So I have a 3.9L Rwd 1992 dakota. The truck is gutless.
I was talking to some buddies and they said why not swap it for a 318.
I like the idea but I know absolutely nothing about this.
They all know how to swap a motor and I have helped do a few swaps but I still know very little in this are.
Would I be able to just drop in the 318 in and all the mounts line up? would I need a new tranny? new driveshaft? I have no knowledge in this area.
Any help or advice would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance guys

 

Pick up a 1992-1995 Magnum 5.2 and you'll have to use the motor harness with the 5.2; use the fan shroud; add two wires to the wiring harness for the two extra injectors; and swap to the 92/93 V8 ECU. If the core is 94+, you may also need to swap injectors; if 96+, you get into the fact that the JTEC controller worked good enough they didn't need EGR (which was used with the SBEC that your truck is wired for.)

1996 - well, you get to rewire the truck to use OBDII so you can pick up tunability; but you'd do better to locate a donor truck.

It's actually a fairly easy swap.

If they've done a 4.3 MPFI/SEFI to a 5.7 MPFI/SEFI in a Chevy, they've done about the same.

Basically, the 3.9 was designed to use the same engine tools as the 5.2/318 so the mounts on the Magnum 5.2 mount right up; the transmission mounts up; you may need a new torque converter; the flexplate needs to be the V8 one not the V6 one, but that should come with the motor.

You could also grab a 5.9/360 CID and drop it in; for that, I'd recommend going with a 1996 harness, though, so that you can get the ECU tuned to suit the higher displacement.

RwP

 

There is a sticky in the FAQ's about engine swaps and transmission swaps etc. Basically what RalphP said above!