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I came across one of these in the junkyard yesterday. google has not turned up much info on them except that they were made, I can not even find a picture of one. does anyone have any info in these trucks?

it had some interesting exhaust manifolds on it, that I have never seen before, maybe 1 year/dakota only? it was a an TBI LA 318, I know they went to the magnum in 92 and the manifolds changed.



No info about the pace truck here, sorry. If you get a chance to take some pics of the exhaust manifolds I would like to compare them to the '89 Shelby ones.

Also, check the motor mount boss locations on the block and see if they are in a different location from older 318's. I'm asking because I know of someone who put a 318 in an early Dakota. He had the motor built and ready to install when he discovered it wouldn't bolt to the v-6 frame mounts. He then got a 318 from a '91 Dakota which bolted right to the v-6 mounts. I was not aware of a change in the location of the mounts on the motor but evidently there was one. He also seemed to think this was a '91 only deal. May be true but I find it hard to believe Mopar would make a one year only block.

When Shelby installed 318s in '89 he added another crossmember to accomodate the 318 mount location.

IIRC, this guy also had accessory drive problems and had to use '91 parts there also.

If you are a parts hoarder it might be a good idea to grab the complete motor. Might be useful to someone wanting to install a 318 in their '87-'90 Dakota.
Dallas

2012 Rallye Redline Challenger, 1st new car!
2010 Ram 1500 4wd HEMI-hauler
2014 Dodge Dart-gas saver
4 projects and a bunch of parts cars, losing interest since buying the Challenger lol
1969 Dodge Coronet 500-'gonna fix 'er up someday!'