jpistheman's b2

[JPistheman]

meant to start this thread a couple days ago. this is all copied from trs.

i got my new Pony pulled home today (march 24th). its a 1988 Pony EB. rough shape right now. needs a bath real bad, interior cleaned up, a tranny. and much more.. i will update the thread as i build the rig. enjoy.

I'd say she needs a bath...

for $350 i got the Pony with a 80K 4.0 in it. yes 4.0. the 2.9 auto tranny that was blown, the electric t case, hedman headers, and high flow cats, all the parts to put it back together.

tomorrow i will have pictures of the motor, tranny, and have it cleaned up. oh. and a picture or two of the suspension that will go on so stay tuned.

later.

 

[JPistheman]

im in a bind. it turns out the motor is in need of more then i thought at first.

its missing what it think is the ac pulley, the serpentine belt, the wiring is bad, it needs plugs, wires, a starter. and some other ods and ends.

i think what im going to do is pull the 4 liter thats in it out tonight, scrap all that wiring, its the original b2 harness cut everywhere and spliced into the 4.0.
and have that done tonight. and then take the next weeken/ and spring break to swap the motor out of my 91 expo into it. that way i have a complete engine bay of everything i need.

also, the tranny.. i have the rebuilt tranny in the explorer that has 2000 miles on it, i have the 5 speed that came out of the 88 b2 that i rolled and i have the a4ld that came with this bronco. this bronco was an auto but was converted over to 5 speed. but i cant decide weather i should throw the 5 speed that i have and hope it lasts? or should i swap it back to auto and run my new rebuilt tranny?

i have alots more questions but i dont want to overwelm you guys, so heres the pics for today.

washed the truck twice, threw on some 30s i had laying around,

cleaned up the engine bay somewhat as well.. look at that wiring mess..

here she is next to my explorer,

 

[JPistheman]

another update:

just got done pulling the motor out of the bronco. everything went good. found some more hacked up wiring..

i think tonight ill "try" to pull her into the garage and start working out the wiring issue.

in these pictures all of the wiring you see is all of the bronco harness correct?

i dont need any of it? all of it can be pulled out and scrapped and ill just be swapping the whole harness over from the explorer.

i just wanna make sure before i tear it all out that i dont need to keep any of it.

also, just sold the rim and tire combo that was on the rig when i bought it for $150!

only $200 into the thing now.

some wiring...

more wiring...

clean bay besides the wiring, and what looks like maybe james duff motor mounts? i heard that the motor mounts need to be drilled to fit the 4.0 and these haven't been drilled at all. i'm thinking that maybe they are conversion mounts.

 

[JPistheman]

this is where i'am now. (march 27th)

i got some work done on the motor swap today.

didnt get many pictures, but i got the radiator, intake and airbox, and started the lableling of all the wiring. i have tomorrow off so i think if i work through the night i can have the motor ready to be pulled for tomorrow!

 

[Diff Whack Daddy]

So why are you using that nice lifted X as a donor? Did I miss something somewhere?

The hard part is going to be the connon plug on the firewall. Honestly, it's easier to swap the entire dash of a 91 or 92 X into the cab of the BII. The X has 2 engine compartment harnesses, one for power and the other is PCM. I have done the splice method and it took me and 90ranajo almost a week and half our sanity chasing down the right colored wires.

Then, when I rolled my X, I found out that between 92 and 93 is when they did the wiring change and learned how to swap a dash. Took me about 4 hours by myself. MUCH EASIER.

 

[JPistheman]

very interesting. seens how i have not started yet i might have just talked to you at the right time. i haven't seen any builds around for replacing the dash. just heard about it.

so basically i remove the entire dash? and steering column? ive never been that deep into a dash.. but if its that much easier.. i'm interested and would like to know more.

the explorers frame is tweaked pretty good, both rear windows and the hatch leak.. i dunno. i'm just kinda tired of it and wanted a new project. so the plan is, axles, lift, and some new 33s, motor trans and t case will all be swapped over.

 

[Diff Whack Daddy]

Okay, since you have now decided to swap the dashes. Start with the BII as you know that you will be basically trashing everything and can use it as a learning experience for removing the dash.

Couple of questions. Is the ex auto or manual tranny? Is the BII auto or manual tranny? The reason I ask, is cause the steering column swap be a little different. I have to cut a portion of the Ex firewall and modify the BII firewall to get the Ex steering column to fit. The ex has a larger diameter column do to the column shifter for the auto tranny. It sounds a lot harder than it really is.

Next, are we talking push button 4X4 or manual t-case? I scored a manual t-case and the shifter linkage just so I could eliminate one of the wiring harness and any number of 4x4 computer gremlins.

Alot depends on how many creature comforts you want. I am **** and want to make as much work as possible, ie, radio, windows, door locks, gauges, etc...

When you pull the engine bay wiring harnesses on the BII, cut the wires for the head lights and side markers leaving as much wire as possible to make splicing them into the explorer harness easier.

The basic concept is to make the BII enging bay look like the Explorer engine bay. As for the dash, all the wires come out with the dash and plug into the engine bay with the large cannon plug on the fire wall. After that it's just a matter of wiring up the doors and stuff. I just realized it's a lot harder to try and explain it than just doing it.

