I have a 1999 Ram truck with good 5.2l and fresh rebuilt trans to use in a 1941 Chrysler. What all will I need to take from the truck to get the engine and trans to run?

Thanks, Mike

I have found that it is best to have the complete donor on hand when doing this kind of swap. Heck you may find a ton of stuff to use in any case.

A good place to start is http://www.magnumswap.com/

We did a 97 360 & trans into a 57 Dodge wagon, (and right now we are installing a 5.7 Hemi into that same wagon). A lot will depend on the condition of the 41 Chrysler. If the Chrysler still has original steering and brakes, you might consider an upgrade. The 41 Chrysler stuff was ahead of its time in 1941, not so much these days. The 318 will be 2x or 3x the original power of the Chrysler. Adding that much power will make marginal brakes even worse.

1) A wiring harness & computer, if you have the ability to modify the harness yourself, the original harness can be modified. We bought a harness from www.hotwireauto.com, not cheap, but it works out of the box, hook up 4 wires and it runs. They have a great tech assistance if you need it as well.

2) Unless the 41 Chrysler is a truck, you may need a car oil pan and pickup tube. The truck pan might not clear the steering linkage.

3) A compatible electric fuel pump, and possible fuel lines. The pump from the truck would work, if it fits into the tank (I suspect it won't), and the truck tank probably won't fit in the 41 Chrysler.

4) Exhaust.

5) The original rear end probably won't be up to the task, at the very least, you will have to rig up an E brake, and modify the drive shaft. If the car hasn't been upgraded to disc brakes & a rack & pinion, this would be a great time to do that as well.

6) Radiator.

7) Motor & tans mounts (and possibly a trans crossmember).

That's all I have off the top of my head. If you have room, I would hang onto the Ram until the Chrysler is up and running. It will be a life saver for all the little stuff that kills budgets. Gene

Poorboy, thanks for the info. The car is a 1941 Chrysler Royal business coupe. Its in reasonable shape but everything needs to be restored.

The 1999 Ram truck is mine and I plan to keep it until the 1941 is done.

We do plan to upgrade to front power disc brakes, and rear axle assy.

Plan is to keep it as stock looking from the outside.

Information on modifying the 1999 Ram wire harness would be nice. I suspect I need to use the eng/tran computers as well as fuse box from the Ram. There will likely be many wires not needed.

Mike

Hi Mike, I am at the start of a similar project, FI 5.2 magnum into a ‘56 2 door wagon. To say that I’m way outside of my comfort circle would be an understatement.

After reading what I can comprehend (not much) rather than trying to learn what circuits are required or not. I have remove the donor engine/trans complete with all (every one) of the electronic sensors, wiring, and black boxes. I’m going to mount them in the ‘56 and get it running first and if necessary remove unwanted circuits latter. Hopefully this will be easier than troubleshooting missing wires when it will not run. I hope!

Just a note, I've done wiring on cars for several years. I was a Chrysler tech in 85-87. Then I rewired the complete engine harness from an 85 Chrysler 5th Ave that had an engine fire. The entire engine harness was burned, and I did it from scratch.
I've also transferred the wiring from a 90 Dakota into my 48 Plymouth coupe, but those wiring harnesses are pretty simple compared to the late 90s harnesses.

I studied the 97 Dodge truck harness and the 97 Ram Factory Service Manual wiring diagrams for months before I gave up and bought the Hot Wire harness. My concern then was that if I missed something and the motor wouldn't run, I would have nothing to fall back on to trouble shoot it.

The Hot Wire harness is complete ( we used our own computer), it comes with a fuse block, relays, correct wire lengths nicely wrapped with the correct ends that plug into the sensors and other watertight connectors.

You drill a 2 3/8" hole in the firewall, insert the under hood part of the harness through the hole, lay it across the motor as per simple instructions, and connect the connectors. Inside the car, you mount the computer (engine control computer), the relays, connect a pink ignition hot wire, a red battery hot wire, the yellow starter relay wire, a fuel pump power wire to the fuel pump fuse, and its ready to go. The harness also provides the following optional wires in the harness: a speedo wire to connect to an electronic speedo, an oil pressure sending unit wire, a temp sending unit wire, a power wire for cruise control, power wire to go to an AC compressor, the brake light sending unit plug and a lead for the brake light power, and a lead for the horn relay, and maybe a couple more optional wires that I'm nor remembering right now. We went from nothing to a complete running motor in about 4 hours (mounting stuff took longer then plugging the stuff in).
I am not connected to Hot Wire at all, but I can tell you that harness works, and the tech support is great! We had an issue with our car, it was something I messed up, but the tech guy at Hot Wire walked me through fixing my mess up! If I would have built my own harness, I would have been screwed! Imagine having a no start on a harness I built myself because of a problem not even related to the EFI harness! I promise the first thing you think of is the EFI harness is messed up someplace. It sure was nice to have someone to call that knew how many volts were suppose to be where. Gene

Poorboy, I fully appreciate your advice and experience. And to be honest, wiring is not my strong suit, I am OK but not a whiz at it. The cost of the Hot wire harness is a bit above the budget, but I will def keep it in mind. Hoping that some things don't cost as much as we estimate and maybe we can do the Hot wire route.

