My L 110

I have this style heater. It cranks out the CFMs and more than enough heat for a 30 degree day. Of course I was just hauling firewood around the place so there wasn't much chance for cold air to blow in. This can be hooked up to the cowl vent if you have the parts that attach to the vent and a rectangular section duct, neither of which pn's get much with a search.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/111544017435?_t ... EBIDX%3AIT

My heater has that kind of fan, it might be like that one, I forgot to take a look. Seems like it wouldn't be that hard to plumb it into the cowl for proper fresh air.

It appears I can post pictures with my Iphone, I just have to crop them to a bit smaller size and they upload.

So here is the first one, got my L in the shop and I'm just stripping interior and powertrain in my spare time. To the right you can see my stripped down Durango that I will be using the frame and several other parts for my swap. It actually was my daily driver back in 2010 but developed a laundry list of problems so I gutted it and sold parts. I started swapping in a 5.0 Ford engine & AOD tranny a few years ago and actually got the powertrain mocked up so the frame is ready to go in that sense.

The body is pretty rotten on the Durango so I've decided this swap is a better use for it then trying to return it to the road as an SUV.

Here is the 302 I will be installing, good for 300+ hp, I built it myself in '07. I plan to paint it IHC colors etc to make it look more at home. I've had it in two Foxbody Mustang's so far & did some 1/4 mile runs with it.

I can't get the picture I took of my heater to upload for some reason. It has a duct connecting it to the cowl for fresh air and ducts going to the defrost vents as well. I will be using it for sure, looks like a good setup.

I actually got the body cut off the Durango frame today, I'm going to be retaining the front floor section and most of the firewall from the Durango body. The L floors are pretty thin and the Durango floor matchs perfect for perimeter and body mount location. I will be breaking apart a factory seam running down the sides of the Durango floor pans and then I will leave a mounting lip when I trim out the floor pans from the L. Since the Durango body is slightly wider I am able to completely remove the rocker panels and door pillars from the Durango floor. I will be joining to a single layer using a factory style overlap with spot welds. This saves me a lot of work and there is even a floor beam that lines up in the same spot as the rear floor beam on the L cab!

The firewall is even more useful as I custom built it and I already mounted my steering colume, pedals, brake booster and cut the correct hole for my master plug on the Ford wiring harness I will be using. Since I already had a powertrain setup in the body I don't have to worry about any clearances issues or anything. I hope to get the cab ready to drop on the floor pan within a few weeks but weather could affect that.

No sense in re-inventing the wheel. Having the firewall ready to go should speed things up nicely. Looking forward to photo updates.

Sorry no photo update yet, not due to a lack of trying either! My phone that was somehow working fine to resize and post my pictures now will not. Gotta love technology! So here is my "word" update and I will save the pictures up till the body is sitting on the frame, then I will post them all on a borrowed computer.

Since my last update I got the seat removed, door panels off, cab swept out. I also have the front clip nearly removed, it is down to the last few fastners that will fight me. I also did some more work to my donor frame, it wouldn't quit snowing for the longest time for me to move the frame outside so I could pull the already loose body off the frame. The weather finally improved so I was able to get the body off and clean up the frame a bit. Being pretty new it has very little rust on it, mostly just around the welds at the back and the rest has the original black paint still. I will be painting the entire frame but I don't see the need to involve sandblasting or tearing it apart. I will just be sanding, wire wheel etc to prep it and then I will coat it with my favourite rust paint.

My next order of business once I finish removing the front clip will be to cut the floor pan and lower firewall out of the cab so it can be mated to the floor pan on the new frame. The IHC floor is not too badly rusted so I will be able to leave a mounting flange around the perimeter to form a neat and strong joint to the new floor pan. I have been constainly checking measurements at multiple points as I go and no real snags have shown up yet, everything lines up pretty nicely.

My Durango frame does kick up about 10" at the rear, the original frame looks like it only gains a few inches at best. I plan to notch the box beams to gain a little more that way but the bed floor will need to move up about 6.5" I figure. Is that pretty similar to a Dakota swap? I would be happier if it was only 4" but I can live with it. I may be able to do a slight body lift on the cab to help this but I have to wait till I mock up the front clip and see where the tires sit in the fenders. I'm fine with the SUV height, I don't care for lowriders but I don't want it to look lifted either.