b2 in progress

[Ronniejones13]

Hey everyone,
I've been on this sight for a few months and finally decided to make a profile.

I own a 1985 Bronco ii that doesn't run at the moment. I'm getting water in the oil. I've decided to swap out the existing motor with a 4.0.
Everything on the truck is stock except for the 2inch body lift and the Bedliner.
When I get my new engine would it be a good idea to do a complete engine rebuild or just leave it as is? Will my tranny bolt up to it?
I wanted to put up a picture but it won't let me.

 

[ab_slack]

I supposed it depends on how well you know the condition of the engine. If you know it to be in good shape and you aren't in the inclination to do extra work then go ahead with it as is.

If it were me, I would want to do all I could with it before putting it in. My problem is I am pretty much a hack at this stuff so my ability to do such work is limited. Still I would do some checks at least. Verify compression wet and dry, drop the pan and look underneath, pop valve covers see how things look there.

As far as bolting up, I can't speak to that. One thing to watch is the rest of the drive train. Most people I see doing upgrades are also putting the heavier drivetrain components or have done already. Then again most of them do serious off road stuff so there are other reasons for stronger components than just the engine.

An 85 model year, unless swapped out already, it is probably lighter components.

 

[Ronniejones13]

I'm getting pretty desperate for an engine. I'm thinking about junkyard. My truck will be used for a daily and light off road use.

 

[ab_slack]

On my 02 explorer which I got used with 80K miles on it, the engine failed 5 days after getting it. Covered under used car dealer warranty, they put in a junk yard engine. That engine lasted me 6 years and got basically 80K mile which is as much as the original engine and the junk yard engine failed was someone doing an oil change cross threaded/stripped the oil plug resulting in a leak causing it to lose 6 quarts on an engine that never lost more than a quart between changes.

When that failed I had a remanufactured engine put in. Its been 3 years and less than 40K miles and it has developed some taps, something the junker never did till it failed so...The effort to get a better engine to put in, doesn't seem to be much better than the junk yard one.

 

[Ronniejones13]

Junk yard it is. Maybe one day I'll be able to post pictures.