Is it possible? I have not done any searches or readings on a swap kit or if it's ever been done. Seen a '90 Dakota V6 2wd broken down on the side of the road the other day and the thought crossed my mind. I have a friend with a tow truck that can legally get me it and title for about $75 so if a swap like that is possible then I would absolutely play with the idea. Let me know if anyone has came across anything. Thanks!

 

I just purchased a '90 Dakota that has a '72 340 with a 727 auto trans.
I was amazed to see how much room there was under the hood even with this V8 in there. I have yet to get the truck home (will have it tomorrow) but when I get it here I will post some under the hood pictures. Here is a pic of the truck I took the night I bought it.



I found this forum looking for answers to a whole lot of questions

 

Anything is posible. I know that there are kits out there to swap a 5.7L hemi into a wrangler. What you will need is a wiring harness, computer and tranny. You will probably need to build your own motor mounts and tranny cross member. Also a very good set of wiring diagrams for the truck so that you can wire it in properly. You will also have to do something about the insturment cluster as i believe they need to be wired into the motor as well.

I have seen people fit a 440 big block into these earlier dakotas. They go very nicely.

 

Yea, I have seen the Dakota's with the big blocks. There was a guy that use to go out to a local race track here, before it closed down, that had a 440 which is what originally got me turned on to swapping a motor out in one of them. Just thought a newer twist on an old fad would be cool. And I would do the carb conversion on it, just for ease in wiring and I have seen dyno tests that show the carb conversion make more power.
I know the motor will fit in there, I was just wondering if there was a motor mount kit that is available to just bolt in. If I have to make mounts then I'll probably just do a motor plate.

 

Cant wait to see the room under the hood.

 

Here a couple of pics from under the hood. I'm trying to identify some of the parts that were used. The Soft touch Rev control for one, I found the web page but am still a little unsure what the purpose of the thing is.

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Soft touch rev control just let's you plug in a module to the unit to prevent you from over revving your engine. When/if your engine reaches the set rpm limit then the soft touch kicks in a reduces the spark in certain cylinders but those cylinders are fired on the next cycle to prevent fuel from loading up in the cylinder. It's basically a safety feature in case you miss a shift (in standards) or your trans slips and your engine revs too high, then it won't go higher than you set it to go and ruin stuff.