I OWN A 97 DAKOTA 4X4 WITH THE 3.9 ENGINE AND AUTO IN IT. REALLY LIKE THE TRUCK BUT NOT ENOUGH HP. WHAT ALL DO I NEED TO DO FOR A 318 SWAP?  

SMOKEN_JOE:
I OWN A 97 DAKOTA 4X4 WITH THE 3.9 ENGINE AND AUTO IN IT. REALLY LIKE THE TRUCK BUT NOT ENOUGH HP. WHAT ALL DO I NEED TO DO FOR A 318 SWAP?

You kinda need to change tranny too because of added torque. I would suggest though if current engine is sound, a simple regearing of axle will give you a lot more usable power. If you off road, you would find it running better with 6 and some 4.56's vs a 318 and stock gears. DO not let 4.56 scare you as you have OD and it tames it down a lot in top gear.  

Installing the v8 should be easy. Just add 2 injector wires and get a v8 comp. The best place to ask questions like this is go to dodgeforum.com Lots of people have done this swap.  

the 318's junk get a 440 and u wnt have no more problem with not enough hp or tq...  

No just cooling it, fitting it in, carrying the extra weight, feeding it and replacing drive drive (tranny, tcase,axles and such) as they fail from added torque. Even a small engine can do well with proper gears.  

I say do it. The 318 is a great engine. It just depends all on how it was taken care of before. Mopar Magizine dec. 2008 is making a artical series on a 96 dakota 5.9 swap. Same exact thing as a 97 as far as engine and tranny and electrical. and even gears dont do it for the power of a v8.  

V8 power is nice at times but still not replacement for proper gears. Given a choice between a 6 with proper gears and a V8 with out them I would choose the 6 every time in that chassis.  

SnoMan:
V8 power is nice at times but still not replacement for proper gears. Given a choice between a 6 with proper gears and a V8 with out them I would choose the 6 every time in that chassis.

If gears were all it would take to over power a v8 then all the trucks and cars would have v6s and 4cys, in them for the gas milage and power. Gears give some more power but up to a point. Going with the v8 will be better choice for highway and city driving. I would take v8 with proper gears in it than any v6 with too low gears in it any day.  

You kinda miss the point here. Were are talking about off road and HP is a function of torque and RPM. A V6 off road with deeper gears is going to make more of its power available to wheels because it is going to be able to wind up a bit more in every gear. The torque advantage of V8 only works when gears allow it to exploit this extra torque and put more power to ground.  But, if you have a V8 with tall stock gears and a V6 with deep proper gears it is going to do better off road and provide better traction to because of less axle/chassis twist to get same tractive effort to ground. Once you have run a 4x4 off road with some 4.88 or 5.13 you will never want to go back to tall geared gutless wonders that are lost without low range.  

Well Im sure no one would ever go down the highway everyday with 4.88 or 5.13 gears. You know he is not building a rock crawler. Most likey it is a daily driver. So low gears are not the answer. Adding more power to the engine is! Anyone that is getting axle/chassis twist has more problems than any gears could help. That is a suspention problem! And if you keep a light foot on it you wont get any!  

You going down the highway to a lifted truck and big tires with 4.88 or 5.13 gear is nothing or a piece of cake with a OD tranny. Many are hung up of tall gears with OD trannies and big tires thinking that this is best mileage solution when the truth of the matter is that it now takes more power to cruise than stock and that mean more RPM from deeper gears because stock gears with big tire mean a even lower cruise RPM than stock and less available HP at this RPM too. Proper gears restores the balance and provides the power  needed to effectively do the job. Gas engine are not diesels and they need to be turning more than 2000 RPM to be efficient cruising with a lift and big tires unless you maybe have a BB or a Dodge V10.  

Yes proper gears do go hand in hand with large tires. But he never said he is putting larger tires or a lift. So v8 power and maybe a step up to 3.9 or 4.1 the max. Would be suffecent. Anymore and your wasteing gas. And just by steping up that much from 3.55 (the normal for dodge) That is not going to equal the power increase a v8 swap will produce.  

Even with stock tires a 3.9 with 4.10's would do a lot better than 3.55's. You will think you had a engine transplant of sorts.  

Yes a 3.9v6 with 4.1s would be better then a 3.9v6 with 3.55. But a 5.2 with 3.55 would still be better than than 3.9v6 with 4.1. I have done 4.1 they put the rpms too high at 65 to 75mph. I have 33s. I went to 3.9 and perfect! Lower gears is not always better. When I went to 4.1s I had the 5.2. When I went to 3.9 I had put in a 5.9. The 5.9 swap made more power than the 4.1s did. Thats why v8 swap with stock gears (if not going with bigger tires) will be better than swaping in crazy low gears with a v6!