A few questions... what are your goals for this truck?
is this your daily driver that needs to be up and running ASAP? If so, you will want to secure another daily driver for a bit.. or throw another running 2.9 in it and drive while you build up the other one
weekend toy/ project that you want to spend serious time and money to make it right? (you will probably be just throwing money down the drain in this case, but it will be fun and we like build threads and pictures here on TRS, so enjoy the cash bleed out
)
Is this a in the woods/ camping/ fishing/ hunting truck? fahgeddabout it and grab a running 2.9 from a Ranger/ B2 that has a blown up A4LD transmission or is rusted all to hell and back and then run it until that engine dies... or your 5 speed craps out... or your truck rusts into powder...
an 87 makes a 4.0 swap a bit more tedious... maybe a 5.0 swap for the engine and a matching transmission might be the way to go..
A note on different engines... not sure if you are aware, but Ford pretty much did a different belhousing for each size engine, with the exception of the 2.9 and 4.0, which share the same bellhousing... so if you go a different engine, you will likely need the matching transmission to it as well, even if they both came out of a same year Ranger.
the 2.9 is not a horrible engine, but it will take a lot of work to make it really good/ decent. there are some shortfalls with this engine, mostly the heads and pushrods. If you have the ability, the insanity, and the desire to do it, get ahold of
@PetroleumJunkie412 and see what he is doing with the 2.9 in his truck. he has some crazy ideas and is crazy enough himself to probably pull them off
you should also mention to him that 3.0 is a better engine.
good luck,
AJ
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