Project El Taco...1990 BII

[fordxranger]

Yup that was the guy.

That truck has been on there forever, He had the tranny for $450 and I offered him 300 for kicks. He came back and said $400 and I never replied to him. Then a week later he emailed me back and said $300 was fine, he wanted it gone. So I hauled ass over there and pulled it.

I guess it was all luck.

The engine was just as clean as the tranny too, that SOHC would be nice to put into the b2.

SHIT, I was gonna pay $400 but I live up north and didn't figure out a good day to get down to auburn and check it out. I was KINDA interested in the wheels and tires but he wanted waaaay too much for them.

 

[RacinNdrummin]

if you pulled that trans from a SOHC motor, im pretty sure it wont work. Last SOHC motor i worked on had a different bell housing bolt patter than the OHV motor.

The bellhousing has both patterns.

Everything I have read says it will work fine, thats why I even went after it.

Even if it wont work, I can always take out the internals and put them in the navajo case.

 

[RacinNdrummin]

SHIT, I was gonna pay $400 but I live up north and didn't figure out a good day to get down to auburn and check it out. I was KINDA interested in the wheels and tires but he wanted waaaay too much for them.

Yeah, the wheels are still there, and they have some nice wild countrys or something on them, but I agree, he wants too much for them, or Id have them on my 05

 

[86ford]

if you pulled that trans from a SOHC motor, im pretty sure it wont work. Last SOHC motor i worked on had a different bell housing bolt patter than the OHV motor.

i just finished a clutch on a 03 ranger this evening. the housing IS different BUT the clutch setup will work and so will the bolt pattern. the primary difference was the bottom has bolts that go all the way to a tab on the block/pan but they do not HAVE to be mounted to the block. the earlier m5od1 dust shield. it SHOULD work fine.

86

 

[RacinNdrummin]

Ive decided I wanna go somewhere a little different for the powerplant in this thing, and Im not going to use the Navajo for the drivetrain parts. Im putting it up for sale, if somebody local wants a good parts vehicle, the engine ran great and it has a new starter and clutch, D35/8.8 3L27. The only parts I am using is the headlights/grille and front/rear bumpers. Of course you cant use the tranny. All I want is $500 and Ill deliver it to your place, it has a title....

As soon as I can sell the navajo, ill let you guys in on the new powerplant and whatnot.

 

[fordxranger]

SOHC time! when you swap this in, let us know how hard the wiring portion is. A while back I was interested in a SOHC swap but hearing that the wiring is a bigger chore than it was to swap over to a OHV I dismissed it fairly quickly. wiring is not my forte haha.

 

[RacinNdrummin]

Well here it is...

2006 ranger 4.0 SOHC from the same truck the tranny came from.

It was too good of a deal to pass up, $550, it only has 30k on it. It turned out Id probably only use the engine from the navajo anyway, So I sold it Pearldrumbum for $500so he could use the engine and axles on his ranger.

I also got the Y-pipe from the truck that has 3 cats on it, so I can make some money back from that.

I plan on running the engine on an EEC-IV computer from an explorer, and if it seems im leaving a lot on the table with that setup, ill probably squirt it. Im more after reliability, than getting every once of power out of this thing though. A nice flowing exhaust shouldnt hurt.

Also, comparing the two trannies side by side, the M5R1 doesnt have the tapped bosses for the manual T-case shifter on the side, so im going to have to make a bracket for the shift lever.

.

Tomorrow im going to hit the JY to see if I can scrounge some parts for the swap out there....

 

[odie1969]

good luck I had to cut and remodel my firewall. But I used the dash and Ac/heater blower out of the 04 ranger, I have heard of somebody puting a huge body lift on a bII and running a stock blower.. also keep the mounts off the 2.9. they will bolt right up to the block and the motor will fall into the correct place. also keep in mind that I'm running the stock exhaust and cross over pipe with cats. so to do this I had to remove the sway bar and the cross over support for the raduis arms. So now I;m waiting to finsh the truck for the lift and evt. radius arms. As for dropping it in as one peice I removed the rad. suport. so for me to get it as far as I am I replaced the complete fuel system, complete wiring bumper to bumper (my own personal op. Love the genI body but wanted a newer truck kinda) stole steering shaft out of a 97 ranger (again 04 dash and steering wheel) Made new plumbing with SS. pipe for coolant due to genI rad and water pump are about 6" ( I had to drop down to clear belts) differnt for the 2.9. Moved battery to drivers side, sohc intake and maf wiring are all on the pass. side and old battery try works great to support the oem filter, also i had to get new Powersteering lines made again diff fitting from the 2.9 and the sohc. I will also need to get a front drive shaft. and I'm sure that I have done many other things and I'm not done yet. I know I will need to get a newer Ac conden. and new A/C pressure lines made up. ( it is Az it still get hot when you are out wheeling) So good luck and maybe we can ge or own group "Sohc in genI to dumb to know better" take that 1ton sas group.