 

[CopyKat]

I did a dash swap. 410fortune did also.

There is a brief writeup in the tech section over on Broncoii.org.

 

[Diff Whack Daddy]

Honestly, the hardest part is finding a spot to store everything cause you don't want to throw anything away unless your absolutely sure you won't need it.

Just saw the BII wasan auto tranny, was it a floor shifter? If so, you might be able to use the BII steering column and auto floor shifter. I also noticed it's a EB so it has the push button 4X4. The difference there is the 4X4 computer for the BII is in the dash and the Ex is all the way in the back. That could be interesting, but nothing is impossible. Easiest is a manual t-case, but I am sure you can just pull that wiring harness too. It's matter of methodically tearing everything down and piecing it back together.

 

[JPistheman]

yes, the b2 was auto, but he started converting it over. however the explorer has an a4ld that i just rebuild about 2000 miles ago so that will stay connected to the motor. i have several computers that the guy gave me with the bronco.

also the bronco is push bottom 4x4 and auto locking hubs. both that will be changed cause the dana 35 from the explorer is getting swapped in along with a manual t case i pulled out of my other bronco.

i'm going to start tearing into the bronco dash today, hopefully i can get a good amount done maybe even start swapping everything over.


does the explorer dash just bolt right up?

 

[JPistheman]

i'm assuming that this guy only swapped the dash. and i wont have 40+ hours of wiring to do because im swapping the 4.0 as well?

http://www.broncoii.org/techpages/dashswap/index.htm

 

[Diff Whack Daddy]

does the explorer dash just bolt right up?

Not sure, I haven't got that far yet. The four bolts located at the base of the windshield will, but the bottom mounts may be a little diiferent. I can tell you that the steering wheel column suppurt (seperat from the dash) bolted right in. Make sure you save the support bars.

I don't think you'll hace 40 hours of wiring. Maybe closer to eight if you plan ahead.

 

[JPistheman]

if i run into problems ill let you know.. i almost have the entire dash out of the bronco. didnt get alot done. had to take the gf to the airport. shes gone for 9 days and i have this whole week off, so hopefully i can get lots done to the truck


kevin, how far along are you on your swap?

 

[Diff Whack Daddy]

So far I have both the BII and the Ex 99% stripped. The only thing left on the Ex that I need is the rear axle. My plan tomorrow is to make the firewall mods I need to get the steering column in and then I will start working on the interior wiring and dash. I'll see how far I get.

 

[JPistheman]

sweet. keep me updated. i think im running up to mount vernon tomorrow evening to pick up a quad if all goes well.

do you have any need for a dana 28 and a 7.5? i pulled them off the bronco that we bought far a parts rig. i havent pulled that 7.5 yet. but i'm trying to heat up these damn radius arm bolts so i can open up the dana 28. i was told today that the axles were geared down.

 

[Diff Whack Daddy]

Nope, my BII is getting the 8.8 rear out of the donor X and a dana 35 that has been in a couple of trucks.

 

[JPistheman]

update:

got some work done on the bronco, i got the entire dash and steering column out of the bronco. wasn't to bad, took several hours. i think its looking like the better way to go rather then splicing lots of wires. i also started work on the explorer dash. here's some pics.

old dash this morning;

several hours later;

after that i got the whole harness out of there and the steering column. :icon_bounceblue: can't wait to this the new dash all mounted in.


new dash;

hopefully i can get the explorer dash out and i'm going to push to get it mounted in tomorrow.

:icon_thumby:

Also, i found a picture of my parts bronco we bought for the lift and tires, the tires are aired down so we could get the hoist high enough to lift the motor out lol.

 

[Diff Whack Daddy]

J, do me a favor and take a look at your fuel delivery system for me. Someone previously put in a 4.0 on yours so they probably ran into the same problem I am having right now. Apparently in 88, the BII used two fuel pumps. A low pressure one in the tank and a high pressure one on the frame rail where I am used to seeing a fuel filter. There is also something in the fuel line between the tank and the high pressure pump that looks like an oil filter, but it has no wires or removeable parts. The only thing I can think of is it's a reservoir type thing to keep the high pressure pump from ever being starved of fuel. If someone knows what that is, please enlighten me.

I also noticed that the connections under the hood don't match up between the 88 and the 93 donor, so after numerous hours pondering, I have decided to modify the BII in tank sending unit by replacing the pump with the explorer pump. Since I have everything from the donor X, it's just a matter of running the fuel lines and hooking it up. I do have to replace one of the connectors as it broke pulling it off the X, but rockauto has them for like 5 bucks.

 

[JPistheman]

ill check for ya. but this guy apparently had it running and driving for a little while and then blew up the trans. then started tearing it apart to part it out.

i'm praying that mine fuel pump is already hooked up.

 

[JPistheman]

how in the hell does the main plug come out of the explorer?

the white plug that all the wires go through from the engine bay to the dash? its on the firewall. i cant get the thing to unplug.. it unplugs right??

if i can get that outa there i can get started on swapping my new dash in!



btw kevin, i couldn't find the deal that you were talking about. if you want me to look for it again i gladly will, try to get a picture of it so i know what i'm looking for lol.