Engine swap?

[CarsonChris68]

Bought an 87 BII yesterday.
http://reno.craigslist.org/cto/2651896242.html

Now I've found a donor vehicle, I think? It's a 93 Explorer with 90,000 miles on it. No mechanical problems, had an interior fire and the seats/interior wrecked. I've seen photos of the engine, nice and shinny! 400$ for the donor.

How hard is it to make the switch?

I'm mostly worried about figuring out the wiring. I'm ok with nuts and bolts but electrical stuff scares me.

 

[Will]

The electrical stuff is the whole thing--that and the fuel system. You are crossing generations. Mostly, the engine wiring harness is part of the engine. The connections that concern you is where the engine harness has to connect with the interior of the cab. There's a dozen or so wires that you will have to identify and find their counterpart in the area of the brake booster where the wires enter the cab.

There are tons of little things--the fuel lines are different, but solvable, for instance. You are going to learn a lot about your truck, that's for sure. Get both wiring diagrams--donor and receipient, from helminc.com, and buy a good set of reading glasses, a roll of masking tape for marking wires, and a notebook. Make sure you know what it is you just cut and you won't get lost.

 

[dasfinc]

If electrical stuff scares you, I'd steer clear of the explorer swap...

Just like I warned in my other thread, it WILL become a money pit VERY quickly if left un-checked. If you want to just swap the motor, find a Ranger or another B2 of similar vintage.

 

[doorgunner]

WHAT WILL SAID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I didn't know nuthin about vehicle wiring & tried to do too much at first......bad idea!!!!

Start with the simplest wire thats easy to figure out where it goes & what it does.....get that one connected properly first!!!!!

Continue with that plan.....


That will give you more confidence as you get to the more complicated wiring....

and use plenty of masking tape to label each wire---name the wire with the component it operates under the hood---and also label that wire as to what component it should connect to inside the cab or on the firewall.

It will take a while to do the labeling...but it WILL save a lot of confusion before you start doing any major splicing!

 

[CarsonChris68]

If electrical stuff scares you, I'd steer clear of the explorer swap...

Just like I warned in my other thread, it WILL become a money pit VERY quickly if left un-checked. If you want to just swap the motor, find a Ranger or another B2 of similar vintage.

I've done one engine swap. From a BII into a ranger. Was straight across with no wiring changes.

If what is left un-checked?

My other concern as I haven't been to see the Explorer is the dash. Since the Explorer had a fire inside I'm assuming the dash is gone.