I'm in the process of putting a 6.1 hemi into a 1987 dodge dakota. I bought it back in june. It was a 3.9 v6 with a 904 transmission.
I'm going to just do an engine swap and get it driving before doing a transmission and rear axle. I have a 727 and dana 60 from another car. Really want overdrive so maybe an a500 or 518.
Its proving to be a bit more fabrication than I originally anticipated. I'm doing this in my driveway as I have my original project 39 chev inside. I need the dakota frame for that car but have decided to drive the truck around first.
I have made engine mounts on the engine side to mate to the original v6 mounts. If I do this again I will make new mounts on the crossmember as they are taking up valuable header space.
Engine needs a spacer between the transmission as the conversion flexplate pushes the torque converter all the way in the transmission. I made a 1/8 spacer to start.
Brake booster is too big. Valve cover fits barely with no coil pack. I have not decided what way to go, smaller booster, hydro boost or manual brakes.
I thought I could fit an exhaust manifold but the passenger side is only 3 inches from the upper control arm. The downward angled exhaust is a huge problem. I see why the old bigblocks fit better. I had a 440 A body and F body, they had way more room. I just started on headers last weekend. I made my own header flanges and bought the cheapest sbc header kit I could find. Its a challenge as all the bends are random and not true mandrel as the bends are smaller. The aluminized mild steel tube is hard to see while tig welding from whatever in it burns. I may just mig them as I was tacking with mig in the car. I do not have a tig at home. Stainless was just way too expensive for my first try at headers. It this goes under the chev the engine needs set back a foot so would need new ones anyway.
Fuel system is an external fuel pump with corvette fuel filter as the regulator. Tank has baffles so I put a fitting in the bottom and return in the original pickup.
Cooling is unknown until I put the engine in for last time and rad support on. Its gonna be a tight fit.
Computer is a megasquirt gold box which came with a wiring harness. Trying to find a spot for it. May put it behind glove box so you open the door to access.
I modified the stock throttle body to run a cable, it will also do throttle pressure for the transmission. I modified a ford iac motor for idle control.
I'll post pics when I figure out how maybe from my phone.
I'm going to just do an engine swap and get it driving before doing a transmission and rear axle. I have a 727 and dana 60 from another car. Really want overdrive so maybe an a500 or 518.
Its proving to be a bit more fabrication than I originally anticipated. I'm doing this in my driveway as I have my original project 39 chev inside. I need the dakota frame for that car but have decided to drive the truck around first.
I have made engine mounts on the engine side to mate to the original v6 mounts. If I do this again I will make new mounts on the crossmember as they are taking up valuable header space.
Engine needs a spacer between the transmission as the conversion flexplate pushes the torque converter all the way in the transmission. I made a 1/8 spacer to start.
Brake booster is too big. Valve cover fits barely with no coil pack. I have not decided what way to go, smaller booster, hydro boost or manual brakes.
I thought I could fit an exhaust manifold but the passenger side is only 3 inches from the upper control arm. The downward angled exhaust is a huge problem. I see why the old bigblocks fit better. I had a 440 A body and F body, they had way more room. I just started on headers last weekend. I made my own header flanges and bought the cheapest sbc header kit I could find. Its a challenge as all the bends are random and not true mandrel as the bends are smaller. The aluminized mild steel tube is hard to see while tig welding from whatever in it burns. I may just mig them as I was tacking with mig in the car. I do not have a tig at home. Stainless was just way too expensive for my first try at headers. It this goes under the chev the engine needs set back a foot so would need new ones anyway.
Fuel system is an external fuel pump with corvette fuel filter as the regulator. Tank has baffles so I put a fitting in the bottom and return in the original pickup.
Cooling is unknown until I put the engine in for last time and rad support on. Its gonna be a tight fit.
Computer is a megasquirt gold box which came with a wiring harness. Trying to find a spot for it. May put it behind glove box so you open the door to access.
I modified the stock throttle body to run a cable, it will also do throttle pressure for the transmission. I modified a ford iac motor for idle control.
I'll post pics when I figure out how maybe from my phone.