Shran
Junk Collector
TRS Forum Moderator
Supporting Member
Article Contributor
V8 Engine Swap
Solid Axle Swap
Truck of Month
- Joined
- Mar 4, 2008
- Messages
- 8,717
- Reaction score
- 4,829
- Points
- 113
- Location
- Rapid City SD
- Engine Type
- V8
- Engine Size
- 5.0
For those of you considering a V8 swap (or even a 4.0, or whatever...) and are afraid of a mess of wiring and confusion, consider this:
I helped a guy that is building an offroad only rig several weeks ago and got tasked with wiring the engine. The truck is an early 80's F150 with NO wiring whatsoever, it was all removed. Engine is a 5.0 from a 91 Mustang, engine wiring harness also came out of the same car.
The goal: make it as simple as possible - how few wires does it actually take to make this run?
I spent some time going through his Mustang harness identifying wires. This was time consuming but not unfamiliar territory, as I have done my own Ranger 5.0 swap. What I found was surprising:
A fuel injected Ford engine from the mid 80's to early 90's will literally start and run with only FOUR wires. Yep! That includes two grounds, a "hot in run or start" and "hot at all times."
How motivating is that? At that point you have a running engine! Now of course that does not make other accessories work such as the fuel pump, alternator, O2 sensors AC clutch, gauges, etc that are all part of the factory harness...but it is pretty damn simple.
So there you have it, for those of you considering going with a carburetor...these things are dead simple.
Get swapping!
I helped a guy that is building an offroad only rig several weeks ago and got tasked with wiring the engine. The truck is an early 80's F150 with NO wiring whatsoever, it was all removed. Engine is a 5.0 from a 91 Mustang, engine wiring harness also came out of the same car.
The goal: make it as simple as possible - how few wires does it actually take to make this run?
I spent some time going through his Mustang harness identifying wires. This was time consuming but not unfamiliar territory, as I have done my own Ranger 5.0 swap. What I found was surprising:
A fuel injected Ford engine from the mid 80's to early 90's will literally start and run with only FOUR wires. Yep! That includes two grounds, a "hot in run or start" and "hot at all times."
How motivating is that? At that point you have a running engine! Now of course that does not make other accessories work such as the fuel pump, alternator, O2 sensors AC clutch, gauges, etc that are all part of the factory harness...but it is pretty damn simple.
So there you have it, for those of you considering going with a carburetor...these things are dead simple.
Get swapping!