hey yall, i'm new to the list, so bear with me. i was wondering how much would be involved in an engine swap in my 98 ram. i have a 318 but found some 360s at car-part.com for relatively cheap. would it be a direct bolt-in? i guess i need to find out what all would need to be changed (computer? motor mounts? tranny?) btw my 318 has 142k on it and seems to have lost power, i'm having this really weird sucking noise when i first start the truck but it subsides after the motor warms up (intake manifold gasket maybe?). anyway, that problem would for sure be solved with a different motor - thanks in advance....

 

I think you should figure out what's up with the current engine. Sounds like a egr or vaccum leak somewhere. You could spend quite a bit swapping engines. Lots of chipmunks to change out.. harness, computer, TB, etc....

 

well here is the deal though, depending on how big of a project the motor swap would be, i want the 360...

my vacuum problems may still exist even after an engine swap though. when i first bought the truck (used) it had like 138k on it, the cruise control doesn't work and the a/c fan will move from dash vent to defrost when the engine is under load. i found an article about this exact problem somewhere on the internet. it said that battery acid leaks down onto a vacuum line that goes to the cruise control servo. acid eats hole in line, boom no vacuum, and that is the culprit of my a/c fan problems as well. so i ran out to my truck and sure enough the vacuum line connected to the cruise servo (under my battery) had a huge hole in it. so i did what any redneck would do and disconnected that particular line above the leak and put a screw in it to hopefully plug it up - by doing that i thought i should at least gain a 100% operational a/c fan, well it didn't work. i really have no clue if all this is related or not, and it's kinda a side story to my original post. regardless, i do eventually want to put a 360 in this truck, the 318 just isn't enough for me.

 

take it to your local dodge dealership and see what they think- try to talk to a mechanic they know the most.