered with 2" lowering springs. Theres not much info on lowering these trucks so any input would be great!! Thanks.

 

Cool. For a motor swap from the 4cly to the Magnums it has been said that it is a direct bolt on, just get the Magnum motor mounts for the Dakota and it all bolts together. But no one has done a good write up on it.

As for lowering yes you can do the brackets, my guess is 2-3in. No one has done the swap in detail on here.

 

I kinda figured it would be but wasnt sure. Im sure I will need a different trans as well, which is fine cause the gearing in the current one is weird. 1st and 2nd are short then 3rd, 4th, and 5th are long.

Yeah I know lowering dakotas isnt the most popular thing here but im gearing this truck towards a street/strip setup. I will just continue to dig to find any more info.

 

Well, from what little I know of jeeps, the 2.5 amc motor and the 4.0/4.2 I6 is a direct bolt up swap... So that would be a really cool one, and you could even use the factory trans (if it'll hold up, it should bolt up). Otherwise, nice truck you've got there!

 

Thanks!! Hmmm thats an interesting thought, 4.0L Dakota. Now im curious at to what kinda performance can you get out of the 4.0...

 

I have a computer for a 96 318/stick Dakota!

 

The 4.0 can make power, look around online and you will see. Look into the stroker swaps too. I think that'd be awesome. I figure it'd even be the easiest swap for you and be different all at once!

 

Its definitely something to think about!! Anyone do any forced induction on them?

 

Here's 2 supercharged

And a turbo one too.

Look around, like I said, there are plenty of them.

 

Thats awesome stuff right there