94 Dakota v6 to v8 swap (problem)

Help needed.
Swapped a 97 360 magnum into my 94 v6 Dakota. All is good except one major issue, the engine is about 2 inches too far forward. I do not see a set of holes in the frame crossmember that allows movement of the frame mounts. My research said this would be a simple swap
Has anyone encountered this issue??

Maybe check out magnumswap.com and see if they have any tips.

The trans mount to crossmember bolts and/or mount bracket should be slotted. None of that changes from a V6 to a V8. Did you use the V6 or V8 engine mounts? The 94 may not be the same as the 97. In other words you may need 94 V8 mounts.

Some background, The engine and driveline (97 5.9 , sb 727, drive shaft and 8 3/4) were removed from a 88 single cab short bed using the Shumacher mounts (LA mounts).
Going into 94 3.9 42RH single cab short bed.
Used 94 5.2 mounts (5.9 not available in 94) anchor brand #2652 (same for v6 or v8). Its 2wd, should be easy. When I lowered the motor into the frame it looked too far forward (water pump is too close the radiator for a conventional fan. I went ahead with the trans (727) and its 2 " from reaching the crossmember. The drive shaft is the same amount short.
I'm stumped.........

Just a guess but could the mounts be either on the wrong sides or installed wrong. just wondering because if you don't get the mounts on the right side of the ears on a big block it causes all kinds of grief.

I don't know either so I did a google search and came across this thread on another forum. Maybe has something to do with your problem?

Linky >> 3.9 to 5.9

I have a 91 Dakota sport that was a factory v8 truck. I am using a 2000 5.9 magnum engine and 904 transmission. Unless you will be using the factory overdrive transmission. Shumocker makes a transmission mount adapter for the 3 speed transmission.

Picture of transmission mount

Oops try this one.

I don't know if this is relevant info or not, but I discovered a couple years ago the Dodge used 3 different transmission mounts between 1992 and 1994 Dakotas. The 93 was a changeover year, and neither the 92 nor the 94 will work without modification, and the 93 mounts are no longer available. The truck I ran into this on was a 4x4, but I've heard they did the same thing on the 2x Dakotas.
I had to modify the crossmember to get the 94+ trans mount to work. Maybe you have the wrong crossmember for the mount you are trying to use?

I sure hope you guy get this figured out, I will be putting a 96 318 4x4 drive train on a 91 4x4 chassis soon, and will be covering this with 49 Dodge sheetmetal. I'll have enough to deal with making the sheet metal work, I don't want to have to deal with a motor/trans issue as well, but I will if I need to. Gene.

I cant speak about a 4x4 truck. But my 91 was v8 with a A500 over drive transmission. With the magnum 360 and 904 transmission. Using the adapter mount. My engine/ transmission bolted right in with no problems

The engine is in.
To recap; it's a 94 2wd v6 Dakota that I am swapping to a 97 5.9 magnum and 727. I had to drill and tap a 1/2" plate for each side to move the motor mount forward about 2" (different for each side). Sandwiched the plate between the block and the mount.
All I can figure is the brackets on the k-frame are different from v6 to v8.
Moral of the story: don't believe anything you read on the net and only half of what you see. Other sites (not this one) said this was a "easy swap" "uses same mounts".
BTW the trans mount used is the one like 2 posts above.

Very strange. All the extra length is forward of the mounts on a V8. Apples and oranges probably but I'm wrapping up my swap of a 5.9 into a 3.9 QC. I used the V6 mounts with the only problem being I had to trim some of the plate off the bottom to clear the oil pan lip. I did have the mounts reversed L to R and they were several inches off.



Tim

can you post some pics of your mounts? Something doesn't sound right. I sold the V6 mounts , the frame mounts off my 87 parts dakota to a guy so he could install a v8 in his 94/95 dakota. But he was going from a 4 cylinder truck.