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The 4.0 Swap was chump change compared to this - Look inside...

janderson4010

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City, State
third boxcar, midnight train
Year, Model & Trim Level
86 BII
Ive finally gathered all the parts I need to swap the 4.0 that ive had sitting in my garage into the BII. Here are the particulars;

1986 bII with 2.9l and 5spd Mazda trans.

1991 explorer 4.0 and M5OD trans and bw 1356 tcase

So far Ive pulled the motor trans and tcase out of the exploder and started removing the wiring and computer, today i removed all the wiring and externals from the 2.9 in the BII, including alternator and ps pump. tonight im going to finish removing the 2.9 from the bronco, and tomorrow remove the trans and tcase, ill take pictures and keep track of all the steps i have to take in doing this swap.

wish me luck guys i think im going to need it haha
 



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Good luck. Will this all be done in a garage or are you at the mercy of Mother Nature.
 






im in my garage thank goodness, ill post pics coming up pretty soon. yeah if i had to do it outside it wouldn't be happenin, it snowed here on Sunday haha. i removed the ps lines and all the bell housing bolts bolts. I started on the exhaust but some genius put bolts with over sized heads on the passenger exhaust flange so my socket wouldn't fit, eventually had to take the grinder to a 3/4 drive socket to get the top one out, the bottom one is contacting the frame so i need to lift the engine to take it out.

making good progress, I'm hoping to have the engine and at least the drivelines out today. I really am more excited about the suspension mods to come after the 4.0 is in than the swap itself, but it will be good to have it driveable again
 






engine is completely out, now i need to fin pulling the 2.9 wiring out, get the trans, tcase, and drivelines out. Im going to paint my engine bay just to give it a clean look, ill prob identify a few wires before i put the engine in so im not fighting the block to get to stuff.
 






the drivelines are out and the clutch is disconnected, next step is to pull the linkage for the tcase and remove the trans shifter, getting closer and closer.
 






pulled the trans and tcase yesterday, and then i wasted 3 cans of engine degreaser and 3 hrs of my time cleaning out the engine bay, ill tell you that leaking 2.9l valve cover gasket causes mayhem in terms of engine bay cleanliness. Down 3 cans of degreaser, one wire brush, one tshirt i prob shouldn't have worn (Christmas present 2 yrs ago), but now i have a clean slate for that pretty 4.0 to drop into. Getting excited now
 






pulled the rest of the explorer wiring harness this afternoon, there is about 3x more wiring than in the bII harness, i did identify the fuel pump connectors so once i have the engine in and the ignition hooked up i shouldn't have a ton of problem getting the thing to start, then i can systematically go through each remaining system and hook stuff up as I go. not as scary as I thought it was gonna be
 






When you look at the big picture it can be a little intimating, but just one bridge at a time and it's never that big a deal.
Two things when i did all the wiring on my B2 from Dome light, complete new dash, MSD ignition, all the Off road lights, headlights, breaker panel, fuse panel and all the associated relays. Number one was if you rush through it you will have electrical glitches down the road if form of connections coming apart or corroding.
Sure it will work when sitting in the cab, but a few hundred miles down some bumpy roads is where it will fail.
Even with those squeeze type connectors are not bullet proof. Make sure they are tight. If your forced to use one that is the next size up, double the wire over on itself and then insert into the connector.
I'm also a firm believer in liquid electrical tape on both ends of the connector.
Next is to come up with a good grounding install. I even have several engine grounding straps.
But it sounds like you have complete confidence and it will come out right.
 






my plan is to get the wiring diagram for both rigs and try to swap stock plugs in when i can, the stock plugs can be taken apart so i can put the correct wires in the new plug so it will be stock connectors rather that my crappy splices haha. I got that idea from this article http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/4L_Conversion_faqs.htm.

i just went out and got the M5od out of the corner of the garage, bolted it to my crossmember and put the case on, also bolted up the tcase shifter and made sure it works. my buddy thats been helping me is about 500 miles away right now or i would put it in today, just little speed bumps in the quest for more power.
 






