will the 2.8/2.9 distributor work on a 4.0L

cook · Apr 25, 2008

Seeing that the OHV 4.0 has a delete plate where the distributor goes on all other cologne V6's. When converting over to carb application will the distributor off of a 2.8/2.9L fit on the OHV 4.0L V6?

mhughes165 · Apr 25, 2008

the camshaft on the 4.0 has no provisions for a distributor drive, also on that note i have actually never seen a carburated 4.0, all the work would be 100% custom one off work. there is no real reason to convert a 4.0 to a carbed motor, the DIS system is very reliable, as is the FI system on the said motor.

you would need a 100% one off ignition system, a custom made distributor, a custom made cam shaft, a custom made intake. now worth it by any means

Bird · Apr 25, 2008

mhughes165 said:
the camshaft on the 4.0 has no provisions for a distributor drive, also on that note i have actually never seen a carburated 4.0, all the work would be 100% custom one off work. there is no real reason to convert a 4.0 to a carbed motor, the DIS system is very reliable, as is the FI system on the said motor.

you would need a 100% one off ignition system, a custom made distributor, a custom made cam shaft, a custom made intake. now worth it by any means

Mhughes, you need to actually get your hands into a 4.0 and work on one .....

The 4.0 camshaft does indeed have a cam drive 'gear' on the back, just like the 2.9 and the 4.0 uses a blank oil pump drive, driven off the cam gear to rotate the oil pump. The 2.9 has this exact same setup to rotate the oil pump AND the distributor shaft. These setups are basically identical (see picture below - 2.9 distributor on the left, 4.0 oil pump drive on the right.) I have installed a 2.9 distributor on a 4.0 on an engine stand, rotated the engine and verified that everything works properly. All you would then have to do is get the ignition wiring harness / control box hooked up to work properly.

Now, are there any advantages ??? Nope - you would have to have a custom made intake to get the clearance for the distributor and mount a carb = $$$$. Then you would have an inefficient setup that wouldn't make as much power or have the driveablity of fuel injection.

Can it be done - definitely - I looked into it a long time ago - wasn't worth it.

Bird

cook · Apr 25, 2008

Thankyou for the reply. I was pretty sure the cams on the 4.0 had a gear on them. I have been in the process of fabbing up a intake for the 4.0. I am planning on pulling out the tired 2.8L in my Triumph tr7 that i converted years ago and replacing it with a 4.0L I have in a rotted ranger at our shop. The engine is fine great compression on all six cylinders. The FI setup is good there is no question about that. The problem is the I'd have a huge hole in my hood so that the intake would have room. As for carburation I was planning on using either one 4bbl holley 390cfm etc or a double 350cfm 2bbl carb setup or even 3 1bbl carbs off of either the 200ci inline 6 or the larger 1 barrel carbs off of a 300ci inline 6. I have autocad, cnc press brakes, cnc turret, ESAB aluminum pulse mig and tig equipment and piles of aluminum in my shop. So I might just give this a whirl and see what I come up with. There no harm in trying!!! :dntknw:

Do the 2.8's have the same distributors as the 2.9's???

MAKG · Apr 25, 2008

Huh? 4.0L intakes aren't that high. And it's hard to imagine gaining very much space from a downdraft carburetor (or placing a sidedraft carburetor on a V-6), due to air filter housing plumbing.

It's the 2.9Ls that climb to the sky.

Frankly, if you need to downgrade the engine with that much labor, you're starting at the wrong place.

And it really sounds to me like you're putting WAY too much carburetion in this. THREE 300 I-6 carbs? This engine has less displacement, and nowhere near 3x the redline.

And you're not going to guess well at an intake design. The stock castings were modeled on supercomputers. You think you can beat that with a guess? Too big = undriveable. It is very literally rocket science.

mhughes165 · Apr 25, 2008

Bird said:
Mhughes, you need to actually get your hands into a 4.0 and work on one .....

