Going to put a 99 Explorer d35 and 4.0 into my 86 B2 need advice.

[jkufen]

Next dumb question... Is the interior/chassis/engine harness one piece or is it separate harnesses?

 

[country0001]

Bubba, I ain't trying to pick, but you are making this harder than what it should be.

The best source for a swap is a 91 to a 94 Ex. Then the dash, front end and wverything you need will be there. Might wanna fix up the 99 a bit, sell it and find a more suitable donor.

I understand that you really wanna do this, but be patient. Once you start rushing, you're bound to screw something up.

A lot of the builds on here, have taken years. With even more time in preparing for them.

Read through the build threads. Follow them closely. There is a reason some things aren't done very often.

Good luck

 

[jkufen]

Well I have been reading yalls post and yall really have helped me a lot. If i could back out of the deal I would. I jumped the gun a little and gave the man the money before I really looked into using the 1999. I paid $500 for a running and driveable 4x4 explorer so the deal was good. From what I have read through the post the reason I would have to swap the dash and wiring harness is obviously the 1986 wiring won't do very well with 1999 components and the other issue was the dash would not fit in the B2 because of the different brackets. Well after talking with my dad and my buddy that works at a classic car place we have come up with a way to use the 1999 ford explorer dash parts in my B2. My buddy that customizes classic cars says he can build me an all new fiberglass dash that will house all of the dash components from the 1999 expo and then build it to fit my stock 86 B2 dash brackets. Now before all of the negativity starts I know this is more time and more money that it should be but with a new dash I can customize how I want things to look and where I want them to be.

Now my question to you guys is, as far as the wiring goes, what components will not be just a plug and play setup if I use the 1999 dash, engine, and transmission? As far as I know by the previous post the headlights and I am sure the taillights won't hook up but I am going to rewire the whole thing anyways so I can run HID's without setting my truck on fire. I will use the explorers relays and computer and etc. Before I bought this explorer I was just going to use this truck to stick in the woods but the more and more I thought about doing a fiberglass dash and center console the more I think I will take my time on this bronco and really fix it up nice.

Again right now I can safely say that everyone reading this thread is probably shaking their head and saying some bad things about me lol but I believe I can make it work. I mean the guys that put the big blocks and the one guy that has the 6.2L diesel didn't have a dash to use and the harnesses wasn't plug and play so it can be done. I think with a little time and patience, I can probably do 80% of it without the use of other professionals.

 

[PlumCrazy]

I know of a chop top BII with the SOHC 4.0 and 95+ dash and firewall. It can be done, but it will take time, patience, fab skills, and wiring diagrams.

-PlumCrazy

 

[jkufen]

Yeah I know it can be done. This project was going to originally be a 2 month project but I will probably run the B2 stock for now and I am going to go through the engine and clean it and paint it and I am going to wire everything up while the engine is out of the truck then once I know I have everything and everything will wire up I will put it in the truck. I will end up painting the engine bay and clean it all up. I have to do some patch work where there is some rust.

 

[jkufen]

This is a 97 ranger's fiberglass dash. This is a lot more than I would do to my bronco but as you can see in the cluster he added the aftermarket gauges and I will add all my other gauges like oil pressure and oil temp and trans temp in the center by the shifter. I am going to try and fiberglass the dash myself first. My dad says he has done some fiberglassing back in his day and if it doesn't turn out right I will just get my buddy to do it. I might use the expo's dash as a guide so I get keep the curves in the dash.

 

[PlumCrazy]

That's a Mustang dash.

-PlumCrazy

 

[jkufen]

Lol glad you said that the guy said it was custom fiberglass lol

 

[Explorin94]

Take that explorer you bought. Put a coat of wax on it. Turn them hideous white lettered tries in and resell that thing. You can make more money off it than what you paid for it.

 

[jkufen]

Of course I could sell it for at least $1000 and double my money but I am going to get the explorer and go through it and see. I can make the wiring harness, dash, engine, and trans to work and I checked with my local pick and pull and they agreed to swap front end parts with a front axle out of a 93 expo. The only issue I have with the 99 expo is the previously discussed front end. I can strip the truck use everything I can swap the front end with the local pick and pull and then scrap the body and get at least half my money back. I saw a 99 expo today at the salvage yard and now I understand why it won't go in. I really couldn't see to the gear housing in the middle but will the gears in a 99 fit in the housing of an earlier model? I was just curious because I would take the gears out and swap them so the axles would be the same. If not no big deal I have a long time before I will be able to do a axle swap. It will take me several months probably before I will be ready for axles but we'll see. If the explorer is in as good as shape as the picture looks I might just keep it and let the wife wheel it. Right now the bronco needs possibly two new fuel pumps so my biggest concern is to get it running first.

 

[PlumCrazy]

Gears wont swap either. IFS D35 (95+ Expo 98+ Ranger) are low pinion, The TTB D35 (Older Ranger, Expo, late B2) is high pinion.

-PlumCrazy

 

[trail B2]

I think you have three good choices.Drive the Explorer.Take the Explorer motor out find a donor for the other parts.Sell the Explorer buy a good donor.If you attempt the job your talking about at a low skill level your going to take way more time than this thing is going to be fun.If you don't finish your going to turn both cars to junk.Maybe you should start with a simple motor change at first.

 

[ronclark]

Ok a good deal on a 1999 Ford Explorer 4.0 4x4 Manual Transmission just fell in my lap so I am going next weekend to get it. Here goes the questions. Is there are threads here where people have used newer model explorers for the swap? I checked the tech library and the newest was 1994. Also I believe the Explorer has auto locking hubs because I don't see a transfer case shifter by the gear shifter. Is there a way to make a electronic locking t-case a manual locking t-case like my B2? Can I use parts from my 86 B2 to do that? I really have too many question to ask in a thread but if yall have any advice about the swap I'd really appreciate it. I am doing the engine, transmission, transfer case, front and rear axles hopefully one after another and get it done quick so I can get back on the road! I also thought about swapping the dash but I don't know if the Explorer dash is too big.

Right off hand I don't know what the year cut off is, but at some point thy removed the provision for the manual transfer case linkage in the M50D-R1