Put a 97 4 cylinder in a 92?

[Raser13]

Hello everyone. It's been a few years since I've been here. I have a 92 2.3L 2wd five speed stick fleet style truck. What's involved in putting a 97 motor into my 92?

My engine blew the rear main seal a few years ago and ran the engine dry on me. I loved the truck and held on to it. But moved on to a full sized bronco.

Flash forward to today. My brother is fixing up a first gen ranger and bought a 97 ranger with the 4 cylinder in it to put on his truck. He's going to gut the electronics and run the 97 wiring harnesses into the old truck to make it work.

When he picked it up, the guy had a spare 97 motor that is supposedly good that he threw in for free. My brother was thinking we could throw it into my 92 and get it running again.

Would the stripped down motor be a direct swap in? Or did they change some sensor, the trans bolt pattern,or something that wouldn't make it fundamentally work? Thanks for any info, I appreciate any help in advance.

 

[scotts90ranger]

The only dumb issue you'll run into is the crank sensor, I'm not really sure you will be able to swap the old sensor onto the new block, not sure where the oil system is since the oil pump moved... If you want to try it make a cardboard template of the older crank sensor guide pins and bolt holes (3 holes, all 6mm threads, one's a stud but you can use a long 6mm bolt), I recommend using the outermost front housing for reference points. I've used the old crank sensor on two older blocks but not new ones...

The only other dumb thing is I think the intake pattern might have changed some, it would be worth seeing if the '92 intake will bolt onto the new block, probably use the fuel rail with it... you'll want the DIS module to stay on the intake manifold if you can as it saves steps ('97 the engine computer handles that so no module). Very important note, the DIS module needs to be grounded on the 3 stock bolts and should be on something acting as a heat sink...

So, should be doable depending on how handy you are...

 

[Raser13]

Yeah I was wondering about the crank sensor. I was trying to decide if enough was the same to see if I could modify things. My other idea was to do what my brother is doing and go to a junk yard and find another 97 ranger and rob the whole wiring harness and try and find an ECM pretty cheapish and rewire the whole truck.

 

[scotts90ranger]

That's another option, making a say '95-99 4 cylinder ranger harness standalone shouldn't be that hard either... after about then they included the PATS anti theft system into the engine computer, last year of near compatible engines is '01 being the last year of the Lima although '98 on it was a 2.5L instead of 2.3L... after '97 they went returnless on the fuel though and upped the fuel pressure so that would change some needs...