I know there are a lot of posts here about dakota swaps, but just wantd to find out if anyone with a cbody is doing one and their experience so far? I picked up a 91 Dakota to pull the 318/overdrive trans for a transplant into my 1966 Fury 4 door.. After seeing the widths might work, I though maybe I clip the dakota onto the fury front subframe and get all the power steering and disc brake goodness.

Anyone doing one on a c body please chime in with anything you have found so far...

i am thinking it wont work unless you section the whole body onto the whole frame----if you need power and discs there are those that have used later c body components spindles rotors calipers to make it work.....

I remember that the 68 C body cars had a bolt on front frame assembly, but I don't know when Mopar started that practice. Is a 66 still the welded on front subframe or is it the bolt on subframe?

The bolt on subframe would probably be an easier project, you would have to make brackets to attach to the Dakota frame that would align with the C body bolt locations. The C body subframe angles towards the rockers at about the firewall, and actually bolts up to the rockers (if I remember right) at the trans crossmember. The change in the width of the C body frame rails from the front to the back will be a concern because the front 1/2 (including at the trans crossmember) of a Dakota frame has straight frame rails.

The change in width of the C body frame rails is a big concern with the welded on subframe because the two frame widths need to match up at some point to be welded together. Careful measurements will be required.

Given the complexity of the possible differences in the frame rails for what the gains might be, one would have to give some serious thoughts over this. C body disc brakes are not a difficult upgrade, and the C body steering, suspension, and frame structure are very near in equality to the Dakota stuff. It sounds like a lot of work with little improvement.

Swaps into older cars usually gains independent suspension, modern suspension parts, disc brakes and power steering that most did not have available at their production time and those improvements often justified the amount of work required. Gene

Thanks for the feedback. The 66 has the bolt on subframe. My "Imagined" options were:

1-cut stock subframe and graft in the Dakota parts like a camaro subframe graft.

2- Replace the entire subframe by cutting the dakota frame and welding brackets to it that would bolt to the car (of course other adjustments would also be needed)

3- Use the whole dakota frame under the car. wheelbase/trackwidth wise this fits, but I would expect a LOT of floor work to make it work. I would go this route if the car had rust issues, but it doesnt so I dont really want to chop the floor all up.

Yeah I know the suspensions arent radically different, but its a whole lot easier/ cheaper to get Dakota parts ;-)

My biggest thing was wanting Power steering and since I HAVE the dakota frame now, I thought I should look into the swap before getting rid of it. I think at this point maybe I should just focus on the Engine/trans swap and i'll let the dakota shell/frame go to someone who can use it sometime soon.

Might be easier to graft a Crown Vic front suspension in there.

http://www.trucktrend.com/how-to/project-trucks/1967-ford-f-100-project-speed-bump-part-2/

If you were going to use the Dakota frame, option 2 would be the best choice.

I think it would be a lot easier to add the power steering and disc brakes to what you already have. There has got to be a disc brake, power steering equipped, 66-72 Mopar C body sitting around, close to you, that can donate the parts you need (and probably someone that would love to see those parts get used). There are also lots of hot rodders that would love to get their hands on that Dakota frame, me included (unfortunately, I'm not close to you).

I think I would cruise through the C body section here (maybe post a want ad) and see what might be available. Gene