Swapping my 88 2.9 in to a 83 ranger that has a 4 cyl some ??

[Welpracing]

i have a 88 ranger 4x4 with a 2.9 that i am going to v8 and i am wanting to take the motor and trans out of that truck and put it in my 83 ranger 2wd 4cyl (2.0 i think but can't remember)

How much trouble am i going to run into and will it work?

any tips?

 

[NB4life]

I think on the tech library part of the site it tells you how to and I have heard of it done before. Thats going to be sweet, let me know how it ends up

 

[holyford86]

i have a 88 ranger 4x4 with a 2.9 that i am going to v8 and i am wanting to take the motor and trans out of that truck and put it in my 83 ranger 2wd 4cyl (2.0 i think but can't remember)

How much trouble am i going to run into and will it work?

any tips?

it will work, you're going to have to swap your dash wiring harness(may be easier to swap the whole dash) and you may have to cut some holes in the firewall for the computer wiring. definitely doable though

 

[Welpracing]

i was planning on swaping the dash and wiring any ways so that worked out. how about mounts and radiator or exhaust?

 

[holyford86]

i was planning on swaping the dash and wiring any ways so that worked out. how about mounts and radiator or exhaust?

you will need to swap the engine mounts to the 2.9 ones, you will need to use the cat and y pipe from the 2.9, you may need to find a way to mount the 2.9 radiator because IIRC the 83 model year had a different radiator mounting system than the others. The inlet and outlet ports for the 4 cylinder are opposite what the 2.9 is. The easiest workaround may be to use a 2.8 radiator but I don't know if those are the same configuration as a 2.9 either

EDIT: yes the 2.8 rad should work with the 2.9 you may need to play with the lower hose though as it mounts slightly differently