Bronco II Help!!

[MadMike]

I was at moab and i blew up my motor. It only had 92k original miles. It is the 2.9l v6. I am trying to decide if its worth putting another motor in or selling it how it is. I have a lot of money and time into it. How much does it usualy cost to put in a new motor. I know that people usualy put the Ford Explore 4.0 in it and some people put the Ford 5.0 . What would you guys do if you where in my shoes?



Thanks for the help

 

[TJDukit]

If you are going to replace the motor I would put the 4.0l in it, it's an easy enough swap. The 2.9L is notorious for cracking heads, happened to mine as well right around 100k put a hole in one of my pistons and cracked both heads right in between the exhaust and intake valve seats. If you can pull off a 5.0L swap it would be great but unless you have a '90 with the D35 up front you will need to swap both axles not just the rear.

 

[rholbrook]

It depends, what do you have done to the Bronco? If you've got parts invested and you like it as a wheeler/driver, I'd fix it. It's less to fix it than it is to replace it.

If it's failing or wearing out in other areas and this is one fix needed among many, I'd sell it and move on.

Wise advice.

 

[B2-Bomber]

don't drink the kool-aid that RBV forums are pushing. the 4.0 is a whole whopping 11hp more than your 2.9 (less than 20lb-ft more too), a boat load of work to swap

its not worth it

one guy that will be there on saturday will have a 4.0 swap, another has a v6 with short gears, and my chevy 350 swap will be there. once you ride in all of them, you will be able to make a better decision

RICO9 a member here just literally swapped his blown up v6 on his broncoII over the weekend ( i went over and timed it for him) if you ask him, it was worth it to swap a junkyard one in.

it was done in a couple days, and his rig wasn't down, and out of commission for the time it would take to do either a 4.0 swap, or a v8 swap into a broncoII

 

[skiboarder]

I have done the 4.0 swap in mine. I love my my 4.0 swap. The 5.0 swap is also fairly easy. But for the money the to horse power ratio. the 4.0 is the best choice. The limiting factor in the 4.0 swap is the lack of aftermarket drivetrain options. You can put very low gears in the axles. but the transfer cas is still going to be the same. The problem with the 5.0 is that the tranmission, if manual, will have to be a m50d-r2. Those things are hard to find and very expensive. Another option is to put a whole completely different drivetrain in it. Either way you will at least have to upgrade you axles to 8.8 and a dana 35 at the least. To do all of this you will need a explorer from a 91-94. If yours is a manual find a manual explorer. Same with an automatic. The explorers come with the upgraded axles. The rear will have to be changed to a spring over insted of a spring under. easily done. Since your is a 89-90 the swap should be easy
What you need to decide is how long and what you want to do with your BII. Mine is a continously changing project. I did waste a lot of time and money going baby step by baby step.

 

[B2-Bomber]

now wait a minute sean, did you not say to me that you "wouldn't do a 4.0 swap again"........?

about a year ago?

i've had 2 with the 4.0........its crap.

 

[skiboarder]

now wait a minute sean, did you not say to me that you "wouldn't do a 4.0 swap again"........?

about a year ago?

i've had 2 with the 4.0........its crap.

I did, and still would make another decision had I known then what I know now. But I do like the 4.0. It is enough HP for what I need right now. Plus the price was right then. An old beatup motorcycle. My biggest complaint about the 4.0 swap is the lack of aftermarket parts for the motor and drivetrain. If I do another swap it would be, most likley a chevy motor. There are alot of options from there.

 

[B2-Bomber]

long story short: there is no single answer to the "which engine to swap" question on an RBV.

i know guys who are happy with the stock v6, i know others that like the stock v6 but with 5.13 gears, skiboarder is happy-ish with his 4.0. MOABB2 loves his 5.0 efi. and i love my cammed-out/high compression beast of an engine under my hood.

the only right answer is "the engine that will get you out on the trail".

there is no sense in missing out on wheeling because you are spending too much time working on needlessly complicated swaps because that engine is "better"
if the stock v6 worked this far, i suggest getting a junkyard one, spending an afternoon putting it in. and hitting the trail.

