• Welcome Visitor! Please take a few seconds and Register for our forum. Even if you don't want to post, you can still 'Like' and react to posts.

Project El Taco...1990 BII


RacinNdrummin

Member
TRS Banner 2010-2011
Joined
Dec 21, 2008
Messages
629
Reaction score
7
Points
18
Location
Auburn, Wa
Vehicle Year
2005
Make / Model
Ford
Engine Size
3.0
Transmission
Manual
Project El Taco...1990 BII SOHC swap

So the story starts in september of 2006, My girlfriend and I fly down to Silver city, NM. We were going down to her uncles place to pick up a 99 chrysler LHS with 42K that he gave her.



The car was like brand new, with just about every option under the sun. After staying and visiting for a few days, we were off and on the way home, we left about 5pm on a wednesday and headed down the 90, watching the tarantula spiders running across the road in front of us, soon we joined up with I-10 just before the NM/AZ border.
Had the cruise set at 80mph and we were headed for vegas, we wanted to get there by thursday afternoon. About 15 miles east of willcox, at 80mph, it felt like somebody rear-ended us, I pulled over on the next exit and checked things over, everything looked ok, and it was pretty much dark at this point and getting cold. I put the car in drive, took off and when the car shifted into 2nd it acted like the gears were stripped, so I pulled it over and we made some calls, here we are stuck in the AZ desert 15 miles from civilization at night, with the nearest person we know 4 hours away...
We got the car towed into willcox to a shop and rented a room at the super-8, complete with crickets on the ground and tarantulas on the walls outside(no kidding). In the morning we went to the shop and waited for the tranny guy in town to show up with his diagnostic computer, when he got there he plugged it in and what came up was basically complete tranny obliteration due to the input and output sensors failing, computer going into limp mode (2nd gear) at 80mph and destroying itself. I called chrysler to see if they would warranty the tranny (it was only 2k over the warranty, worth a shot) and they said no, they wouldnt do anything. We looked into renting a car, but there was nothing available outside of Tucson, and no way of getting to Tucson from Willcox, We were basically screwed.
On the way in the night before I had noticed that behind the gas station on the corner, that there were cars for sale. I found out that the guy who owned the shop, also owned the gas station and the cars behind it, so I talked him into trading what was left of the chrysler for one of the cars. He hesitently agreed. So we went down and I picked out this bronco II:



I drove it back to the shop and loaded it up with all of our stuff while my gf went and got the paperwork done.



And we got back on the road.

We drove home problem free, aside from a little starter issue in Phoenix rush hour traffic.

----------------------

The Project
------------

We bought a 93 mazda navajo for parts. 4.0/5-spd D35 /8.8 3.27 trac-lok.



I had stripped the 2.9 harness out of the BII awhile ago, same with the Navajo:




I had planned to re-pin the navajo harness and just use that, but today I was out at the JY and I came across a 90 ranger 4.0, so a spent an hour getting the engine bay harness out of that. As far as I know, it is a plug and play deal for the 90 BII.



The Factory D35:



The FM-146 and Manual X-case




First thing is to put in the 4.0, Im going to use the FM-146 and 7.5 out back for now, until I can re-gear the 8.8 and rebuild the blown M5OD in the Navajo.

Ill have to double check the x-case, but I think its a BW1350, and Ill just keep that when I put the M5OD in.

Ill keep you posted.
 
Last edited:


Mechanickid

New Member
Joined
May 24, 2008
Messages
976
Reaction score
4
Points
0
Location
Martinsburg W.V
Vehicle Year
1988
Make / Model
Ford
Engine Size
2.9
Transmission
Manual
I wonder how that FM will handle that 4.0 Powa. keep us posted :)
 

RacinNdrummin

Member
TRS Banner 2010-2011
Joined
Dec 21, 2008
Messages
629
Reaction score
7
Points
18
Location
Auburn, Wa
Vehicle Year
2005
Make / Model
Ford
Engine Size
3.0
Transmission
Manual
Yeah, its not a DD or anything, and the BII is fairly light with 3.73's, so I dont see it being a problem as long as I treat it nice until I can rebuild the M5OD.
 

Mechanickid

New Member
Joined
May 24, 2008
Messages
976
Reaction score
4
Points
0
Location
Martinsburg W.V
Vehicle Year
1988
Make / Model
Ford
Engine Size
2.9
Transmission
Manual
yeah. My q is why wont the Navajo harness work? or do you still have that harness?
 

RacinNdrummin

Member
TRS Banner 2010-2011
Joined
Dec 21, 2008
Messages
629
Reaction score
7
Points
18
Location
Auburn, Wa
Vehicle Year
2005
Make / Model
Ford
Engine Size
3.0
Transmission
Manual
I still have the navajo harness, but, asking around a bit, and looking at the big round connector at the firewall, it looked like I was going to have to re-pin. Instead of racking my brain over something that I didnt need to, I just spent $25 on a plug and play harness.
 

