Wiring 91 Exp dash in 87 BII

[87steelhorseII]

I am looking to upgrade the dash in my 87 BII and of course the wiring harness at the firewall is totally different on the 91. Anyone have any suggestions on making this a smooth transition?

The red B2 is an 87 and the blue is a late 88 (89 model year) B2 and the plug on the plug on the explorer looks like the blue B2.

Can I use the wiring harness from the engine compartment side that plugs into the firewall to plug into all the components in the 87 engine compartment? Or is a lot of soldering required that I may need someone else to wire up instead?

Is there any getting around pulling the 91 steering column and pedal brackets like I have read on some threads?

Once I am finished with some upgrades, this will be my sons truck and I dont want this to be a wiring nightmare.

Thanks!

 

[adsm08]

I'd find a driving 91 with the same engine and trans and pull all the wiring and computer from that. Then it will involve only minor soldering. Also, the fuel gauge will not read correctly. The senders for the different styles of gauge run in different ohm ranges, so you would need to pull the pump out and swap sending units.

 

[87steelhorseII]

Thanks adsm08, that gives me something to think about!

A thought that did cross my mind was to buy an 89 or newer BII and swap the front clip since we like the older style front end.

 

[adsm08]

It's easier to take the wiring to the older body. Front clip swap requires replacing the core support, which is held in place by about 30 odd spot welds which have to be drilled out and then rewelded.

 

[BabyBronco89]

You can make the 2nd gen front end work with the first gen core support you just have to do a little bit of finaggleing, I had to drill about 10 new holes, the hardest part is mounting the lights, I had to do a little trimming with the grinder so the lights could sit flush, but it worked very nice, wasn't to hard at all, just make sure you take all the headlight mounting brackets and hardware I can send you pics of mine if you need any help


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[PetesPonies]

He wants the first Gen front end, not the second. I say go EB grille. I did

 

[87steelhorseII]

Thanks for all the info!

I see a lot of folks are installing the 4.0 from a 94 explorer. Are there specific reasons for going with this year model or would an earlier year really matter? Also is the explorer swap out prefered over the ranger?

 

[Nalanthi]

Thanks for all the info!

I see a lot of folks are installing the 4.0 from a 94 explorer. Are there specific reasons for going with this year model or would an earlier year really matter? Also is the explorer swap out prefered over the ranger?

Wiring is similar (for the most part) on 89-90 BIIs and 91-94 Exploders (thanks to adsm08 for the guidance).
I don't see any major benefits to a '94 over older year models, save the 94 being the newest first gen exploder you can get - not that this means much.

The wiring is a lot of matching colors up, save a very few splices that changed over the years.

I stared at the wiring diagrams for both vehicles long enough to notice that not much has changed until I finally said "hell with it" and hit all the matching colors. In the end, most systems and gauges will check out just fine. The few that are offline are easy to trace down with the diagrams.

As for exploder or ranger - it boils down to which donor vehicle you can snag that's in better shape for the best price.