1989 Dakota ‘Vert

he didn't know what the trans was from but it's an automatic truck originally so this 5 speed is from something else. 

I'm guessing the 5 speed is an ax15 out of a v6 dak, it would bolt up to the la block.

The small block turned over by hand so I threw a battery in it and it cranked right over; the wiring caught on fire though so that was a proof of concept only and won't be repeated haha. Have the parts truck about half stripped...looking forward to moving the Vert up to the garage.

edit: hope you all appreciate the rustiness of NE Ohio cars from this picture of the frame "repair" on a 1990 Dakota.

V8 stick shift rag top mini truck? Sounds cool!

Disassembly of the rust has commenced.

then my bracket broke, so take two was a lot quieter

and then started on the front fenders. Since I'm not putting it in my name the title doesn't help me get rid of the "truck" so it'll have to be cut into little-ish parts to go away. Anything useable and lots of the rust free areas will be saved for patch metal

Sweet!!!!

Just realized that this huge sway bar is not factory, not sure these came with them at all but this think is huge. That's cool cause I wanted one for the Vert but didn't want to pay belltech for one haha.

My brother and I put a 318 Magnum in his Dakota Convertible awhile back. It went in using the factory mounts like it was meant to be there. Since you're using the earlier style block, look at the Shelby style mounts.  We used the old style chain case and water pump like your engine has to give it more of a old look.

Forgot your brother had one Jeff, we talked about that before.

I built a work bench to roll the bed around on, this will come in handy when reworking the suspension and fuel/brakes later

I know, not much accomplished 

The parts truck is entirely cut up and parted; the trans is the weakest 5 spd attached to a full size truck in the form of an A535. Doh. And, wow the frame was BAD

Good God i don't miss nwpa....

The 49 isn't rusty. Tha ks for thee reality check!

Yikes.

in related news: I'm hoping to look at a shelby dak this weekend.

Kind of an odd mix of stuff that you'll be able to use from the rust donor.  Any plans that you have a better idea of what is left that might be salvageable?

The Vert is actually REALLY solid, I think it'll need mostly new stuff rather than old. I'm going to make it run and drive before the engine swap; I have a 69 beetle convertible I traded for (and hope to trade on) that's being dropped off Sunday so at least another week before I move it up to the house.

(anyone need/want a beetle Vert basket case?)

Whaddayano!

In the garage finally. So much better without the steps!

Giggity!!!!!

Engine is locked up, pretty sure I discovered that before but I dropped some MMO down the cylinders last night and will rock it a little  today

In reply to chandler :

I actually never thought about checking that. Sorry.....

But, magnum 3.9 swap? Ported heads, modded beer keg intake.....

Eh, it sat for years so that's not surprising at all. No biggie 

In reply to Dusterbd13-michael :

Hellcrate. If any vehicle ever deserved one, it's this Dakota vert. 

Ya'll are crazy. He just parted another Dakota with a v8/5spd. The answer is always the parts you already have.

235 horse isn't much out of that 318 but it's better than the 175 from the 3.9. If I can get the 6 broke loose it'll stay while I do "other things". If not; we will give it the old swap-a-roony 

I don't know if I'd keep the 5 speed he's got as they're not exactly strong.  I like the 318 idea and maybe use some of the supporting hardware to get closer to some other manual trans (NV3500?  Is the bellhousing the same?)

That trans is the weakest put in a truck. We will see how this works out

I've got the NV3500 behind a V8 in my Dakota and the biggest gripe for me is the lack of immediacy in the shifts. It's just too much of a truck transmission to feel sporty. It holds the power just fine, but it's not the best feeling transmission out there for sure.