 

[RacinNdrummin]

The engine is going to go in without the heater box there.

Im not running AC, so I will look for a non-AC box and modify it to fit. The engine isnt any wider than a 5.0, so I dont think the heater box will be much of an issue.

It will get new power steering lines.

The transmission is the same length, so I wont have to bother with a new front shaft, and Im going to have a new rear shaft made anyway.

I think it will go fairly smoothly, as im not dealing with the EEC-V/OB2 crap. Alot of the stuff will be coming off of the engine, because I wont need it. Its also getting a new exhaust from the manifolds back, so I dont have to worry about the clearance issues.

Going to find a return style fuel rail and adapt to fit the existing fuel lines.

 

[RacinNdrummin]

Went to the JY today and picked up a few things.

There was a 97 explorer out there with the SOHC, so I robbed the fuel rail off of it. The cool thing about it, is the fuel lines come out in the same spot as the B2, so it should just be plug and play.v

I also picked up some 19lb injectors from a T-bird, they are a little bit longer than the ranger ones, so hopefully Ill have enough room to space the fuel rail up to use them.

The third thing I picked up was the pigtail from the engine harness connector, I might get away with just splicing into the 90 OHV harness and plug it right in to the SOHC.

Next time out im going to look for a Non-AC heater box...

 

[dusto2]

so what you doing with your old tranny

 

[RacinNdrummin]

Selling it. If your interested, PM me.

 

[fordwheelinman]

can you not just reuse the old tail housing on the new trans to get your tapped holes?

 

[fordxranger]

what yard did you go to? I need rear disc parts for my 8.8, I don't want to have to pay $140 for a core charge and I don't want to shell a lot of money when I don't have to.

 

[RacinNdrummin]

Tacoma Pull A Part...

Rearend is gone though.

 

[bronco2guy]

Looks awsome, I am doing a SOHC swap also into bronco frame but, using all a 99 Explorer wiring, fuel lines, and everything , but then I'm changing the body to ranger cab so lots to do, but your project looks awsome also. I think these SOHC 4.0 swaps will be getting alot more popular once more and more people have done them , I now own 2 SOHC engines. I will say the price you got on yours is excellent since its from a newer year. Same with the tranny. Do you have any suspension plans for this once you get engine complete?

 

[RacinNdrummin]

can you not just reuse the old tail housing on the new trans to get your tapped holes?

No they are completely different. Im just going to make a bracket out of some 1/4" steel.

 

[fordxranger]

Tacoma Pull A Part...

Rearend is gone though.

damn, i've always wanted to go down to that yard just to see what its got compared to the lynnwood one.

 

[RacinNdrummin]

Looks awsome, I am doing a SOHC swap also into bronco frame but, using all a 99 Explorer wiring, fuel lines, and everything , but then I'm changing the body to ranger cab so lots to do, but your project looks awsome also. I think these SOHC 4.0 swaps will be getting alot more popular once more and more people have done them , I now own 2 SOHC engines. I will say the price you got on yours is excellent since its from a newer year. Same with the tranny. Do you have any suspension plans for this once you get engine complete?

Itll get a 6" lift and some 33"s or 35"s, Eventually will get a SAS swap.

This will come after the thing is running and driving though.

 

[RacinNdrummin]

Got a little more done on it.

Got the heater box off and about half the engine bay wiped down and painted, the other half will require removing a few things and whatnot so I just held off for tonight, ill finish it tomorrow.

Got the engine off of the hoist and onto the engine stand so I can start sorting wires for the EEC-IV swap.

Sometime this week im gonna fab up my X-case shifter bracket that way I can start getting ready for this thing to go in.

Sorry for the slow progress, im a busy guy, but Ill git-r-done.