Hey all, I am going to have a spare slant sitting around here pretty soon, and I was thinking of how awesome it would be to put it into my Dakota. It has the 2.5 cyl 4 banger right now, and it is too underpowered for a 4300 lb. truck. It has enough space under the hood I think for the engine if I remove the stock electric fan, or leave the mechanical fan off the water pump pulley.

The truck currently has a 5 speed in it which I would love to keep, and I am sure that I could come up with the bellhousing off of something like a 904 to make that work, but as far as making the bellhousing mount up to the trans.


Any advice on what to measure would be awesome!

Thanks,
~The Other Rob~

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1984 D100 Shorty Custom
Certified Auto Appraiser - RevItUp Classic Appraisals
President - Cherry City Bombers CC
Part of Tyrde-Browne Racing

Do you have to pass smog tests where you are at? That might be a problem.

There are bellhousing adapters that might work, or you could use a plain ole 904.

I think you will need to think about motor mounts and the steering column.

If you could do that engine swap I would think to leave the electric fan.

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Ronnie
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2714941

If the slant-6 you have is in stock or near-stock configuration, you'll have about the same amount of power after the swap as before, and you will never pass any kind of an emission test.

It'd be much easier and more satisfactory to throw a 3.9 in it.
904s do not have removable bellhousings. If you want to keep your present 5-speed with a slant, you'd need to come up with an adaptor plate that may well not exist. The 3.9 was available with a 5-speed, however, and that trans w/bellhousing can be adapted to the slant-6.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

OOOooooooo.........I am interested in that. Do you have a link to this sort of swap handy or more information?

The 3.9 has the same bellhousing pattern as the LA V8 (273-318-340-360), so you could adapt the 5-speed to the slant-6 with either the factory LA-transmission-to-slant-6-engine adaptor plate and spacer found in pre-1969 vehicles with slant-6 engine and 727 automatic transmission (taxi/fleet/truck/van) or with the AREngineering adaptor plate (now discontinued, but occasionally they show up for sale here)

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

Id given thought to the 3.9 V6, and it is a realistic option at that, I just thought I might try something a little out of the ordinary, right now, and for at least a few years from now, I dont have smog testing, but Ive seen reports of older slants passing them with factory cats and whatnot, since id probably retain the factory exhaust from the 4 cylinder, it would have the newer cat on it compared to what they used back in the 70s/80s.. if there is even a difference. Im not up into all the info on catalytic converters yet.

The slant I was thinking of putting in would most definitely not be stock, but I was thinking about it today, and considered the option of just improving the performance of the 4 cylinder. Its just hard to find aftermarket performance parts for a 2.2/2.5 engine. At least around here. Whereas the slant has troves of parts that would work for it.

I guess what'll proably happen is I'll just leave it as is, I've got my Valiant to worry about first

Thanks for the responses everybody!

~The Other Rob~

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1984 D100 Shorty Custom
Certified Auto Appraiser - RevItUp Classic Appraisals
President - Cherry City Bombers CC
Part of Tyrde-Browne Racing

Couple things here:

1) You don't have smog testing now, but more and more places are getting them, or you might move, or you might sell the truck, or any number of other parts of the situation might change, and then you'd have a costly do-over on your hands. While Federal cops aren't going to beat down your door for disconnecting your EGR valve, knowingly disabling the truck's entire emission control system (which is what you'd be doing) is a fairly large crime, and selling a vehicle thus modified is a larger one. Worth thinking about.

2) See this post to get a clearer understanding of what older engines & vehicles will (and won't) do in terms of exhaust emissions and emission tests. You will not pass any emission test for a 1995-model vehicle if you swap a slant-6 into it. Putting in and programming a very costly high-end fuel-and-spark engine management system might let you pass...but no guarantees.
Catalytic converters were about the same in 1995 as they were in the '70s. It's what comes before the catalyst (much cleaner exhaust directly out of the engine) that is the primary difference. Even a 1995 catalytic converter would not even begin to come close to cleaning up the exhaust from a slant-6 enough to meet 1995 requirements.
...most of which would make the exhaust even dirtier. I don't mean to belabour the point, just trying to raise potential problems and costs before you start in on this project.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

Dont know about a 95 Dakota....but I measured my wifes 89 for a slant and it is not (for many reasons) a sensible swap. They had a hard time getting the 3.9 POS in there...a slant is reeeeeedickyoulouse.

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Yeah....Im the one who destroyed this rare, vintage automobile.....

I *could* be done; I've seen pictures of a Dakota with a Viper V10. The problem is that a slant, in addition to all the drawbacks already noted, is longer than either the V6 or the V8 that were commonly put in those trucks. It would require some pretty extensive firewall surgery.

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David Kight
'62 Valiant Signet, White
'98 Dodge Dakota
'06 Jeep Liberty

Growing older is unavoidable but growing up is strictly optional.

I'm honestly not surprised that there are complications in mass quantities involving the consideration of the swap. Its just an idea that I was toying around with. But thanks all for the responses. There are definitely things that Dan mentioned that I hadn't even thought about.

Maybe I'll wait until the truck is old enough that it doesnt need smog testing anymore.... yeah right... like that will ever happen.

~The Other Rob~

_________________
1984 D100 Shorty Custom
Certified Auto Appraiser - RevItUp Classic Appraisals
President - Cherry City Bombers CC
Part of Tyrde-Browne Racing