1991 Ranger XLT 4x4 Need direction

[1991Rangerquestions]

Hi therangerstation,

I have read several posts on here and have recently purchased a 91 XLT 4x4 that I wanted to rebuild. It has the 2.9L and the 4spd automatic transmission.

The truck is in rough shape. The tranny needs rebuilt (wont shift into 4, has a hard time staying in 3) . The motor leaks every fluid it's supposed to contain. the transfer case leaks as well.

I bought an engine rebuild kit for it and have been in the process of pulling the motor, a lot of the plugs from the harness have been broken; some by me, some by the previous abusers. Just tonight I snapped all of the exhaust manifold bolts trying to remove them. The truck is starting to feel like a lost cause keeping it original.

I'm asking what my best route is from here. Whether a swap, or rebuilding and acquiring a new harness is the right way to go. I haven't read the best reviews on the 2.9L motor, have read about people putting V8's (mainly 302) in them and modifying everything to match.

My desired end result is a simple truck, one I can work on simply, hopefully without as many electronic components to go bad or have plugs that will be issues.

Any advice or personal experiences would be most helpful. At this point I am ready to scrap the project and go with something different that doesn't need as much TLC as this one, or just go nuts with it and drop a 4BT Cummins in it or a carburated V8.

HELP!

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

It really kind of depends on what exactly you're trying to achieve with the truck. And how much love you have for it. My 1988 Bronco II is a labor of love. I didn't think it would be that bad to fix it up, but it's proven me wrong. At this point, it's either a labor of love or I'm just too stubborn to give it up, lol.

The 2.9 had problems with weak heads and it was often short on power. I ran one in my choptop for several years but pushing 35" tires it wasn't happy. First through third gear it would pull pretty respectable, but fourth gear had it flat on it's face. Nothing left. But that 2.9 should do just fine in my 88, especially after doing free-floating rockers, ported intakes and heads (gasket match porting work), headers and eventually a MAF conversion.

In the mean time, my choptop got a 4.0L which was an easy swap. Only had a few wires to splice and the power difference was very noticeable. It would cruise at 65mph in overdrive on the 35's. Of course, somehow I managed to blow that up already, but that's another story, lol.

So it kind of depends. If you're not planning on lifting it or using it for a lot of hauling, the 2.9 may be fine. Otherwise, it may be worth looking into a 4.0 swap. But any older truck is going to need a lot of work and exhaust manifold bolts practically always break. I've accepted the issues of working on older trucks long ago.

 

[Shran]

Well. It has been 5 or 6 years now since I completed my V8 swap. I don't think it's more reliable, there is a lot less room in the engine bay, and there will be a ton of little bugs to work out. It is sure a lot of fun to drive though and really anything is an upgrade from your 2.9/A4LD.

You can buy new plugs and solder them into your harness, by the way. That is the route I would go. 20-30 year old plastic is going to be brittle, a perfect donor harness is going to be hard to find.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

IMO my 302 is a much better designed engine than my 2.8 was. 2.8 is similar to a 2.9.

The engine side of the cooling system is far superior (the whole lower hose/bypass hose on the 2.8 was a terrible setup), the valve covers don't straddle the intake and cylinder head, better lifters. Much better heads than a 2.9.

Some things are tighter but most of the day to day stuff is easier I think. Changing spark plugs is still easy. Removing headers is easy, even removing heads and swapping the cam wasn't too bad.

Most of the work to run EFI is done, I would keep that if you went V8.

But it would require a different trans, tcase, driveshafts and exhaust... so more $$$

What kind of a "rebuild kit" did you get before you had the engine apart?