1987 blown motor advice

[derrik]

Im helping my little bro get a CLEAN 1st gen going because he needs reliable transportation.
Got the truck with a blown motor for 600 bicks and he has 2500 to get a truck and get it going.ive been sourcing used motors for like 500 bucks which would leave him with extra mobey for tires and a djm drop kit.sooooooo i found a clean motor for 550 but its out of a 97' will it work in his 87 if he swaps heads and intake?also does it have provision for the distributor?
Sorry for the newb question,not much time to search more in depth like I should.

 

[YungICY]

I'm definitely not an expert here but I would think that you can swap the 97 into the truck as is as long you you add in all the wiring and the computer that go along with it. The thing that might be fairly complicated would be hooking up dash gauges I think.


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[derrik]

I was mainly worried about the distributor.I must be typing in the wrong keywords in the search bar because I cant find much.

Has anyone done a new long block swap to a old system? Its gotta be all smog legal n' shit -_-

 

[ricardo93]

Smog legal is all on if the components are there are not so o2 sensors and cat and the computer to regulate it, but no that motor will not be comatible with a distributor.

How shot is the motor?

 

[Mikel89us]

No, there is no distributor hole in a 97 block. If you swap it you have to swap the ignition too.

 

[Mike Tonon]

Not sure, but the 97's might be the 2.3's with 8 spark plugs that, from what I've heard, the extra 4 are a pain to get at and alot of times people don't change them. So if the 97's are the 8 plug engines, might want to change those before dropping the engine in. Just my .02

 

[ricardo93]

I say find a machine shop and get it rebuilt your brother will still have 1000-1500 to drop on some gears for the rear end and the drop kit

 

[Kenneth S]

The 97 will bolt in, but there is no provision for a distributor, and the intake manifold is totally different than what's on the 87. You need to find a 1988 or earlier 2.3, some of the 1988 and earlier Rangers came with a 2.0 engine, exactly the same engine save for a smaller bore, and cylinder head (if it's the 2.0 block it can not be over bored for 2.3 pistons). The 2.0's are most common in the regular cab, with a short bed.

 

[derrik]

Thankyou for the help.hust a little back story on it,im in the military in nor cal and my lil bro's in socal otherwise I would not be asking such newb questions.the truck was my best friends and was BEAUTIFUL,but has since changed hands twice and the ither owners did not appreciate it as much as it should have been.booger (brother) was told that it just lost the rings in one of the cylinders,it starts but smokes like crazy.he has already started to pull the motor within having the truck for a day.im excited as hell im just pissed im not there to work on it.im trying to get pics from him to start a thread on here for him.