Posted By: tjmarcus1
3.9 to a 360 in a dakota? - 07/27/13 02:57 AM
A guy came by my shop wanting me to switch his 3.9 to a 360 in a 94 Dakota 4wd. what all needs changing? obviously pcm and harness, but what else beside converter?
3.9 to a 360 in a dakota?
Posted By: goldmember
Re: 3.9 to a 360 in a dakota? - 07/27/13 03:11 AM
Use a 360magnum flexplate with the weight on it,remove any weights from the 3.9 converter. add 2 injector wires(or a harness if you like) ,and cpu. Dakota oil pan and pick up tube.
Posted By: Golden-Arm
Re: 3.9 to a 360 in a dakota? - 07/27/13 04:30 AM
find a wrecked 94 v-8, and buy it. swap the parts over. (make him pay for the junker, obviously.) 
Posted By: 70Cuda383
Re: 3.9 to a 360 in a dakota? - 07/27/13 01:03 PM
Quote:
Use a 360magnum flexplate with the weight on it,remove any weights from the 3.9 converter. add 2 injector wires(or a harness if you like) ,and cpu. Dakota oil pan and pick up tube.
3.9s are internal balance like their big brother the 5.2 shouldn't be any weights on the converter.
but otherwise, that's about all you'd have to do.
Posted By: VL21
Re: 3.9 to a 360 in a dakota? - 07/27/13 02:30 PM
LOL
Piece of cake ...like all those Craigslist ads that say ..."easy fix".
Piece of cake ...like all those Craigslist ads that say ..."easy fix".
Posted By: tjmarcus1
Re: 3.9 to a 360 in a dakota? - 07/27/13 03:37 PM
Quote:what do you mean "add 2 injector wires"?. do you mean a dakota oil pan for a 360? thanks guys.
Use a 360magnum flexplate with the weight on it,remove any weights from the 3.9 converter. add 2 injector wires(or a harness if you like) ,and cpu. Dakota oil pan and pick up tube.
Posted By: 70Cuda383
Re: 3.9 to a 360 in a dakota? - 07/27/13 04:12 PM
Quote:
what do you mean "add 2 injector wires"?
a 3.9 is a V6. a 5.9 is a V8. 8 is bigger than 6 by 2, and since each cylinder has it's own fuel injector, you have to add 2 additional fuel injectors.
and, if you want them to work, you have to add electrical wires 
but seriously, the right way to do it is to get a V8 computer, and a V8 engine harness. If you cannot locate a V8 engine harness, you can make the V6 engine harness work. all the injectors share a common power supply, so tapping into that to power the injectors is easy. the ground to each injector goes to the computer, which grounds each individual injector as needed to make it spray fuel. you will have to run 2 wires, one from each injector to the computer and add it to the proper pin-out in the computer plug on the V6 harness, effectively turning it into a V8 harness. use of a factory service manual will help you do this.
or, an alternative, cheap, and hack job way to do it, would be to splice the 2 extra injectors off the injector next to it. say, tie the #1 injector to the #3 injector, so when the computer sprays #3, #1 sprays at the same time. this would NOT be optimum, because the injector will be out of time with the valve, and the fuel will puddle on the valve until it opens, and you wont have very good fuel atomization.
I would not do it that way if it was mine.
Quote:
do you mean a dakota oil pan for a 360? thanks guys.
Yes a 5.2 and a 5.9 oil pan is the same, so any V8 oil pan will work. Might want to make sure you stick to the same driveline configuration though to be safe. if the truck you're working on is a 2wd truck, get an oil pan for a 2wd V8. The front suspension and frames are different on a 2wd to 4wd truck (aside from the additional front axle, 4wd trucks have a torsion bar front suspension, 2wd trucks have a coil spring suspension) so with those changes, I can't guarantee that the oil pans are the same. I do know that the 4wd Motor mounts for a 5.9L Durango are totally different than the 2wd motor mounts for a 5.9 Dakota of the same year...so the pans MAY be different as well.
Posted By: dodgeboy11
Re: 3.9 to a 360 in a dakota? - 07/31/13 02:20 AM
I feel it necessary to add that 5.2 and 5.9 Magnum engines use the same oil pan. Pre Magnum, or LA blocks are different on the 318 and 340's and even the front of the 360 (early) pans are different from the Magnum pans because the Magnums use a one piece oil pan gasket and doesn't have those little flared out sections for the front oil pan seal to be set into. It's really a non issue, too much info sort of thing as you'll have to have a specific v8 oil pan for that truck anyway and the only one that will fit is from a Magnum engine.
Posted By: HotRodDave
Re: 3.9 to a 360 in a dakota? - 08/03/13 06:49 PM
All the Dakota/Durango 5.2 and 5.9 pans are the same except the 91 318 pan and the older shelby dakota pans. 2wd and 4wd does not matter on pans. Your V6 motor mounts will bolt up to ANY 5.2 or 5.9 magunm. You will want a 94-95 5.2 dakota harness to make the swap easiest. Any 95 or older magnum dodge not jeeep) manifolds (92 are best)unless you are ditching the EGR than any dodge manifolds can work.