Welcome Visitor! Please take a few seconds and firehawk618
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- Joined
- Aug 10, 2016
- Messages
- 23
- Reaction score
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- Vehicle Year
- 1989
- Make / Model
- Ford
- Engine Size
- 2.9
- Transmission
- Manual
I thought I'd post how my conversion went and it may help someone in the future.
My vehicle is a 1989 Ranger 2.9, 4x4, Mitsubishi 5 speed with manual shift 4x4. Then engine ran fine but wanted more torque.
I picked up a complete 1996 Ranger 4.0, 4x4, Mazda 5 speed.
I pulled the complete engine, harness and computer.
It all bolted right into my 89 as expected and also as expected the harness was COMPLETELY different.
I initially wanted to keep the 96' stuff so I could have OBDii.
I was able to make this all work and it ran flawlessly. I worked out all the bugs and even eliminated all codes. It would pass the obdii emissions test and sniff test if ever needed HOWEVER the wiring looked like crap. Scabed and cobbled together not to mention the only place I could get the computer to sit was zip tied on top of the plastic upper intake. I was quite satisfied with how it ran and disappointed on how it looked.
Fast foward a few months and a complete 1990 Ranger 4.0, 4x4, auto turned up in the wreckers so I figured I would pillage this and get my initial swap wired up properly.
I grabbed the whole harness from the computer, through the firewall all the way around to the round connector on the firewall, left side. I grabbed it all short of the harness that goes under the truck to the auto, transfer case and tail lights.
I figured this would pretty much be plug and play and was I wrong.
I tore out all the 96' mess and routed the whole 90' harness in my truck. It did fit and lay in properly as expected. It even appeared to mostly plug right in but this is where things got a little tricky.
The pinout on the left inner fender for the 8 pin connectors that go to the tail lights, fuel sending unit etc etc were totally different. The plugs fit fine but pinout was all wrong. I repinned it all and figured I would be good to go.
Truck fires right up and all appears well until I notice my heater isn't working nor is my radio, wipers etc. UGN
I traced it down to the big round bulk head connector on the firewall. I pulled it back off and compared it to my 89' 2.9 plug. Wouldn't ya know about 7-8 wires were in the wrong locations! I re pinned this to match up and ended up with 4 extra wires that were not present in the 89 plug so I left them out of the connector and taped them out of the way.
NOW the truck fires up and EVERYTHING works. Brake lights, reverse lights, 4x4 lights, wipers, radio. EVERYTHING! And to top it off the CEL illuminates during KOEO test and shuts off as soon as I start it! YAY
It all looks proper under the hood and I am happy to have done the conversion. So glad the 2.9 is now crushed somewhere.
Good luck to anyone taking this on.
My biggest point here is that even though both are 2nd gen Rangers that big round connector plug was NOT PLUG AND PLAY no matter what others may say it most definitely was NOT on my truck.
EDIT: I kept the Mitsubishi transmission behind the 4.0 I have thousands of miles on it so far so good. It shifts flawlessly and makes no noise.
I do have the Mazda one in my garage but it needs a new input shaft and all new bearings.
If you have a good Mitsubishi behind your 2.9 I say use it as long as you're not beating the snot out of it I don't see why it won't work for a long time.
One thing I learned doing this swap is my Mitsubishi transmission has a neutral sensor on the transmission! This sensor isn't listed in any schematics but sure enough the wires are there on the left inner fender! This will make installing a remote start a breeze and SAFE! I confirmed it's function with a VOM. Open when in any gear and zero ohms when in neutral! Hooray!
My vehicle is a 1989 Ranger 2.9, 4x4, Mitsubishi 5 speed with manual shift 4x4. Then engine ran fine but wanted more torque.
I picked up a complete 1996 Ranger 4.0, 4x4, Mazda 5 speed.
I pulled the complete engine, harness and computer.
It all bolted right into my 89 as expected and also as expected the harness was COMPLETELY different.
I initially wanted to keep the 96' stuff so I could have OBDii.
I was able to make this all work and it ran flawlessly. I worked out all the bugs and even eliminated all codes. It would pass the obdii emissions test and sniff test if ever needed HOWEVER the wiring looked like crap. Scabed and cobbled together not to mention the only place I could get the computer to sit was zip tied on top of the plastic upper intake. I was quite satisfied with how it ran and disappointed on how it looked.
Fast foward a few months and a complete 1990 Ranger 4.0, 4x4, auto turned up in the wreckers so I figured I would pillage this and get my initial swap wired up properly.
I grabbed the whole harness from the computer, through the firewall all the way around to the round connector on the firewall, left side. I grabbed it all short of the harness that goes under the truck to the auto, transfer case and tail lights.
I figured this would pretty much be plug and play and was I wrong.
I tore out all the 96' mess and routed the whole 90' harness in my truck. It did fit and lay in properly as expected. It even appeared to mostly plug right in but this is where things got a little tricky.
The pinout on the left inner fender for the 8 pin connectors that go to the tail lights, fuel sending unit etc etc were totally different. The plugs fit fine but pinout was all wrong. I repinned it all and figured I would be good to go.
Truck fires right up and all appears well until I notice my heater isn't working nor is my radio, wipers etc. UGN
I traced it down to the big round bulk head connector on the firewall. I pulled it back off and compared it to my 89' 2.9 plug. Wouldn't ya know about 7-8 wires were in the wrong locations! I re pinned this to match up and ended up with 4 extra wires that were not present in the 89 plug so I left them out of the connector and taped them out of the way.
NOW the truck fires up and EVERYTHING works. Brake lights, reverse lights, 4x4 lights, wipers, radio. EVERYTHING! And to top it off the CEL illuminates during KOEO test and shuts off as soon as I start it! YAY
It all looks proper under the hood and I am happy to have done the conversion. So glad the 2.9 is now crushed somewhere.
Good luck to anyone taking this on.
My biggest point here is that even though both are 2nd gen Rangers that big round connector plug was NOT PLUG AND PLAY no matter what others may say it most definitely was NOT on my truck.
EDIT: I kept the Mitsubishi transmission behind the 4.0 I have thousands of miles on it so far so good. It shifts flawlessly and makes no noise.
I do have the Mazda one in my garage but it needs a new input shaft and all new bearings.
If you have a good Mitsubishi behind your 2.9 I say use it as long as you're not beating the snot out of it I don't see why it won't work for a long time.
One thing I learned doing this swap is my Mitsubishi transmission has a neutral sensor on the transmission! This sensor isn't listed in any schematics but sure enough the wires are there on the left inner fender! This will make installing a remote start a breeze and SAFE! I confirmed it's function with a VOM. Open when in any gear and zero ohms when in neutral! Hooray!
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