Best Bronco II to purchase??

My girlfriend is looking to buy a Bronco II within the next month and she feels it is better for her than a FSB.

This site seems to have a lot of good information on the Bronco II's (more than other forums I have been on at least).

I was wondering what are the best Years/engine/trans to get. I am looking at an '88 lifted with 33" tires with the 5.0l swap auto trans for $3400.
And the another one she is interested in is a '89 bone stock clean with 101,000 original miles on a 2.9L motor from a dealer for $4300
Finally, an '88 XLS 104,000 miles offroad bumpers slight lift but not nearly as clean. Has the 2.9L motor.

I personally have a 94 F350 but before I had a few F150s of the same era so I am familiar with the ttb system and the good and bad of it. She just wants something clean with relatively low miles that she can take to the sand dunes every now and then and camping.

I have heard many bad things about cracked/warped heads leading to having a bad head gasket in these motors. And finding aftermarket support to boost performance seems scarce from my searches.

I am a member on other ford specific sites for my truck but not much info on the Bronco II so I came to the experts. Any help would be appreciated.

Prices are all over the board. I prefer the 89 or 90 because of the stronger heads. As with any used vehicle, rust is your biggest enemy. Unfortunately, most B2s were driven in the winter, exposing them to salt. Unless you find one that has always been in a dry climate like the southwest, rust will be a problem. Any B2 with a 4.0 or 5.0 conversion will only be as good as the workmanship of the conversion. The youngest B2 is almost 25 years old, plenty of time to be hacked up. A careful inspection by a reputable mechanic familiar with the B2 is your best bet. I searched for almost 8 months and well over 2000 miles to find my current 89. It had 140,000 miles when I bought it from the original owner. Never wrecked, perfect interior and near perfect original paint. I have a grocery bag full of receipts for every dollar he put it it (except gas) during his 23 year ownership. Great maintenance. In spite of that, within a month after I had to replace the radiator. In the first months, alternator, battery, starter and solenoid. Even though never abused, its still 25 years old. I budget $100.00 a month for maintenance. They are a great little SUV. Good luck with your search.

Thanks for a quick reply I do plan to have all the vehicles we look as inspected by a garage it will be a bit of a drive to look at the ones she has picked out but I think we will find something that is worth it and will make her happy. The cleanest one is from the dealership no visible rust on the body at all very clean interior. I was shocked it was going for $4300 though that's about what the FSB's go for around here. I do the repairs to my truck and I assume she would expect me to do the same for hers if we get one. I am more familiar with the 5.0L than the 2.9L and the owner of that is an older guy in his 50s or so.

Any good things to change on the vehicle as far as performance I know the usual intake exhaust timing. Anything specific to try and do?

There is a great tech resource, at the top of every page "tech articles"
http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/index.shtml

A guy sure would want to look at the 88 with the 302.It's going to be fantastic or tragic don't know which.By costing as much as a fsb you mean full sized bronco there not worth much here but bronco 2's aren't worth much more.I'm a Cali guy but not sure I could smog a V8 B2 to get title changed maybe there it's no problem.

I agree on '89, '90 best years to purchase, not just because of the stronger heads, but the interior was updated for these years as well (which also makes a future 4.0L V6 swap a plug-&-play affair if you get the right year 4.0L donor ('90-'92 Ranger). They also have a single in-tank HP fuel pump rather than the problematic two-pump setup.

I wouldn't let a good deal on a '86-'88 BII slip past though. '86-'90 are years for the 2.9L EFI V6 which is a solid reliable engine with the exception of the heads (which rarely become an issue if you keep on top of cooling system maintenance... Overheating because of long-spent coolant and old thermostats sticking are by far the #1 things that invoke head failures on these engines).

The pinnacle of BII production was the last half of 1990 models (those with a MFG date after 11-'89). These have the much more desirable Dana35 front axle and BW1354 transfer case (rear axle in all BIIs is the Ford 7.5"). It's reported some late-'90s have the more-desirable Mazda M5OD manual transmission as well.
The Mitsubishi-built FM145 & FM146 manuals are by far the most common however, and for automatic models, the A4LD. Both have their issues, though they can be made to hold up well with a few mods (the A4LD for example was paired with very anemic factory cooling, simply adding a good external auxiliary cooler goes a very long way in making the A4LD more reliable).

Rear driveshafts are a known issue on BIIs. If it still has the stock dual-CV shaft, I suggest plan ahead on replacement with a good quality double-cardan u-joint shaft even if you don't lift it (complete shafts ready to swap in are available from many aftermarket suppliers, or you can also grab a front driveshaft from a '90-'94 Ranger or Explorer and (if needed) have it shortened at a driveline shop to fit).

Yeah I heard good things about the later 1990 BII and about the unicorn ones with the M5OD trans which I used to have in my F-150 and it held up very well to abuse off-road with 35s.

Also, I am very skeptical about the 5.0L motor swap there are no pictures of the engine bay in the craigslist ad and so it's a bit worrisome but I think it is definitely worth checking out at least. I just found another unmodified BII 1990 Eddie Bauer Edition with 74,000 miles for $4,000 I think we are going to look at that one this weekend!

If the '90 BII EB is in good condition those were nice. I've seen one XLS in person (in a junkyard) and it looked like it would have been a nice ride if it had been maintained. My father owned a '90 BII with the 2.9, manual trans, and electric transfer case. It was a blast to drive. In stock form the 2.9 was plenty of motor for that little machine. I regret not buying it from him when I needed a vehicle back in '05, he sold it to my uncle (who can't keep a car) a couple years later and it disappeared.

I think we are going to look at the 1990 BII EB this weekend and hopefully it lives up to the ad on craigslist. I think there are 4 we are going to look at total. I will post up what we find before making a final decision.

4x4junkie thanks for the info on the trans/driveline issues.

trailb2 there is no emissions here in my state or the tri-state area I believe so smog testing wouldn't be a problem

$4300 is way too much for a BII, and I would stay away from anything with an auto trans.

adsm08 said:

$4300 is way too much for a BII,

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I disagree. If everything has been done and there is no rust, I think that price is inline. But I'm in an area where rustfree is rare. I recently sold a rustfree B2 body shell for $500. If I had been in better financial shape, I NEVER would have sold it for that cheap. Once you factor in labor and parts, $4300 could be considered cheap. It really depends on the quality.

adsm08 said:

and I would stay away from anything with an auto trans.

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I agree from personal experience.

I thought the $4300 was too much too. The dealership is very firm on the price though! Most I personally would spend would be $3500 in an ideal world but I do agree that if it is truly rust free and properly maintained it would be worth it.

Still looking for one with a good manual transmission.

We are located in Michigan and winters here are bad and the road salt eats away everything so something rust free is ideal so it can be properly protected before that can set in!

I have scored 2 B2s, 1for 500, &1 for 1000 w leakey autos that I made 5spd w M5ods and my wife took over the first one so I got one and did a 4.0 swap that I just finished and I am stoked. Oh and I am partial to 1st gen looks and have had no head problems though one had a leakey intake so I re gasketed the top end and w 220,000 it is still running great. Just my 2 cents.

I will keep that in mind I do like the look of them more but more modern amenities such as current A/C systems is important to her I believe.

Side note does anyone know if a M5OD 4x4 trans from a F-150 would work on these smaller broncos or do I need to find one from a BII to make it fit. There are plenty of those for sale on craigslist and if its a straightforward swap I could do that if the auto trans ever went out.

The transmission from the F150 is useless in a B2 unless it's been 302/5.0 swapped.