another update for me.. the only one who's in this room anymore

I got a very good and practical idea for the truck. And dad has no problems with it. Ok, his 74 Full size truck has been sitting for a year or more.. not too much before that, we went thru the 318 in it, freshened it all up. It had like 200,000+ miles on it. So anyway, since hes not too big on getting the truck going any time soon.... hes got his Caravan and runs the hell out of it. Works great for hauling and gets much better gas mileage than the truck did. So yeah, as im sure you have already figured out... I'm going to "borrow" that 318 and put it in my dak. Since im only gonna be using it for 6 mos or so... might as well, eh? Then when im done, i'll just slip the 318 back into his truck and no one will care. Its not like switching these old v8s around is hard or anythign... especially in 2 trucks!

So yeah, thats my plan. Few more little things on the Dak, order a few more parts and I'll be pullin it apart

 

Just one more thought on it all.... Dad thinks i should switch just the engines first... then the trans, then the rear... do everything 1 piece at a time. I was planning on just popping in the rear, and then the engine/trans at the same time.

I guess either way it doesnt matter too much... i dunno, we'll see how it goes

 

Rear first, easier. Eng/trans next, Driveshaft and wala

 

I was kinda thinking that too. And also because I need the fuel cell and pump in before the 318 goes in.. so im just gonna pull the bed off, make the axle switch REAL easy, and then final mount all those other things. Then i'll get a shaft made, and be able to drive it around a little bit more on the V6 since it has A/C! LOL

I'm pretty sure the V6 and V8 tranny's are the same length.. which means no new shaft when i go V8. I need to call and get a PN on both shafts i guess first. I also need to find which yoke i need to get. The one on the shaft is smaller than an 8.75... either that or i'll just go to CDM and cut the drive shaft yoke off that fury thats there.. then get a "hybrid" shaft made.

 

are you swapping the a/c onto the v8? I would

 

At first no, i was going to throw all the inside shit out. But then I got to thinking how nice it would be... except for one thing.. that ugly ass V-twin compressor. I was thinking of just building a bracket to mount the 93 compressor to the LA block, but the comp. has a serpentine pulley on it... LA has V belts.

So then I was thinking maybe one from a 2.2/2.5? V-belt pulley and small design. Except how the hoses fit the comp are different. I'm not sure if i could use hoses off a car because they come off the comp to the "front" of it (pass side of the car) and when mounted in the truck, they'd have to be on the side.

Any other ideas short of getting an aftermarket comp from one of those retrofit places? Someone also mentioned that there was the small comp's used on some older cars? I need a CDM one of them!

 

doesn't the mag front swap onto the la? i thought the only major diff between the two was the top end and computer, for that matter (without going outside and comparing my dak to barracuda) wont the stock one from your truck bolt onto the la and then use the belt off like an 80's la?

 

I ordered my Caltrac bars... i need them to get the rear in because of the lower shock mounts.

I need to order a few final AN fittings for the fuel also.

No biggie, its been rainin for the past 2 days anyway

 

Hey we want pics of your progress!!!!!

 

nothing much to see so far. Just a pile of parts and little metal brackets getting bigger in my room