Great tips so far! Thanks everyone!
I have the Dakota guage cluster in front of me right now and it will be easy to adapt. The E body dash is wide open with the stock guages out. Tons of room to fit and all nice flat straight angles to make my faceplate simple. Won't look like stock guages but will function 100% and have all the Dakota features intact. Tomorrow I'll compare steering columns. I have them both out. Looks like a simple changeover too.
I'd say the E body/Dakota morph will be quite slick. The rear diff is actually pretty close too so I may stick it in as well so I have the antilock rear brakes too.