Good luck. I'm interested to hear how it turns out.

 

I'll be interested to see what your pictures show. I put a small level across the center of my PS pulley and it's roughly the same height as the bottom of the fan pully. If I put the level on top of the pulley, it's about level with the base of the heater hose nipple coming off the water pump.

 

Problem solved! There are at least three PS brackets found on Magnum V8's. I found this one at the Pick-n-Pull this afternoon, on a 99 Dakota. This one holds the pump about 4" higher and a little closer to the engine than my first one:

 

For anyone that's doing an engine swap and needs to move the PS pump up, down, closer or farther from the engine, there are some options. I found three: the first is from a Ram van I believe, and it is the lowest placement, second is the Dakota/Ram which is kind of in the middle (what I needed), and third is a Jeep ZJ (Grand Cherokee) V8 pump bracket, which is highest and closest to the engine. All are pictured below; note the relation between the PS pump and the top of the water pump in each picture:



Thanks to "Mr Man" on the "for A bodies only" site, for the bottom two images in the picture above (that's a clean-looking Magnum motor!).

 

I was wondering....Did you reuse your power steering pump from the V6 or have one that came with the V8? I have a magnum 5.9L to drop in but it came with no PS pump. I was planning on using the bracket/pump from the V6. Is that not an option?

 

You have a 5.9 crate motor going into a convertible right? That's going to be a helluva fun ride, you're going to have to share lots of pictures! I like your project, I'm usually more of a 2WD type, I like rods and street/drag stuff. This 4WD is a little different for me, a learning experience you might say.

Regarding the power steering pump, two things prevented me from using the V6 pump. 1) it had lots of in/out play in the shaft (well worn) 2) I'm using the Magnum serpentine belt so the old v-belt and brackets wouldn't work. You can use your old pump if its in good shape, but if you're keeping the Magnum belt system, you'll need to swap pulleys and find new brackets or just find a new pump assembly.

 

Yes, 380HP crate motor...Motor is on the stand ready for freshening up (although it only has 200 miles on it...It's from a show car). I just don't feel comfortable plopping it in without at least opening up the pan, heads, intake and doing an inspection.

I'm going with the v-belt for now, unless I find I can fit the AC condenser in. As you know, with the square nose 89/90, the space will run out quickly, and needing the pusher fan, just don't see how to keep AC. Were you able to? Also, do you know if the AC's in 90 were R12 or R134?

 

My Dak had AC, but it wasn't working and I removed it. I may install AC again later, but I had so many irons in the fire already with that project that I decided the AC could wait. Besides, it's a convertible, I can always drop the top - unless its raining

I can't recall whether it was R12 or R134, but if I find the sticker I'll let you know.

 

How much shorter is the magnum 5.9L than 318 la I've got a 89 Dakota 4 wheel drive that has a bad head or head gasket that I need to do something with
I was under the impression that there wasn't room for a 8 in them

 

The 318 LA and 5.2/5.9 Magnum are essentially the same physical size I believe. No space savings on using a Magnum v8 over an LA block, as far as I know. Plenty of people have swapped in V8's into the 89/90's. Requires removing the crank fan and going with an electric pusher fan in front of the radiator. Dodge put a stock V8 into the 89's with the Shelby version.