The 4.0 camshaft does indeed have a cam drive 'gear' on the back, just like the 2.9 and the 4.0 uses a blank oil pump drive, driven off the cam gear to rotate the oil pump. The 2.9 has this exact same setup to rotate the oil pump AND the distributor shaft. These setups are basically identical (see picture below - 2.9 distributor on the left, 4.0 oil pump drive on the right.) I have installed a 2.9 distributor on a 4.0 on an engine stand, rotated the engine and verified that everything works properly. All you would then have to do is get the ignition wiring harness / control box hooked up to work properly.

Now, are there any advantages ??? Nope - you would have to have a custom made intake to get the clearance for the distributor and mount a carb = $$$$. Then you would have an inefficient setup that wouldn't make as much power or have the driveablity of fuel injection.

Can it be done - definitely - I looked into it a long time ago - wasn't worth it.

Bird

thats odd, but the again ive only worked on OBD 2 4.0's....so theres a possiblity its different

Bird · Apr 25, 2008

mhughes165 said:
thats odd, but the again ive only worked on OBD 2 4.0's....so theres a possiblity its different

Hmmmmm - the 96-00 4.0 OHV 4.0s (ODB2) were the exact same configuration as the 91-95 4.0 OHV 4.0's (ODB1).

Maybe you were talking about the SOHC 4.0 engines which are entirely different that what the OP was asking about????

Bird

Psychopete · Apr 25, 2008

mhughes165 said:
thats odd, but the again ive only worked on OBD 2 4.0's....so theres a possiblity its different

I looked up the oil pumps - the Melling aftermarket oil pump for a 2001 OHV 4.0L is the same as a 1988 2.9L.

Pete

mhughes165 · Apr 25, 2008

Bird said:
Hmmmmm - the 96-00 4.0 OHV 4.0s (ODB2) were the exact same configuration as the 91-95 4.0 OHV 4.0's (ODB1).

Maybe you were talking about the SOHC 4.0 engines which are entirely different that what the OP was asking about????

Bird

idk man, i musta had one hell of a brain fart, either way, its not worth the trouble todo it for the OP

Mutant Pony · Apr 25, 2008

Since no one else answered this question, No the 2.8 and 2.9 distributors are not the same and don't interchange.
The Factory intake is no where close to being THE perfect intake or configuration. Every single part of a high production vehicle is built at a comprimise to other parts. The ONLY problem you will have building an intake would be that it won't work as well as it could at certain RPM's. It will work better than ANY intake at a certain RPM.
It would be just as much work to convert the car to EFI, With better results.

MAKG · Apr 26, 2008

Nope, not perfect. The tradeoffs that go into them cannot be evaluated without either a supercomputer or a huge team of prototype builders.

Yes, you can make an intake that performs well at a specific RPM, but if you don't know ahead of time what RPM that is, the engine might not be mechanically able to go there (hence, too big = undriveable). And you need a wide range in RPM to actually be able to drive the thing. It will be VERY slow if the intake only works decently at 8000 RPM, and the heads will only flow enough for 4500 RPM.

Mutant Pony · Apr 26, 2008

I hand made an intake out of sheetmetal for the Mutant pony which out performs ANY intake at ANY RPM. It has small runners that make velosity yet, the flow numbers are higher than any intake made.
If the Op uses the original lower and adapts a carb or three to it, The flow won't change much at all. I think three Holley/weber 5200's would be close, possibly perfect. With the little rectangular air filters it would be shorter than the 4.0 intake.
The worst part would be the TFI distributor. (no advance).

fordwheelinman · Apr 26, 2008

the OHC motor is the same way, at least on the 2000 sploder i put one in it was the same.

Bird · Apr 26, 2008

Mutant Pony said:
The worst part would be the TFI distributor. (no advance).

Actually, the worst part would be not being able to use the distributor with the fatory lower intake as the intake overhangs where the distributor goes.

Bird

Mutant Pony · Apr 26, 2008

Bird said:
Actually, the worst part would be not being able to use the distributor with the fatory lower intake as the intake overhangs where the distributor goes.

Bird

That would be a problem! Making a lower intake would SUCK. It could be done though.

will the 2.8/2.9 distributor work on a 4.0L

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