Time for another one of 66D's dumb ideas

[1966D100]

After receiving a phone call from my Ford friend, it got me thinking again about an over powered and equally thirsty 360 Magnum, stroked to 408, with a performance tuned MPI fuel injection system feeding its needs. But what to put it in? My previouse thoughts were to be placed in my current Dakota, and though quite fun, but then i would have no gas efficent :doubt: ride to anyplace thats more than a 5 mile radius. But still, since me being my moronic self, insted of a nice Dart or Duster from the early to mid 70's, i'm thinking of a Dakota, 87-96, what ever i find. I'd be looking to snatch off a long bed, for a specific reason. Though the bed will probably get shortened to short be size anyway, along with the wheel base, its always nice to have a little extra material incase you need it.

My idea is as follows. Find a long bed Dakota with a good body. Scrap the fram for some new steel ones from the local steel shop (also considering an aluminum frame to save weight, but unsure about structueral intergrity under the substancail torque a stroked Mopar can kick out). Place said body on said frame. Have a Jag front and rear shipped in (either from 69.5 neighborhood or if the Jass man can dig something up, but for now, all in time) and mount said suspension to the frame. Now, i was planing on putting the engine behind the cab (front of the bed) in order to fit the transmision in there and give it a chance to get in a tiny driveshaft to the rear. In my non-engineer head that seems to work. Only one detail still fails me. Cooling. That things gonna drink alot water. Could it still work having a radiator up front, but engine in the rear (i've never seen the insides of a mid-mounted racer like a GT-40 or Lotus, so this escapes me). If so, i think i got it right then. I know it seems pretty crazy, and at many points, down rigth stupid...but i'm a slow learner, been told that since kindergarten LOL.

 

[OrphanedV8s]

Too bad the 87 Dak was hit hard in the box and we're not closer to each other

 

[69.5CUDA]

ok i can kit bash this into a do'able project....what are you wanting to do as far as gears?...auto or manual..if manual how many gears?...more gears means a longer bed or a club cab long bed with some of the block in the club

jag nose and tail..perfect pick...with the jag ass you dont actualy even need a driveline...cooling is NOT an issue it routeing it forward with large enuf tube that wont rott out on ya thats the tricky part but by no means dificult...
heres what i would do
get someone to find you an a-100/a-108 727(its SHORT) and fab up an adapter to bolt it directly to the jag ass...up front with the jag nose run a 3-4 core rad as wide as posible..as well as run a fuel cell up front instead of the stock tank...your going to need the weight up there anyway and its "dead space" ...id also probably do a body drop...droping the entire body onto the frame 2-6 inches this will give the truck a lower look, lower the center of gravity WITHOUT killing your ground clearance

 

[1966D100]

Thats exactly what i had in mind for the fuel cell placement. I wouldn't mind poping in a TKO 5spd, or if i really wanted to blow my wad, a 6spd. To bad Ma Mopar didn't make any front drive V8 cars that ran a 318 or 360 that had a 5spd manual option. That would be the best then, just rip a FWD transmission, nice and short then. For now this is just an idea thats flowing in my head, but once i'm out of college and find a place to settle down on (preferedly a place with a nice garage and yard space), then its going to get done. I really think this could work, and work well.

But as the transmission goes, i like the row the gears myself personaly.

 

[69.5CUDA]

i kinda figured you did but in the case of tight spaces there isnt a whole hell of alot of options out there..the a-100/108 is only about 18 inches long and of course theres the matching length 3spd manual

anything else pretty much dictates finding a useable transaxle..perhaps the transaxles in the stratus or something with a v6 can handle the power(i doubt it but the space setup on them looks intigueing) but if you want a 5spd your either moveing the engine forwad a bunch or finding a stout transaxle from say a porsche or something

 

[1966D100]

Perhaps another can of worms has been opened. Reading the V6 thing there got me thinking. I never thought of sizing to much until now (i hopped in the back of my Dakota and layed out so preverbial mesurements...its definetly going to be a longer wheel base than i would like.) But then i thought of stuffing a stroked out, alcohol filled 3.9 into the bed, it would shave about 6 inches...maybe more. Stock torque curve on a V6 Mag and a 318 Mag are simular, as in the curve is pretty flat compared to the high reaching, but short lived 360 torque curve, which seems to resemble Britany Spears' music career.

But then the idea that Jass fed me a few posts back about the V6 Turbo Aries or other K car based platform. Though I'm not sure, but, like i noticed before, the 3.0's are abundant, and as Jass pointed out, a top end turbo assembly from a thrashed Stealth would pop on there no problem. But that still lies the problem. I know automatic trans would be abundant and would fit for the 3.0 V6 if i choose that as my weapon of choice over the powerfull, but, frankly oversized 360 Mag. Though I have driven a stick 95 Caravan, i think it was a 2.5.

I think i'm getting on the right track here though. Every other idea stated before is staying, its just right now I'm trying to figure out a engine and transmission combination that would allow me to have a small wheel base and enough power. The beauty of my own set of rails is i can determine where the rear axle will sit, so i do have some play with that, but still, finding a pair to suit will be intresting.:huh:

 

[69.5CUDA]

well if you take a look at a stratus transaxle you will not that the engine sits like an engine should...and i dont see an issue in mounting it into a jag rearend without the jag center section...as well as being able to find a 5spd..its a VERY compact package about as compact as a vw bug transaxle