I have done some checking online and it looks like 318 and 360 motor mounts are different ? can you tell me what the difference is. I'm buying a Dakota that had a 360 LA in it, and I'm planning on running a 318 LA , is there a easy fix ?

magnum or LA 318?

If it is a magnum 318 then you just get any Dakota V6 or V8 mounts and bolt it in.

If you are gonna put in a 318 LA then you can widen the home made mounts you are gonna find in there (unless someone I am unaware of is making LA Dakota mounts).

what year dakota? were the early years of the truck using LA motors?

if it's a Magnum motor, (and still has a Magnum motor, and not a custom LA motor swap) then the motor mounts are all the same...mostly.

I took a Magnum 318 out of my truck, and I put a Magnum 360 in, using the same mounts. the blocks are identical on the outside.

where you can run into differences, is from a 2wd to a 4wd truck. due to suspension differences, and frame differences, there are also some differences in the motor mounts from 2wd to 4wd trucks. (2wd trucks use a coil spring up front, 4wd trucks use torsion bars, and obviously, 4wd trucks have the front axle when 2wd just has spindles and control arms)


more information is needed to help answer your question. what year dakota, and does it have the original motor set-up, or did someone do some custom fabrication to put an LA motor in.

91 was the only year dodge put LAs in the Dakotas, that block (318 only) was only used in the Dakota and has the 3 bolt holes on the side for the motor mount instead of the ears, no other LA block bolts in using the factory mounts, someone had to make there own mounts or buy some from an aftermarket company.

If you are gonna put a 318 LA in you will need the 91 only 318 Dakota pan, good luck finding one

1500 of us got a 318 in our dakota, in '89. hey, i'm just sayin'.....

mhmmm.

I did say it was the only year dodge put them in there.


What kind of mounts did Shelby make to put them in there?

no doubt what you said just mentioning it's been done before. off the shelf motor mounts used, with an added crossmember to meet the mounts, on the shelby. the mounts and oil pan are available. a truck pan is a truck pan, right?

No! a truck pan is not a truck pan, there is no way no how a ram/van/grand cherokee pan is gonna fit in my 2wd 90 or 4wd 93, the sump is way to wide front to back and wants to ocupy the same space as the diff on a 4wd and the steering rack on a 2wd. The dak pan has a tall skinny sump at the very rear of the pan.

It was 1989 was the first year. Shelby Dakota it had a true la 318 in it not a magnum. It took speicle motor mounts [ whitch I have ] and frame mounts that are no longer avb.. It was efi and ran elec. fans to fit the motors in the flat nose trucks. Then in 91 they bumped out the nose to run a clutch fan. Then in 92 they went to the magnums so they could run the same mounts as the v6, it was cheaper that way.

To answer two questions on mounts and oil pan, 1] left motor mount was the same as 84-94 full size ram [ when they changed bodies in 94 some were still running duel motor mount blocks.] try to find one those blocks now. Oh wait you can that's the block they for the crate motors. The right mount was dakota made only. 2] The oil was stander truck pan just deeper 6qts. but a stander truck pan will work and you can use a magnum pan as well. We did when we put a 340 in a 88 dakota.

All magnum blocks have both motor mounts right through the end of production in the early 2000s. A regular truck pan WILL NOT FIT ! Also there were NO V8s in 1990 Dakotas.

I almost bought a factory 1991 V8 Dakota that had the LA block and were Throttle body injection. The other problem is that the 360 uses a different pan then the 318 doesnt it? The closest pan I have seen to fit when I was researching it was the milodon 4x4 pan but even it needed modification.

I did not say 1990. I said 1989 then in 1991. And we are running a standerd truck pan [ it came off my 77 D150] in a 2wd early dakota and it fits with an 1 3/4 to spare. We are running the shoemaker kit whitch runs a stock pan. I my 87 I am running a 97 5.2 with no issuses.

Just tried it (97 ram 5.9 and pan)in my 90 dakota like 4 days ago and the regular truck pan sits right on the k frame holding the engine about 5 inches up. I did not take pictures but trust me there was no way no how it was going. Now the engine is sitting in there like a glove with a pan from a 99 Durango and the factory V6 mounts. I tried it last fall in a 4x4 and it was doing the same thing only it was the differential trying to occupy the same space.

360 pans fit all magnum motors 5.2 and 5.9 just certain ones fit certain chassis.