trans and tcase are in. the floor in the bII need to be modified to accept the shifters for the trans and tcase, they are a little further forward than the old ones were. after that little mod is done I need to put the front driveshaft in, and go get the rear shaft shortened. In my original post i had said that it was a 1356 tcase, actually putting in the 1354 unit w a fixed front yoke, should be a little stronger. It is crazy how much beefier the m5od is than the fm145, its like looking at a body builder compared to a 98 pound weakling. i wish i had taken a picture of the comparison to post up before i put the trans in, oh well.

on a way crappier note when i pulled the trans out of the explorer i accidentally cut the clutch line, so i had to buy a new one, but of course the parts store had to special order the one for a 93 explorer, so i had to buy the slave cylinder and line for a 91, had i not broke that line i would have saved like 110 bucks, the line was 60 and the slave was like 54 or something. oh well thats the cost you pay when u drink and work on your rig, haha
 






so my transmission is sitting 2" to far forward to mount the motor in, i think i need to check the explorer and see if the motor mounts are different than the bII ones, hopefully that will solve the problem and i can continue to move forward with the proj
 






no they are exactly the same, im going to go get the explorer cross member and mount it 2 in back to get the correct mounting position for all the components. i didn't really think that was necessary but it should only set me back an hr or so
 






change of plane, im going to mount the engine in first, bolt up the trans and case and relocate the crossmember in with everything in place, but im going to reuse the bII crossmember that has mounts on the outside of the frame rail and just relocate the mounts. so i gotta get the 4.0 ready to mount in this weekend
 






trans and tcase are in. the floor in the bII need to be modified to accept the shifters for the trans and tcase, they are a little further forward than the old ones were. after that little mod is done I need to put the front driveshaft in, and go get the rear shaft shortened. In my original post i had said that it was a 1356 tcase, actually putting in the 1354 unit w a fixed front yoke, should be a little stronger. It is crazy how much beefier the m5od is than the fm145, its like looking at a body builder compared to a 98 pound weakling. i wish i had taken a picture of the comparison to post up before i put the trans in, oh well.

on a way crappier note when i pulled the trans out of the explorer i accidentally cut the clutch line, so i had to buy a new one, but of course the parts store had to special order the one for a 93 explorer, so i had to buy the slave cylinder and line for a 91, had i not broke that line i would have saved like 110 bucks, the line was 60 and the slave was like 54 or something. oh well thats the cost you pay when u drink and work on your rig, haha

I was wondering how you were going to bolt up a 13-56 (full-size truck 6 bolt 31 spline T-case) to a RBV M5OD. Unless you meant a 13-50.
 






change of plane, im going to mount the engine in first, bolt up the trans and case and relocate the crossmember in with everything in place, but im going to reuse the bII crossmember that has mounts on the outside of the frame rail and just relocate the mounts. so i gotta get the 4.0 ready to mount in this weekend

Good luck with your swap! Take your time,and do your research on the wiring . I couldn't be happier with the swap I did. A little frustrating at times but well worth it every time I turn the key and it fires up.

Are you keeping your dash,or using the one from the Explorer?

Chris
 






im keeping my dash in there, the explorer im using as a donor had a thrashed interior, basically every panel is broken. and my interior is red and the dash is gray haha.
 






Hope it's going well for ya.
 






had to postone my own work, the 4x4 shop my buddy owns and is kind of letting me apprentice in has a 2011 JK that we are putting a 3.5 in lift on and all poison spyder body armor, 3.5 in long arm kit with 37" goodyear mtrs, the stance on that thing is just flat mean, made me realize the bII is going to have a lot of sawzall action coming to it. Wish i had 45 grand for a brand new jk and another 10 grand for parts. the guy is a total toolbag though he called yesterday and was like "is my jeep cool enough to get in a magazine? what a jackass, my buddy who owns the shop was like your bII has 3x more chance of getting in a magazine than this cookie cutter jeep, he spent more on bumpers than im spending on my whole build lol
 






the dang old crazy old crusty old 4.0 is officially in the engine bay sitting on the motor mounts! score one for boredom and being stuck at my house!
 



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Sounds like you got it going on now.
Ya, I got those type jeep guys her too. But most are just meat and potatoe guys like myself and we all talk and give a wave when going by each other.
 






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