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85_Ranger4x4
Wallows in rivers
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V8 Engine Swap
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TRS 20th Anniversary
VAGABOND
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You don't have to, it just really opens up the engine bay if you do. Just a big hunk of plastic, I don't think they dinged me more than $20 at the JY for mine with the blower motor and resistor still in it.
I changed the valve seals on my 2.8 with the AC box in place with a 3" bodlift. #3 was tight and all around a PITA but I did get it done. Knowing how easy it is to yank now, I would have pulled the heaterbox in a heartbeat rather than work around it.
My evaporator core was terribly plugged up with crud, I had pitched it a couple years before and it made a world of difference for the air flow out of the vents. Gotta plug the holes the lines came into the housing if you do that though.
I changed my heater box for the V8 swap... after doing it I wish I had done it years (dare I say a decade?
) before. It is a large reason my 302 is much easier to work on in the truck than the 2.8 was. For one thing... I can actually see all the spark plugs from above and don't have to scrape skin off my arm to change #3 and #4. (which would be #4 and #5 on the V8)
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