I bought this truck just for this swap...I searched around and found a 1996 Dakota slt ext cab for $1000 O.B.O. on cragslist....after talkin to the guy for a week he came down to $500 just to get it outta his driveway!! It was wrecked but not a total loss....My brother who lives 100 miles closer went and looked at the truck and picked it up on a car dolly for me and brought it up to me...THANKS LIL BRO!!! It ran and drove but had no lights on the front so it wouldnt be street legal!
Once it got here i assessed all the damage and dug around the web for body parts, I found all the parts i needed on Craigslist 12 miles from my house...$125 for all my body parts to put it back on the road... I drove it for 2 months til the V6 let go....It lost all oil pressure and that was the end of it. it got pulled apart and sold for scrap(+$34)
I dug around all the local yards for a 5.9 and found one at a buddies junkyard just north of me with 60000 miles (jasper rebuild) in a wrecked 97 Ram 2500 4x4..$450 and he pulled and delivered it with the cross over pipe(YOU CANT USE THE V6 Y-PIPE) I had my V6 pulled and gone by then...so I tried to "test" fit and discovered the Ram oil pan will not work so I bought one at advance auto for ($65)... i also bought new motor mounts $25 for both! and i decided to do the plugs,wires,cap and rotor too!!! ($65)its easier to do with the motor on the engine stand!! just be careful settin it in or ya crack ya cap(so im told) lol
I put a new water pump and new t-stat on it too($65) and painted the motor "HEMI" orange and left the oil pan and valve covers black.. so i set it in again and this time all lined up perfectly(i pulled the doghouse off it to make it easier for myself) while the doghouse was off i put all new ball joints in it....($80)
next up was the wiring nightmare(so i thought) i re-used the V6 harness and just wired in the back two injectors! there was some connectors and sensors that had to be changed but it really wasnt bad! solder and heat shrinked all the connections!
I found a computer on ebay ($85) and while I was waitin for it to come in i decided to put the truck in primer and do the body work it needed...luckily the truck was staright for the most part so i sanded the truck down and put it in black primer/sealer....IM NOT A BODY MAN BY ANY MEANS LUCKILY I HAD AN ANGEL ON MY SHOULDER(THANKS DAD) My computer got here and i fired the truck up for the first time...it was impressive even by my standards! fast rev and shook the truck nicely! 4000 rpm and the fan went through the radiator! so i bought a new radiator from advance auto ($105) and ordered an electric fan from ebay($35)
Once my fan got here I took the truck to my "exhaust guy" that made the pipe to connect the stock V6 exhaust to the V8 Y-pipe($25) he was impressed with my truck..lol
THE TRUCK IS NAMED "OLD SKOOL" CAUSE JUST AFTER I GOT IT MY DAD PASSED AWAY AND I BURIED MYSELF IN MY TRUCK.... SO IT WAS BUILT IN HIS MEMORY!

IF YA HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR WANT PART NUMBERS JUST LET ME KNOW!


HERES LINK TO PICS OF START TO NOW(ITS NOT DONE YET!!LOL)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?ai...00000989955182

 

Looks good! Great job! Do you want to sell those fender flares you took off?

 

Sryy man but no,imma putem back on after its painted...

 

That's cool.

 

I do know of a parts truck...wats a set worth??

 

Idk, $10 each

 

dude come slam one in mine i want 360 magnum but get rid of the fuel injection just go back carborated i just need magnum black and heads and ill slap an intake carb old school distributor and msd ignition system and if your interested gotta tip for you look into a 94 explorer stock rear end its got 373 gears with posi and its a perfect match as our dak rear end only thing its a 5 lug but so did an late 80's dakota like mine its a 93 cab on an 87 frame so i have the five lug a wider variety of rims its way better to switch...lol go look at my pics in my profile im sure you will like the rims...great swap btw im want it...lol

 

Sweet lookin truck!!!! Love the charger rims!!!! Wats in your truck now?? If its the 3.9,the swap is easy to do...

 

That's excellent! Just please tell me you're going to paint the bonnet scoop to match. I personally would also swap out those chrome mirrors for the black plastic ones, something about them doesn't look quite right. Quite a good job overall though.

 

thanks bro yeah found the rims for free!!!loving that and yeah i have the 93 3.9 motor i want a 96 360 magnum motor mainly just a long block heads internals but im wanting to put a carb intake and carb on it but love the magnum heads design they have a great exhaust tone really throaty unlike the old head design...lol but yeah i heard about 1500 to do everything i wanna do should cover it