Hi, newbie here and need some advice. I just bought a 1980 Pickup from a buddy of mine. It has the stock 20R, L43 Trans, and the 21 Spline RF1A.... I think.

I want to do a motor swap and have an idea that I haven't seen anywhere. I want to put a Dodge 3.9L V6 Magnum out of a 96 Ram in the truck. The reason, I have a friend that wants to get rid of his and will sell it for $500.00. Then I've got an entire donor vehicle and hopefully won't get nickle-and-dimed to death.

Doing some research, I think I can use an AX15 trans out of the early 87-93 Dakota to mate the trans to the engine, and then use an Advanced Adapter to mate the trans and the transfer case.

Another option would be to get the bell housing out of one of those Dakotas, and then bolt it to an R150F. From what I've read that SHOULD be possible... but theory and reality rarely collide in my life. Again, I would have to buy the Advanced Adapter to mate to the Transfer case.

Do any of you know if you could possibly swap that bell housing to one of the G series or W series transmissions? Maybe something that would bolt to the RF1A transfer case, or am I looking at needing an adapter there anyway?

Will the 3.9 fit in the engine bay? I expect I'll need a body lift to make it happen. Anybody see any other BIG problems that I'm missing?