Engine and tranny swap from a '92 to an '89

big-e · Jun 28, 2017

I have had a 1992 D150, 2wd with a 318 magnum engine for a while now. the Engine and transmission are great. The body and frame, however, not so much after a recent encounter with a rather unforgiving tree.

I have bought a new truck in the mean time. This one is a 1989 D150, 2wd with a 318 engine too. This engine is....o.k. at best. It runs and all, but has a coolant leak I have not been able to pinpoint quite yet, and overall needs work.

One thing is clear though. There is a remarkable difference in performance between the two engines. The Magnum is of course a newer engine and likely better maintained over its lifetime. The Magnum is still factory and the older engine has clear signs that someone messed with it at some point.

Which leads me to the following question: Is it possible to swap the engine and transmission from the 92 and put it in the 89 truck? if so, what challenges can i expect to run into?

I am enthusiastic DIY, but I have not done anything on this scale before. I'll likely call in some help, but even so, I would like to get a good idea what i am getting into.

So, it is worth swapping the engines, or should I just try to make the older engine work better?

Any wisdom is much appreciated.

crazzywolfie · Jul 6, 2017

it may be a it time consuming swapping things over from 1 truck to the other but it should be a fairly straight swap. i think i could probably pull a swap like this in a day. best advise is unplug the harness from anything bolted to the body and toss it on the engine. leave the computer behind the battery connected and toss it on the engine and then unbolt the 3 or 4 bolts and 2 nuts that hold things in and yank the engine/trans. this usually takes about 1-2 hours. you will likely need to swap out the steering column and wiring harness but it is not usually too bad of a job since nothing really changed much between 89 and 92. i think the biggest pain might just be dropping the fuel tank out of the 92 and putting it in the 89. you could use the 89 fuel tank but the 92 fuel tank is a better one to have if the sending unit starts crapping out on you or breaks. the 88-90 sending units are nearly impossible to find if you to have one crap out on you or break.

you may also want to pull the motor mount extension plate and steering brace if the 92 has it and the 89 doesn't or if your 89 does have them you could always try selling the off. a decent steering brace is $90+shipping from dodge connection and hard to come by most of the time and the extension plate is good for converting v6's to v8's.
http://www.dodgeconnection.com/catalog/item/2901766/4541374.htm

big-e · Jul 9, 2017

crazzywolfie said:
it may be a it time consuming swapping things over from 1 truck to the other but it should be a fairly straight swap. i think i could probably pull a swap like this in a day. best advise is unplug the harness from anything bolted to the body and toss it on the engine. leave the computer behind the battery connected and toss it on the engine and then unbolt the 3 or 4 bolts and 2 nuts that hold things in and yank the engine/trans. this usually takes about 1-2 hours. you will likely need to swap out the steering column and wiring harness but it is not usually too bad of a job since nothing really changed much between 89 and 92. i think the biggest pain might just be dropping the fuel tank out of the 92 and putting it in the 89. you could use the 89 fuel tank but the 92 fuel tank is a better one to have if the sending unit starts crapping out on you or breaks. the 88-90 sending units are nearly impossible to find if you to have one crap out on you or break.

you may also want to pull the motor mount extension plate and steering brace if the 92 has it and the 89 doesn't or if your 89 does have them you could always try selling the off. a decent steering brace is $90+shipping from dodge connection and hard to come by most of the time and the extension plate is good for converting v6's to v8's.
Power Steering Brace

Thanks for the feedback. I'll have to check out the steering column in the 92, as it was definitely impacted during the accident.

Ironically, the fuel sending unit in the 92 has been busted for a while, and the 89 is still working fine. May just leave that as is for the time being. Are the motor mounts etc in the same place on both trucks, or did that get modified with the newer engine?

crazzywolfie · Jul 9, 2017

Everything is physically the same as far as motor mounts go on a 88-93 trucks. Just if you buy a v6 truck you need a motor mount extension plate to drop a v8 in which is why I recommend keeping it if you can. A lot of shoebox trucks came with v6's

Engine and tranny swap from a '92 to an '89

big-e

Junior Member

crazzywolfie

Senior Member

big-e

Junior Member

crazzywolfie

Senior Member

Similar threads

Latest posts

Members online

Forum statistics

Share this page