Someone typed this in another forum. It has great info on v6s and v8s, motor mounts through out the years. I am putting this into the FAQ2.

All of the V6's used the magnum style mount but not all of the V8's.There seems to be a lot of confusion about the motor mounts and such on the magnum engines so I thought I would wade into the conversation on this subject. Pre 93 5.9 blocks were cast with provisions for the magnum style mounts though a lot of them were not drilled and tapped for the Dakota motor mounts because they were still being installed in the old (pre 94 body style)pickups that used the original LA style mounts and the vans still used this older mounting points up until they stopped production in 2003? or 2005? my memory ain't so good anymore.When they introduced the new body style on the pick up trucks in 1994 they started to drill all of the 5.9's for the magnum style mount.The 5.2 on the other hand was already being drilled for these mounts back in 1991 because they were already available in the Dakotas.All of the V8 Magnum engines from start of production till finish still had the LA style motor mounts on them which is what made them so popular to swap into older cars.This is where the difference in motor mounts that everyone refers to came into play.The 273 and 318 engines had a wider motor mount on the left side than the 340 and 360(5.9).The right side mounting lugs remain the same.The 273/318 and 5.2 Magnum and the 340/360 and the 5.9 Magnum still have the same mounting lugs all the way up until they went out of production.Of course non of this matters unless you are swapping into a pre 91 non Dakota vehicle. The Dakota mounting points remained the same from 1987 through 1996 and probably after that(I never owned a second generation so I cant comment on those.
The other thing that changed was the oil pan.The early 273/318/340 used an oil pan that had the same size opening at the front and rear and the 360 had a smaller opening at the rear making it unique but in 1992 they decided to start making all of the 5.2 and 5.9 motors with the same 360 style oil pan rail large opening in front,small in rear.This only matters if you swap a pre 1992 273/318/340 into a Dakota because you would need a Dakota style pan to fit that pan rail(same opening at both ends) Or if you swap a post 1991 5.2 into an early car because you would need the 360 style car pan to make it fit.

 

Thanks for posting this. This might come in handy when I change out my motor. I'll probably follow in your footsteps, Crazy and go with the 5.9. If I'm gonna change it anyway, may as well upgrade, but first I gotta save up some money, find some space in the garage, oh, and blow my 5.2. This might take a while

 

No problem! Ya the 5.9 swap is soo easy it is deffintly worth every penny you will spend!

 

So does this mean a 5.2 magnum engine will drop onto the mounts of a 1991 Ram?

 

As far as I understand, yes it will. But You may want to dubble check with www.allpar.com

 

So if I understand you correctly, my 1968 318 will fit into my 91 dakota chassis with only an oil pan change? It had the 5.2 liter motor in it. the motor mounts will be the same for the 1968 motor? the frame now holds a 53 Dodge truck body.

 

Ya correct! Show us some pics of the 53 Dodge!

 

Here ya go, I hesitated to post a pic, your post says no truck should be lowered... ever.... Mine can't get any lower than it is. So I can go to my local NAPA and get new motor mounts for a 1991 Dakota 5.2 liter and they should bolt right up? I didn't believe it would be that easy! Bud

 

i have an 89 with the 3.9 v6 and im wanting to put a 1970 318 into it what kind of problems do you think i will run into? you seem to know alot about the swaping of dakota engines..

 

Nice Buds truck!