5.2/5.9 Magnum Swap, Who's dun 'em?

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chlngr1970

chlngr1970

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So, I found what seems like a sweet deal on a 5.2 Magnum motor from a Dakota or Durango, and am wondering if anyone has done a swap like this. I know the Hemi swap is all the rage, but the LA Style, Magnum small block I think would be a bit easier to do. I did a google search but came up with 5.9 Magnum Carb builds, not much on the FI stuff. I'm also toying with the idea of swapping in a 5.9 Magnum into my Dakoat :D Any experiences out there with this kind of swap?

Thanks

j
 
The stock EFI sucks. Wouldn't be worth the trouble. If you have to have EFI, go aftermarket.

Leakdown the motor if you can, heads on these crack bad. My shortblock was relatively low mileage, both heads cracked between the seats.

I'd hold out for a 5.9. Big difference. Hughes EQ Iron Ram heads ROCK for cheap.

Hemi swap sucks. Too much money, too much cutting, parts cost too much, same payoff as a Magnum swap.

As best as I can figure, junkyard Magnum stuff is head and shoulders better than any LA stuff that's just lying around, and still better than a lot that has come out of the machine shop.

Cheers!

Steve
 
I'm right in the middle of a 360 Mag swap where a /6 was in my Dart. Cheapest motor mounts were from summit 60 bucks transdapt, cheapest headers hedman 78050, make sure your balancer/flex plate/converter are compatible. Stock 360 mag is hard to beat for reliability and durability. intake selection is limited
 
LXguy said:
The stock EFI sucks. Wouldn't be worth the trouble. If you have to have EFI, go aftermarket.
Click to expand...

There's some talk around the www about guys going to late Ford EFI. Supposed to be way more tuneable and adaptable.

I was thinking about going EFI, until I sat down and realized

I USED to know how to make a carb run

I won't be driving this thing all that many real miles, and

It doesn't HAVE to run fer certain, as in to work or daily.
 
67Dart273 said:
There's some talk around the www about guys going to late Ford EFI. Supposed to be way more tuneable and adaptable.
Click to expand...

Where was this? I have 2 magnums and want to use the efi but I know the computer/efi setup sucks. I have been thinking about a mega squirt set with the stock magnum stuff(engine efi stuff), but haven't really looked into it yet.
 
The Ford swap required fitting a Ford pickup in the Mopar distributor, which was kind of tricky. I know one guy did it and has been running it for 5 years or more.
 
DionR said:
The Ford swap required fitting a Ford pickup in the Mopar distributor, which was kind of tricky. I know one guy did it and has been running it for 5 years or more.
Click to expand...

Tight fit, Must be a Ranger, I cant see getting a F350 under the cap.


















Yeah, bad joke,
 
I'm not gonna say the stock EFI sucks, it just depends on your plan on the motor. If your wanting a stock fairly quick Magnum setup, and you can get the harness and ecu as a cheap package deal, i'd go for it. Remember those magnum engines put out way more than the old style small headed LA motors. Esp smog ones. All you need is a diecent stall and some headers, 2.5 in exhaist, and that car should scoot pretty well on a stock efi setup. I agree however with doing a pressure test on all the cylinders to make sure the heads arent cracked as well. Also the stock intake manifold gasket on some years had a flaw and would seap a lil oil into the combustion chamber so make sure you change the intake manifold gasket just in case.
 
I'm in the middle of doing that swap,with EFI. My 5.9 was out of a 99 Durango with OBD2. Looked into using the stock ECU but decided to go with Megasquirt2 controller. My thread is here in small block tech. Others here have also done this swap in one form or another.
Happy transplanting
 
I'm in the middle of a carb'd magnum 5.9 swap. I wanted to do the stock efi, but its seemed like a massive pita. So i'm probably gonna just look into building a system down the road using megasquirt.
 
My 2 engines are OBD-I which is why I was thinking going Mega squirt. I read somewhere that OBD-II is a better system, making it better for a retro fit.
 
Here's a link to a Ford EFI swap here.

He modded a Ford distributor to fit the Mopar block. Need to read pretty far into the thread to find the info.

Not advocating for the Ford setup, just passing the info along.
 
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