Re: Dakota Convertible Swap Update

From: Don Rey (radon220@gmail.com)
Date: Tue Jun 27 2006 - 08:28:31 EDT


So my swap is complete! (This is my last cross-post I promise!) It
took longer than planned (as big projects tend to do) but I was
actually done Friday. I queued up more than just a weekend full of
other work while getting the swap done!

The truck drives like a dream! For the first time ever, it accelerated
up the hill at the 384 ramp off 84! :) Yes Tom, I even stalled it
once. I must have been thinking about how you pointed out one of my
rookie mistakes!

More pictures up at www.pbase.com/radon220/gina_swap

So what took me so long? For one thing, since I didn't want to tackle
swapping axles yet, I needed a conversion u-joint to go 7260 to 7290.
Ordered it from Mancini... fast shipping... probably should have just
swapped axles though! Secondly, I hadn't anticipated taking the donor
22gal fuel tank until a later date - until I realized the fuel pumps
for magnum engines are in the tank! So I took the fuel lines too.
Also, in reassembling, I broke a rusty old brake line. Well, Pep Boys
screwed up and gave me a 3/16" brake tubing with METRIC threads (and
no tag on the tube - I assumed it was right, this was their last
straw). The location of the tee I had to thread it into gave me no
finger room to get it finger-tight... so I threaded it in with a small
adjustable wrench (my wrench set was out of reach). That gave me just
enough leverage to strip the tee without knowing it. So I had to
replace the tee... and the two other brake lines attached to it.

Overall, a pretty straightforward swap with a few foreseeable snags
and a few I didn't foresee. Just a lot of details, and a lot of
hard-working hours. I'm exhausted! It was entirely worth it!

What do you think? Anyone else thinking about or finished a swap like this?

Don
89 Dakota Convertible 5.2 5spd 4x4
74 Dart Sport 340
CT

.
.
.------------------------------------------------------------------.
| Make your plans NOW to attend the National DML Meet in Colorado! |
| Date: July 15-23, 2006 - More info: http://meet.dakota-truck.net |
`------------------------------------------------------------------'



This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sat Jul 01 2006 - 11:43:31 EDT