Making one great vehicle out of 2 decsent ones?

[scrapvalue]

Let me give you a brief rundown on where I stand and what I would like to accomplish.
I have had a 1989 Ram 50 long box for a few years now. It now has 94,000 mi. on it and runs great.
It has the 2.6(G54B), with the automatic trans. w/overdrive,(AW372 3545).
I just replaced the head gasket, belts, hoses, complete tune up and trans fluid & filter change.
Also new tires.
Anyway, last Saturday an old lady turn in to me and pretty much wiped out the drivers side door.
Well searching the internet looking for a door, I found a pretty nice 1988 Ram 50 about 80 miles away.
The body and interior of the cab is excellent. It has 104,000 miles on it.
The problem is the rear half of the frame and gas tank are pretty much toast from rust.
This one has the 2.0,(G638) and manual trans.(KM132 3909).
Runs, drives and shifts awesome.
Under the hood is near perfect.
I am wondering how big a job it is to switch cabs?
Would the manual trans hook up to the 2.6?
Would the 2.0 motor and manual trans be an easy swap with the 2.6 and auto trans.
If anyone can answer these questions or point me to where I can find the answers, I would be forever indebted.
I want to put all the best parts on the 89 long box.

[noahwins]

Long bed fuel tanks are larger than short beds.
G63B and the KM132 are narrow block.
G54B and AW372 are wide block. So the manual won't hook up to the 2.6. But if you can find a manual from a 2.4 liter from 1990 on, that will fit the 2.6.
Long beds came with a 4.22 ring and pinion in the 9" housing. Short beds came with a 3.91 ring and pinion in the 8" housing.
You can put the 2.0 and transmission into the long bed cab but putting the automatic in the short bed cab will require enlarging the transmission tunnel and moving the pedal set. The 2.6 and 2.0 share engine mounts, no problem there.

[scrapvalue]

Thanks for the information.
I am trying to put everything on the log box.

[scrapvalue]

The more I get into these 2 trucks, the more I want to just fix them both up.
Like I really need 2 of these vehicles, but why not?

[pennyman1]

Got you beat - I have 3 and 2 full size trucks as well.

[scrapvalue]

You have me beat on trucks, but I have 7 motorcycles in the garage.
It's a sickness, there is no cure!

[pennyman1]

you got that right...

[finalfighter]

i got 2 good trucks and one for parts. not trying to brag but i got my first one for 700, ended up with a bad auto 10,000 miles later got a second one for parts for 200 only to find out that it needed an ecm and know runs better than the first. then i got the 3rd for 250 that i have totally gutted and fixed the first. kind of amazing how people will get rid of these trucks so cheap and in cali they generally dont have any rust on them. i absolutely love these trucks.

anyways... what Noahwins said is entirely true unless you have a freak 2.0l with a wide block style bell housing pattern, (you never know). check the lower 2 bolt hols on the back of the engine to see if they are 13.75'' across or 12.75'' your 2.6l will be 13.75'' and the 2.0l will be 12.75''

[noahwins]

There are a few wide 2.0s in 2nd Gens, they came with automatics but it was an uncommon combination.

[pennyman1]

wide block is 13.25, not 13.75 - so close...

[finalfighter]

i got my numbers from http://projectzerog.com/ under the transmission section at the bottom. they probably measured from the end of each dowl and not center to center? maybe. but ya you are correct, when i measured mine center to center it was 13.25. had to do this when looking threw the junkyard for a tranny before i got the parts truck. speaking of that. i found a 1998 montero sport with a 2.4l 16 valve with a wide block pattern in the junkyard up here. pulled the back plate off the engine to use for the manuel swap in my 1990. had a distributor and same engine wiring as the 1994-1996 cal emission mighty maxs. i kind of regret not getting it because it would have bolted right up. only difference are the exhaust bracket mount wont bolt up because the holes are in a different location.