lafargueliam
New Member
- Joined
- Mar 19, 2020
- Messages
- 2
- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 1
- Location
- Fayetteville, AR
- Vehicle Year
- 1989
- Make / Model
- Ranger
- Transmission
- Manual
Got a good deal on an '89 ranger 4x4 long bed 5 speed, using it mainly as a farm truck (keep in mind farm is in rough terrain in Ozarks). 166k miles, was running fairly well needed a good tune up.
Fast forward - did tune up, changed bad valve cover gasket. No start. Mechanic is convinced that it jumped timing.
Figured that if I was going to pay for a timing job on the 2.9 I would just go for the 4.0 swap that I had planned for the long term anyway. While I could try for a donor I like the idea of having a reman and starting fresh, and there's a good reman supplier where I live. Car is at the shop that I had planned to use for the swap, but they don't want to commit to it because the 4.0 is not the original motor for that model. Having read other forums on here my understanding is that this is almost a bolt in with the exception of the computer, some wiring trouble and a few other details that some had mentioned. I understand that the original tranny may need to be babied with the 4.0, but the shop doesn't want to do it because they think it's incompatible and that there are too many other considerations to take. They told me that instead of being a 15 hour job it could be a $6-8k job. I don't have that, and if I did I would not give it to this shop.
I'm in a huge bind here. I need a truck, and I had one that ran until I tried to give it a tune up. I can't find anybody that will do a swap for me. The current shop where it's sitting says they can "look at" the timing, but that they're not even sure of that. I know how much timing jobs can cost, and I'm not trying to throw a bunch of money into this with so little assurance, and end up with the same old 2.9 in the BEST case scenario.
What say you all? Any clarity that you can provide for the swap? I like the truck (painted it with rhino liner which I forgot to mention) and would hate to have to give it up for almost nothing and start over.
Fast forward - did tune up, changed bad valve cover gasket. No start. Mechanic is convinced that it jumped timing.
Figured that if I was going to pay for a timing job on the 2.9 I would just go for the 4.0 swap that I had planned for the long term anyway. While I could try for a donor I like the idea of having a reman and starting fresh, and there's a good reman supplier where I live. Car is at the shop that I had planned to use for the swap, but they don't want to commit to it because the 4.0 is not the original motor for that model. Having read other forums on here my understanding is that this is almost a bolt in with the exception of the computer, some wiring trouble and a few other details that some had mentioned. I understand that the original tranny may need to be babied with the 4.0, but the shop doesn't want to do it because they think it's incompatible and that there are too many other considerations to take. They told me that instead of being a 15 hour job it could be a $6-8k job. I don't have that, and if I did I would not give it to this shop.
I'm in a huge bind here. I need a truck, and I had one that ran until I tried to give it a tune up. I can't find anybody that will do a swap for me. The current shop where it's sitting says they can "look at" the timing, but that they're not even sure of that. I know how much timing jobs can cost, and I'm not trying to throw a bunch of money into this with so little assurance, and end up with the same old 2.9 in the BEST case scenario.
What say you all? Any clarity that you can provide for the swap? I like the truck (painted it with rhino liner which I forgot to mention) and would hate to have to give it up for almost nothing and start over.