For now, I plan to move all the wiring from the Ram truck not cutting anything and label everything so that I can use it if needed. So its a back up plan.

BTW I used aftermarket wire kit for my 1964 truck....and it was not easy since its more for Chev than Mopar. I will know soon if I missed anything when we fire it up in mid May.

Again, thanks for the advice.

Mike

Old Ray, I def want to know how you made out using the donor wire harness, I am sure others will too!

Thanks for your reply.

Mike

We are still looking for 1987 to 1990 Dakota to use under the Chrysler. We would prefer to stay with the Dakota, but if that fails, what year S10 or Ford Rangers would be alternatives?

Thanks, Mike

Probably none, ....Look at a Dakota engine out of a 1991 and up, (6 bolt wheels) it is my understanding (?) that the early years were not that much different than pre 1990 but did get more complicated in the late 1990's.

Old Ray, I have a 5.2L and auto from 1999 Ram 1500 SLT. I have decided to go with Hotwire wiring kit vs trying to figure out the wiring from 1999 Ram.

There are a few 91 to 96 Dakotas for sale here in Eastern Ontario but wanting 87 to 90 for obvious reasons.

Why are you wanting the 87-90 Dakota over the later one?

Kevin

Maybe because 1991 was the first year for the Magnum engine with multi-port electronic fuel injection ??????

91 was the first year for the 6 bolt wheels. 87-90 still had the 5 on 4 1/2 bolt pattern.

If the reason you are looking at the 87-90 is the 5 bolt wheels, a simple rotor swap will fix the front up to the end of the 1996 model year. Tell me your going to rebuild the brakes on your project. Just buy the 87-90 front rotors for the 91-96 chassis (wheel bearings and everything is the same). The 8 1/4 or the 7 1/4 rear ends (if you really want to keep those) can be changed from a 6 bolt to a 5 bolt by changing to the same size 5 bolt axle shafts and changing the rear drums.

The 97 and newer have a different wheel bearing setup, changing them to a 5 bolt is not cost effective.

The Dakota wiring harness is pretty simple up to 90. 91-96 Dakota harness is more simple then the same year Ram, the Dakota system still has the efi separate from the rest of the wiring unless it has the overhead consel thing. I used a 90 Dakota wiring complete in my coupe. When we did the 97 5.9 into the 57 Dodge wagon, we bought the Hot Wire harness. Gene

Yes Poorboy is correct, we want 87-90 to get the 5 bolt wheel set up. We will consider the 91-96 as backup plan. Also is it correct that the 2wd dakota all came with rack and pinion steering?

We have a few leads on 87-90 to look at, hoping for good frame.

And most definitely the brakes and suspension will all be rebuilt before going on the road.

Mike

That’s my ‘92 front frame to soon become a ‘90.

The rear axles are a problem!
Because I live in a log cabin in the bush near “resume speed” British Columbia the availability of used parts is not great and even the listings on eBay are scarce for axles for the 8.25 diff. The only ones accessible are new and with the dollar exchange is very pricy. The DORMAN 630406 is a good price but is on factory backorder.

Another option, STANDARD GEAR USA21024 is the same as the dorman part you listed. Or Yukon C4348510.
There are several distributors in BC.

Thanks for the info and link.......I'm on to it !

Mike, its easier to find a 91-96 2 wheel drive Dakota then it is to find the older ones. More years means more trucks produced. My next project is going on a very nice clean 91 chassis.

All 2 wheel drive Dakotas through 96 have rack & pinion steering with a coil spring front suspension. 4x4 through 96 have a steering box with torsion bar front suspension.

Another note, the rear axle on a 2 wheel drive is mounted above the springs, but a 4x4 rear axle is mounted under the springs (at least until 96, I have no idea what is under the 97 and newer Dakotas for suspension). Gene

I really hate to say this, but we are installing 8.8 Ford rear axles from Explorers in what we are building these days. They use 5 on 4 1/2" bolt pattern wheels. Most come with 3:55 or 3:73 gears, a Limited slip is pretty common, they are pretty easy to find with rear disc brakes, and the are tough, and cheap around here. You can buy the driveshaft flange mount that uses the small standard Mopar u joint.

If you want to stick with Mopars, I hear the Jeep Grand Cherokee rear ends fit well. Gene