lsx into.....DODGE

Ok i may or may not get flamed but here goes. My cousin has a 2000 Dodge dakota 4x4 extended cab slt pickup. it came stock with the 4.7v8 and auto trans. well about 5 years ago it started to smoke and carry on he replaced the timing chains and guides had the heads rebulilt and milled and still smoked bad if i remember correctly we did a compression check and it was low on a cyl or two. well he decided to just park it.
It has now been sitting at the edge of the woods at his house for 4 years or so with no pass side window in the door and missing the transfer case but everythign else is there. the truck was supposed to be repoed around the time he parked it also but the company (buy here pay here) place went out of buisness and never heard anything else out of it. I asked him about the truck the other day and i was told I can HAVE the truck if i haul it away.
So now im thinking wtf am i gona do with another vehicle lol. Im gona check into what i can do for an abandoned vehicle title but worse case ill part it out and make some money. now IF i can get a title should i try to fix the sick 4.7 and put a transfercase in it or yank all that crap out for a 5.3/4l60e combo? I had a 04 Dakota pretty much same exact truck before i got my yukon and i loved everything about the truck except the awful drivetrain. id take the 3in body lift out and bring it to stock height and just put a stock 5.3 and 4l60 in with matching transfercase nothing crazy but would involve some work. wondering if anyone has tried a swap like this or even think i should mess with the thing at all?

attached is a picture of what the truck looked like when it was parked. like said the pass side window has been gone for most of the time it sat also. the bushguard is also gone.

first thing of course is to make sure you can get it titled, otherwise its a part out deal, i think it would be a cool project and would be good for off roading since its a midsize truck, i had a 2001 quad cab dakota for a few years and i gave it to my parents, I despise that thingh. but it didnt have a 5.3 in it either id say go for it if you can get it legal.

Yea I would check the lean stays I'm sure they sold the lean to another leading company I'm sure there is a paper trail leadin to the truck. Something I would do before your throw money into it.

My first truck was a 98 Dakota. But it had the 3.9 V6. Dodge killed the truck with the 3.7 and 4.7. Should've stayed with 3.9 and 5.2 and the 5.9 in R/T's. Anyway I loved the truck, and have thought about a LS swap in one later, but I. Just. Can't. Do. It. In a tiny part of my tiny brain, I can't bring myself to accept anything but a Dodge in a Dodge. Everything is else is okay to cross-breed.

But if I remember right the trucks are pretty simple electrically and grafting a LS harness in and everything working should be fairly easy.

yeah im gona go to the dmv and file for a abandoned vehicle title and go from there. worst case they may still waa repo the truck lol. ill yank the motor and trans before they come get it that way i still can make a lil money ha. even thought about just putting a transfercase in te thing if i can get a title and just use it to haul trash even if the thing smokes. i may go over this week and snap some pictures of the truck as it sits. i havent actualy been out and looked at it close for awhile. like i said i had a 04 dakota with the same setup and the truck did all i wanted it to do except get decent fuel mileage and not break on me. had the 4.7 blow in mine with 40k on the clock then the spider gears blew up the week i got it back from getting a new shortblock. i got outa that as soon as i could.

this is what my 04 looked like
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/l...Picture025.jpg