Mechanickid

New Member
Joined
May 24, 2008
Messages
976
Reaction score
4
Points
0
Location
Martinsburg W.V
Vehicle Year
1988
Make / Model
Ford
Engine Size
2.9
Transmission
Manual
Oh thats kewl. Just wondering because I thought any 4.0 harness would work.
 

BlackBII

Ranger Custom
Article Contributor
OTOTM Winner
TRS Banner 2010-2011
Truck of Month
Joined
Aug 14, 2007
Messages
7,895
Reaction score
982
Points
113
Location
UT
Vehicle Year
1989
Make / Model
Ford
Engine Type
4.0 V6
Transmission
Manual
2WD / 4WD
4WD
Total Lift
5
Tire Size
33
If the FM is in decent shape, it should do fine behind the 4.0, at least for a while.

The '90 4.0 to '90BII is basically a plug and play swap, you might run into issues on power windows/power locks, wipers, tail lights and reverse lights, ans little stuff like that, but for the most part, it will all swap easily.

Plug the 4.0's canon plug into the BII's firewall, and then just swap in the entire harness, power dist box, solenoid, computer etc.

Your fuel lines should match up, along with the power steering etc.

Let us know how it goes :icon_thumby:
 

RacinNdrummin

Member
TRS Banner 2010-2011
Joined
Dec 21, 2008
Messages
629
Reaction score
7
Points
18
Location
Auburn, Wa
Vehicle Year
2005
Make / Model
Ford
Engine Size
3.0
Transmission
Manual
Got the 2.9 out today, but my camera went dead so I didnt get any pic's.

Last week I scored some doors with manual windows and locks out at pull-a-part. The interior panels match my interior, outside is a bit different, but its going to get some paint anyway.

Decided after looking at everything that I would attempt pulling and dropping in the engine instead of dropping the trans's and drivelines and everything. Ill see how the 4.0 drops in, and if it becomes too much of a pain, Ill drop the tranny/t-case.

Ill snap some pics of the progress tomorrow...
 

dogboy

Active Member
Joined
Aug 6, 2007
Messages
1,590
Reaction score
14
Points
38
Age
32
Location
Enumclaw/ Carbonado, WA
Vehicle Year
'93
Make / Model
Ford
Engine Size
4.0L
Transmission
Manual
Sounds like it is coming out pretty good. I would be VERY nice to that tranny untill you can get the M5OD in there.

What was wrong with the Navajo??

It seems a whole lot easier to just rebuild the tranny in the Navajo and just drive that...
 

RacinNdrummin

Member
TRS Banner 2010-2011
Joined
Dec 21, 2008
Messages
629
Reaction score
7
Points
18
Location
Auburn, Wa
Vehicle Year
2005
Make / Model
Ford
Engine Size
3.0
Transmission
Manual
The M5OD is bad in the navajo, and that is it as far as I know. Its got 3.27's which suck and an electric shift T-case. Im gonna pull the 8.8 and throw a set of 3.73's from a JY explorer to match the front, and mod the housing to go into the B2.

I like B2's and my gf wouldnt want to get rid of the bronco for anything, so Im going to part the navajo into the B2. Hell we got the damn navajo for $650, and I dont even need the d35 out of it, so its no big deal.

The navajo's front end is going on the B2 as well, so it will be a B2/navajo hybrid type of thing.
 
Last edited:

grey ghost

New Member
Joined
Aug 30, 2008
Messages
939
Reaction score
1
Points
0
Age
55
Location
oil city,pa
Vehicle Year
2004
Make / Model
ford
Engine Size
2.3
Transmission
Manual
:worthless:
i know it takes time but keep us posted please..:icon_cheers:
 

RacinNdrummin

Member
TRS Banner 2010-2011
Joined
Dec 21, 2008
Messages
629
Reaction score
7
Points
18
Location
Auburn, Wa
Vehicle Year
2005
Make / Model
Ford
Engine Size
3.0
Transmission
Manual
Got a killer deal on a M5OD-R1HD from an 06 ranger today!

The thing is like brand new!




I picked it up for $300.

I wish I had the money to buy the 4.0 that was in front of it, cause that thing would be going into the B2 instead.

Here is a couple of pics after I pulled the engine:



Im going to get the 4.0 out of the Navajo this weekend, and try to get the tranny and worthless CV driveshafts out of the bronco.
 

RacinNdrummin

Member
TRS Banner 2010-2011
Joined
Dec 21, 2008
Messages
629
Reaction score
7
Points
18
Location
Auburn, Wa
Vehicle Year
2005
Make / Model
Ford
Engine Size
3.0
Transmission
Manual
Used to a lot, Dont so much anymore...
 

Sponsored Ad


Sponsored Ad

Staff online

Member & Vendor Upgrades

For a small yearly donation, you can support this forum and receive a 'Supporting Member' banner, or become a 'Supporting Vendor' and promote your products here. Click the banner to find out how.

Truck of The Month


Kirby N.
March Truck of The Month

Recently Featured

Want to see your truck here? Share your photos and details in the forum.

Follow TRS On Instagram

TRS Events

25th Anniversary Sponsors

Check Out The TRS Store


Sponsored Ad


Sponsored Ad

Sponsored Ad


Amazon Deals

Top