Turbo vs engine swap

By the time we did my brothers 5.2l/44re from a wrecked gc evan was getting sick and his son or somebody was doing a lot of the work. It took a non skim(1500) ecm and a little wire work to get the backwoods harness sorted if i remember right

Evan was a younger guy (younger than me). I didn't know he'd gotten sick.

I had wiring issues & transmission issues & PCM issues. He tried to blame a lot of it on the STaK's t-case and kept telling me I could bring it back down to him & he'd try to fix it but I wasn't driving 12 hours one way to haul my Jeep back down to him.
He'd left out the O/D wiring for one thing. He'd promised to have the rig done in 6 weeks & 14 weeks later the day I show to pick it up he's still trying to get it started and running. My list could go on but it's not a issue anymore.
 
That is what I’m hearing with any “kit”.

I mean, you could always just throw a couple leaf blowers in it...

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It isn't my rig but I'd LOVE to see you

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Just caue we need a turbo'd 4 popper.
 
It makes absolute no sense dollar vs HP wise. But it would be fun. Will see how things go. Lots of info to dig into.

Like you I was TOTALLY happy with how my rig preformed off-road after I'd installed the Tera-Low 4.1 & Tri-Country inertia ring. I could lug the engine down to 350-400 RPM easily and w 4.88 gears even with 35" tires it did great. It was just on the freeway that it was lacking and I kept hoping I'd figure out something for a little more umph. I'd missed out on an Avenger supercharger while I was in Iraq but then had picked up one that had been made for a YJ. I was working on making a plate to mount it to my intake when I'd called around looking for a Dakota bellhousing since AA hadn't released their kits yet.
You know the rest of the story.
 
Like you I was TOTALLY happy with how my rig preformed off-road after I'd installed the Tera-Low 4.1 & Tri-Country inertia ring. I could lug the engine down to 350-400 RPM easily and w 4.88 gears even with 35" tires it did great. It was just on the freeway that it was lacking and I kept hoping I'd figure out something for a little more umph. I'd missed out on an Avenger supercharger while I was in Iraq but then had picked up one that had been made for a YJ. I was working on making a plate to mount it to my intake when I'd called around looking for a Dakota bellhousing since AA hadn't released their kits yet.
You know the rest of the story.

I think I would grab the whole Dakota ax15. It would keep the clutch components simple to replace in The future.

Edit. They were only in 2wd dakotas from what I have read.
 
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It is an endless circle. A turbo will require a stronger transmission. An ax15 is 2” longer than an ax5. Which is a no go for my doubler tcase set up. Which means moving my motor mounts forward and dealing with everything that is involved with that. All the work of a motor swap. Lol
As much as a hate the numbers from a magnum v8 that swap continues to find a way to the top of the list.
Still web wheeling at this point.
 
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It is an endless circle. A turbo will require a stronger transmission. An ax15 is 2” longer than an ax5. Which is a no go for my doubler tcase set up. Which means moving my motor mounts forward and dealing with everything that is involved with that. All the work of a motor swap. Lol
As much as a hate the numbers from a magnum v8 that swap continues to find a way to the top of the list.
Still web wheeling at this point.

Several of my big hardcore buddies run Magnums. Nothing at all wrong with those numbers for what we do.
 
Several of my big hardcore buddies run Magnums. Nothing at all wrong with those numbers for what we do.

No. It is just chest thumping numbers thing. The swap into a 98 is about as easy as a swap could be.
I don’t think I can fit my doubler in there with a v8 swap though. So maybe an auto with a 5-1 atlas?
 
No. It is just chest thumping numbers thing. The swap into a 98 is about as easy as a swap could be.
I don’t think I can fit my doubler in there with a v8 swap though. So maybe an auto with a 5-1 atlas?

Actually if you wanted to keep your manual (AX15) then it would fit. Many of the guys who did the swap and were using a AX15 moved the engine back 2" because they wanted the shifter housing to line up in the original hole instead of making a new shifter. So I'd guess that your t-case might stay in the same place with a magnum V-8 swap.

Some guys also used the NV3500 which came in the manual Ram 1500 and Dakota 4WD trucks.
I know that thread is almost 200 pages long but it's worth the read on the magnum swap. And if you look at the numbers in that video comparing the magnum to a Hemi they point out that the magnum's torque comes in a lot lower than the Hemi.
Yes you can't say "I got a Hemi" or I got a LS but just saying that you've got a V-8 should be more than enough.
 
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Ideally I would find a manual trans magnum donor. That keeps future parts replacements easy. I have read through most threads on the subject. It is all a bit overwhelming until you narrow things down a bit more. Being a 98 I have only a couple of years to choose from to be ccd and 98+. Can’t really do much until after we relocate since I’m not starting a project like this until after that.