1980 Dodge W200 – 5.2L Magnum Swap

The Story

Well, Alex said this is supposed to be like the modern-day forums so here we go... I was given this truck back in 2018. At the time it barely ran, looked like trash, and honestly belonged in a junkyard. But as a freshman in college when someone offers you a free vehicle how could you say no? So I drove it ALMOST all the way home before it broke down and we had to push it the rest of the way. I spent the next year of my life cleaning it up, rewiring it, and bringing it back to its former glory (the previous owner didn't take care of it, nor the owner before that, or even the one before that). It was a farm truck from the day it was purchased and it was treated as such. Flash forward to the year 2020: I was about to get married, the truck has been running pretty well for the past few years, and we were using it to move some of our stuff when the engine developed a terrible low-end knock. At the time I didn't have the time or money to pour into getting it fixed so I towed it to our new house where it sat hard-parked for the next 2 and a half years collecting dust and being used as a glorified dumpster. At the end of 2023, against my better judgment, I set out to bring it back to life better than ever. I am posting regular updates on our Instagram and we will be releasing a full build series on our YouTube soon but my hope here is to share my experience with the swap and hopefully share some guidance if anyone else wants to attempt this on their vehicle.