Hey guys, I have finally found a 95 Dodge Dakota that has a decent body and isn’t very rusty, but the 5.2 motor burns some oil and has 175k miles on it. I have also found a 318 two barrel motor out of an 80’s pickup I can buy complete for $150. This engine has been sitting indoors for 20 plus years and is supposedly in good shape. I am wondering if the short block on these two engines are interchangeable. I was always a chevy guy so I don’t know about the mopar family of motors.
Thanks in advance,
Garry C.
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I don’t know about interchangeability but why not just rebuild the '95 engine? It could just be a case of the rings being stuck or carboned up.
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That is my second option, I just was hoping to do a weekend engine swap instead of the truck being down and out of commission during the rebuild time.
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@JocundJake would be the only one I’d know that’s fiddled with the 318’s more than anyone else on the site.
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Hello Garry .
Why not drive it a while on wood and then rebuild or replace if it uses too much oil.
My truck ( v-10) uses some oil with over 200K on it but it doesn’t bother me much.
Just parked it from about a 40 mile drive .
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Have you tried adding Marvel Mystery Oil to the crank case? It’s helped me solve or mitigate oil consumption a couple of times. If it’s burning up to a quart every 3000 miles I’d say it’s in the safe zone.
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I haven’t bought the truck yet, the owner was being honest with me in telling me it burns a quart about every 600 miles.
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The “LA” series engine family was 1966-1991/2 before being changed to the “magnum” engine family. There is some parts interchangeability but not much, the blocks is close to the same but combustion chamber and head design is drastically different. Dont know how well it would bolt in place of the magnum without modification
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The heads would have to be swapped, I’m pretty sure Marcus is right on the heads being different. it would be a hard conversion not my first choice.
on my he note of burning oil. I have had a few that did it if it were me I would probably buy the truck if it is cheap and then plan on building the engine most likely you can put a set of rings and gaskets in it and be fine, but I don’t think I’ll ever do that again without a set of bearings as well.
Also keep an eye out on FB market place. there are piles of those Dakota’s for sale. you can probably find you an engine or an entire parts truck or 3.
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I think with the mileage it has you’d be ahead of the curve to do a partial rebuild. Maybe not go overboard with machining but check the bore and hone it a little, rings and bearings like Jakob said.
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If you don’t plan on it being a daily driver I’d follow 'Wayne’s advise. If you have no experience in rebuilding an engine then there is a significant learning curve unless you trust that the out of the box gaps and tolerances are correct on your bearings and rings.
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Garry,
I could sell you my Dakota V8, it has less miles and burns more oil, has transmission problems, cooling problems, and is probably rustier. If you trust the owner about the state of it, and the price is right, buy it to prove to yourself you can drive on wood. I am pretty sure Mopar made lots of changes to the old 318 when they released the Magnum series, plus you want the MPFI magic too. Two different (but almost the same) engines. (no, I am not really ready to sell mine yet. My wife wishes I would…) 
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a quart in 600 miles is not that much if the price is right buy and drive rebuild when you get time. or find an engine that fits for the right price. Just my personal opinion.
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I have a '92 with the 318. My plan is to get it running on the stock engine and run it on a chassis dyno. Then, rebuild the engine with higher compression in hopes of recovering some of the horsepower lost due to the lower BTU of woodgas.
I’ve always read that increasing the compression and advancing the timing were two ways to optimize an engine for woodgas… and alcohol, too. I’d love to run a choice of woodgas, E85, homemade E100. Someday… someday.
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With fuel injection you’d have to get bigger injectors to run on e85 or e100, and maybe tweak the computer. Requires much more fuel to air. And you’d want to upgrade your fuel lines to all stainless and get a higher pressure fuel pump, or a booster pump to supplement the tank pump.
I’ve made alcohol work in carbureted engines by dampening the incoming air but I don’t know how a fuel injected computer managed system would react to that.
Don’t forget licensing with the Department of the Treasury if you want to make your own distilled alcohol fuel.
If you raise the compression enough, advancing the ignition is no longer necessary. Joni in Ukraine has bumped his compression to a 12:1 in his Opel and leaves the distributor at it’s factory setting. Also factor in the compression getting higher as the RPM increases, with manifold vacuum advanced distributors it actually Retards the spark as RPM goes up to prevent predetonation.
Double edged sword, with a higher compression you’d require a higher octane fuel if you don’t make it a Woodgas-Only sort of vehicle like Joni did his. I’d maybe take it to a performance shop and bump the compression to something like a 10:1 or 11:1 as most modern vehicles have now. I’m assuming in 1992 they probably had an 8.5:1 or maybe a 9:1 ratio.
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I agree with cody, 11.too 1 is as high of compresion i would go ,that way you dont need airplane fuel too run higher octane/,
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Back too the original questain, can you bolt the magnum heads down on the older 318 dodge motors, If the deck is the same too piston clearence, NOT SURE either, GOOD QUESTAIN THOUGH, Ity would be nice too know is block and cranks are interchangable, probley works, I WOULD CALL AN ENGINE REBUILD SHOP I THINK MIGHT KNOW> IN the mean time i would hook it up on wood as it sets, 600 miles too quart of oil not too bad, build another spare with other motor parts,A MOTOR SWAP WILL SEEM LIKE A WALK IN THE PARK, after building a wood gas fueled truck.
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I have been able to use 70% ethanol fuel in my 2006 Corolla, and 1991 Ranger. It trips a trouble code in the Corolla so the CEL comes on. When I first started doing this with the Corolla it burned out the heating element in the downstream O2 sensor. So I replaced the Toyota sensor with a Ford one, and no more problems. I now have 105k on the Corolla and 54k the Ranger both on 70% ethanol. Except for the sensor on the Corolla I have not made any modifications.
Rindert
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Thanks for all the help guys. The seller decided to add a DK snowplow to the truck and sell it as a package deal for $6500, a little more than I wanted to pay. I found another Dakota, a 1999 which has the newer body style, but has the 5.2 magnum engine. I thought I read somewhere that they still work fine but you had to do something with one of the rear shocks and notch the gasifier for the frame? Or is my old age getting to me.
Garry C.
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Yes you do have to relocate the right side shock. If you are putting the lower gasifier barrel down through the bed of the truck like on a WK Gasifier. But if you make your clean out hatch on the side of the WK gasifier then it doesn’t not require this when staying above the bed. I am doing this on my 95 Jeep Grand Cherokee WK Gasifier build.
Bob
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