question about donor 4.0 rigs

[Boggin]

i want a 4.0 in my b2, so ill start with the specs of her.

1989
manual trans
manual tcase
manual windows
manual locks
no a/c
no cruise

so she is as bare bones as it gets. now my question is, the most common 4.0 donor to find around here is an explorer (versus a ranger). and pretty much every explorer i see in the junkyards are all dolled up with cruise, power windows/locks, cruise, auto trans, etc etc. so would this set me back in the wiring any, or does it not affect the wiring harness?
i only want to swap in the engine harness, so will the 4.0 explorer harness plug right in to my 89 B2s dash harness? thanks for any help

 

[BlackBII]

A '90 Ranger would be the best bet, but they aren't easy to find.

Using a donor that has cruise, power windows, auto trans etc wont be an issue, as none of it is getting used in your BII anyway.

You can run the Auto computer, but finding a manual one would be better.

The cannon plug from an Explorer/Ranger will plug into your BII's firewall, but some of the pins may need to be moved, depending on where you get the harness from.

 

[Boggin]

thank you! +rep

The cannon plug from an Explorer/Ranger will plug into your BII's firewall, but some of the pins may need to be moved, depending on where you get the harness from.

can you explain this last part a bit more?

also will all the wires be color coded the same? if so i dont mind about the cannon plugs matching up, i can splice the 4.0 harness next to the 2.9 plug easy enough if all the wires i need are color coded matching on both harnesses

 

[BlackBII]

I mean what vehicle you get the harness from. Some of the pins on the cannon plug were moved/changed throughout the years/models.

Ford has been pretty good about using the same color wires for specific components throughout the years. For example, the Green/Red wire for the 12v source for the alternator has been used since at least the 60's, and it's still the same to this day.

You don't need to splice the 4.0 wires into your 2.9 cannon plug. The 4.0 cannon plug will plug right into your firewall.

 

[Boggin]

Ok sweet, thanks man!

another wire i can think of is the red/blue for the ignition switch. its the same on my 79 bronco as it is on every RBV ive owned right up to the 94 lol

 

[BlackBII]

Yeah Ford has been pretty good about wire colors.

The easiest thing to do is strip your engine bay of all the harnesses, and put in the donors. I would make sure you get new battery cables and clean all the grounds while you are at it, especially the one on the frame and one on the engine block.

 

[Boggin]

yeah that would be for sure. i replaced all battery cables, lugs, grounds, including the battery to block and battery to body, and it made a world of difference on my 79. b2 will deffinetly be getting that treatment 4.0 or not

 

[holyford86]

If you do end up having to wire this thing, don't let all the wires scare you, the wiring required is pretty minimal considering what you're doing. I used a 92 explorer harness when I did my swap. I figured out which connectors "had a home" as in I figured out which wires plugged into sensors on the engine, maf, etc. I then figured out which wires I needed to make the engine run (if you need good diagrams pm me with your needs) on the harness. I wrote down the wire colors and what they did, then I figured out what wire colors they matched to and labeled all the wires that would be used with what they did and what they went to. All of the wires that i didn't use (trans harness wires, etc) cut them short and taped them back into the harness. When i was done, I hit the key and it started up like it had been running like that the whole time.

 

[Boggin]

thanks man. what ill probably do is mark each female/male end of the plug with a piece of masking tape and a letter, and do that for every plug and sensor just to be sure, (on the 4.0, i know every wire on the 2.9 sensors and harness inside out lol) so then when i drop the 4.0 in the b2, it wont look as scary with everything marked for me, and when i get all the marked labels plugged in, more than likely there will be a few extra wires coming out of the harness but ill just see if she goes anyways and if she dont, well ill get one of them diagrams from you, and if it does run smoothly then ill fix away the wires that dont need to be there. thanks guys