 

[UFAB]

The new engine is the cheapest part.

 

[phatfoto]

Explorer 4.0 is dirt simple to swap... We swapped a 94 Explorer engine, transmission, transfer case, well, literally everything... Into a 90 Ranger, and I still have the 2.3 and stuff sitting in the garage. We did go overboard with the build, but it wasn't difficult. Tons of info on a couple Ranger and B2 forums.

Anyone wanna give me B2 with a dead drivetrain?

 

[MadMike]

You guys make it sound so easy. I am handy with a wrench but i have never done a engine swap before. Would we have to swap the tranny and T-case too? In all reality how much time and money do you guess i am going to need for the project? What if the motor is bad in the junk yard motor?

 

[B2-Bomber]

to be clear the 1991-newer ranger is different from broncoII, since the 4.0 was an option for the rangers, so the wiring/fuel system is plug & play. phatphoto's swap was easier than yours would be

you need to take the harbness out of yours, the harness out of your donor rig, splice/hyrbidize them, re-install the harness into your truck, the fuel system is a similar step too

the dash needs to be swapped if you want your speedo to work

the only "direct swap" part of this is the bellhousing bolt pattern is the same, and the 4.0 motor mounts will bolt to the BII frame

if you ask me it is waaaaaay too much work for 7% more powert, and 11% more torque

as ut410 said if you aren't super swap savvy. its not cut and dried, one of our other (less swap savvy) aquaintences took 5 weeks, and started 11 threads asking how to solve different issues he encountered.

put a stock engine back in, you will be on the road after an afternoon. i'd lend a hand if you needed even

my $.02

 

[MadMike]

would it be worth fixing the head gasket on my engine which keep in mind only has 92k original miles or just swap another motor in? How do we know the other motor from a donor doesnt have many issues?

 

[B2-Bomber]

if you are entertaining that idea, i suggest pulling the heads, having them magna-fluxed by a machine shop. re-decked, and do a top-end gasket kit. that would go pretty painlessly too

the term "worth it" is subjective. but if it were me, i would do something along those lines

 

[TJDukit]

would it be worth fixing the head gasket on my engine which keep in mind only has 92k original miles or just swap another motor in? How do we know the other motor from a donor doesnt have many issues?

If you do the head gasket I'd get your heads inspected, when mine went years ago I couldn't hardly see the hairline cracks even after I knew where they were they were still hard to spot.

 

[B2-Bomber]

If you do the head gasket I'd get your heads inspected,

that is what i meant when i said:

i suggest pulling the heads, and having them magna-fluxed by a machine shop

 

[TJDukit]

that is what i meant when i said:

I hadn't seen your post yet.

 

[B2-Bomber]

I'd see if Phatfoto would sell his engine to you.

A 2.3 would be harder to swap than the 4.0, because the bellhousing is different, and the wiring would be comparable to a 4.0 swap

2.8, 2.9, 4.0 OHV, and 4.0 SOHC all use the "cologne" bolt pattern, no other engines share this bellhousing pattern

 

[B2-Bomber]

for the record the 2300 is a freaking awesome engine though. my first B2 (7 RBVs ago) i had aspirations of putting a "Racer-Walshed"-out 2300 into my '85 B2. i built an engine and everything, but I had a problem sourcing a 4wd transmission with the 2.3 bellhousing. so i scrapped the idea.

if PHATPHOTO had the trans, i'd talk to him about it for a some future project. because those are rare, and hard to find in a 4wd configuration

As you can tell, I have no clue about Bronco IIs! Haha

don't worry, i know enough for the both of us. i have owned, licensed, and driven 7 RBVs in 10 years. (those aren't counting rigs i bought for parts, and scrapped/sold shortly thereafter)

 

[phatfoto]

I do have the whole shebang, 5 speed 4x4 trans and all. I do have someone interested in everything currently. Or if I had a dead motor/trans B2 pop up for free.... I'd swap the whole thing in, dash and all...