swap engine or buy new bronco?

[Nihil]

I currently have a 90 bronco with a 4.9L 300. I want to either get a 302 or a 351. should i try getting a rebuilt one, or should i just get a new bronco altogether and sell mine? mine is in pretty good condition with only a little rust on tailgate, and the rear interior is ripped out. also, any input in 302 or 351? one more question, when installing one of these engines, is it mostly and drop in and hook up job, or would new mounting brackets etc. be needed?

thx guys

 

[bidibronco]

Either engine will bolt in and you'll be able to use your current tranny if you want as well. As far as a 302 or 351 that's more of a personal oppinion. I would go 351 or even go bigger and drop in a 460 but that more or less goes with how deep your pockets are.

 

[Redneck86]

I would get the 351, why not get the bigger? A 302 is a good engine but i think its small for a bronco. My 86 has a 351 4bbl and its out run any fuelie 302 in a bronco ive come across. A 460 will be a powerhouse if your willing to drop that kinda money into it.

 

[Broncobill78]

Oh no, it's almost *always* best to repair an existing vehicle. You know this truck and buying a new one will not only cost you more but it will come with a whole new set of problems. Swap the engine. If it's in good shape and the tailgate isn't too bad then even more so. Keep it & fix it. You'll be much happier in the end.

You'll need new motor mounts for either engine, the 300 is an inline 6 and it's a whole LOT narrower than a V8. Other than that both the 302 & 351 are bolt-in swaps. Personally, I'd run with the 302, with fuel fixing to hit $4/gal. The extra torque of a 351 is nice if you tow anything with regularity but excepting that I'd definately go with the 302 just for the fuel savings. a 5.0L will be a noticable improvement over your 4.9L. a 460 will be a REAL kick in the pants and if you have deep enuf pockets to feed it then I'd say definately go that way, but if you get ****** off every time you fill it up *now* then I'd shelf the 460 until your rich uncle dies. Now as far as the swap goes what you need will mainly depend on what you buy. If you grab a salvage yard 5.0L then you should be able to ask them to grab you one from an F-truck/Bronco/Explorer and to take it as an assembly, meaning you'll get all of the accessories and the brackets. You'll also want the processor and getting the harness won't be a waste of your time. You may want to ck out your local WantAd or Craigslist because if you can score an entire parts truck that will make the swap a lot easier because you'll have everything right there and will be able to grab whatever you want/need from the donor AND you'll be able to resell everything you don't use to recoup the expenses. On the other hand you can also just contact a local salvage yard, tell them what you're doing and what you want and they should be able to easily pull what you need. Whichever way you choose to go as far as sourcing the parts the swap itself is almost a no-brainer since this was a factory configuration. Just be sure to get the processor that went with te engine, other than that it's a pretty basic swap.

A rebuilt engine is fine but you'll still need to contact a junkyard to get the proper bracketry for your accessories otherwise it'll be a real pain in the ass trying to make everything fit & work correctly.

 

[Nihil]

just a quick dumb question... what years of 351s would fit into my bronco?

 

[love_my_bronco]

just a quick dumb question... what years of 351s would fit into my bronco?

your bronco have feul enjection and all that emmisions stuff so im guessing that 84 to 96 would be your best bet. other than that if you wanna do a few modifications just about any eguine will fit.

 

[Redneck86]

If you want a fuelie 351 you gotta get one after 88, the 351 had was carburated untill 88.

 

[Broncobill78]

just a quick dumb question... what years of 351s would fit into my bronco?

Well, the short answer is that *any* 351 will fit. Now of you're wanting a fuelie 351 then you'll be looking for something 88' or later (87' was the crossover year. 87' 302's were injected while *most* of the 351's were carb's but some of the very late 87' 351's had the multi-port EFI). Now if you have access to a donor injected 351 then you can just take the top end and swap it onto any 351 shortblock but as others have mentioned the best route if you have nothing on-hand will be to get yourself a late 351W. You can use one from anything a F-truck, Bronco, Econoline van, Crown Vic, etc. Just keep an eye out because they all use different oil pans and a Crown Vic 351 may need a different oil pan before it will fit your Bronco, do your homework. Now depending on where you're at if you don't have inspections and such than a carb'd 351 will do you just fine. You won't have quite the milage, power or drivability of a fuelie engine but then again it'll install a *whole* bunch easier and you won't be dealing with the complexity of the EFI system which can come in very handy when troubleshooting. There's a lot to be said for a simple system w/a mech fuel pump & carb but that's a whole different thread. Unless you're planning on having it rebuilt before installing it then I'd probably look for the newest 351 you can find. An 88' WILL fit and bolt right in but you may want to give some thought to spending the time, $$$ & bull$hit to install a 20yr old engine with unknown milage. I'd be looking for a mid-to-late 90's engine and even then it wouldn't be a bad idea to have it refreshed (rings, bearings & gaskets) to eliminate some of the big-ticket trouble spots and to also give an experienced rebuilder the opportunity to take a look at the internals. A refreshed late-model 5.8 should easily give you 100K but otherwise you may just be spending $3-$5K to purchase & install a mill that gives up the ghost 20K into the game & *nobody* wins when that happens. Once again, if you're able to obtain an entire parts truck that will make things easier since you'll have access to all the nickle & dime brackets & linkages you'll need AND you'll be able to part out what you don't use to help defray the cost.

 

[Justshootme84]

Since your 90 Bronco is fuel injected, an engine swap to something other than the 300I-6 is going to involve changing the ECM (engine control module), motor mounts, exhaust, emissions and vacuum controls. I would do the swap if the 300I-6 is blown up or broken, but just buy another one with the 302/351 and the options you want if all you're after is "more horsepower". While the EFI 460 swap will give you the best power, you're going to be limited by the Speed Density (SD) programming for the ECM. It does not like major pereformance upgrades like radical camshaft or intake mods. I would look for a 95/96 351W with MassAirFlow (MAF), so you're able to program the changes you make on the motor. I put an 88 EFI 460 from a F-350 truck in my 84 Bronco, and converted it to carb for simplistic reasons and the fact that it's a trail-only rig. IF you plan to drive on the road and pass inspection, you should first check your state's regs on what you can or cannot do as far as engine swaps.

A whole donor truck/ Bronco is the best way to go if you decide to swap motors and keep your Bronco. Our local Bronco group has picked up three 80's Bronco's in the past month. Two were for $500/ea and the other was free- just come get it out of the yard. I picked up the 88 Bronco for parts from a salvage yard. IF you have a place to keep the donor, you can use whatever parts you need for your rig and part it out to recoupe the cost of the donor. A running salvage yard motor alone will run you about $500-$800, JSM84

 

[love_my_bronco]

reading earlier posts. i thought they started feul injection in 84 so anything 84 and up would work.?? just a thought. pple have been saying 88. i could be wrong. any help?

 

[bidibronco]

A running salvage yard motor alone will run you about $500-$800, JSM84

I don't like yalls salvage yards! I got a COMPLETE Windsor FI from t-body to oil pan flexplate to fan for a smidge over $100. Like $2 over? Yall need to find a true pick-n-pull. That was a 50% off day but that still put's it at just $200? If you're dropping in a 351 with speed dinsity and you need a FI intake I have one, and a waterpump and ect. If you want to rebuild one I have a "torn apart" one if you can make it to Norfolk, va just come get the damn thing. A re-ring kit with mains isn't to expensive and it's "cheap insurance" for the long run too. Sorry to ramble on and on....

 

[Bebop Man]

reading earlier posts. i thought they started feul injection in 84 so anything 84 and up would work.?? just a thought. pple have been saying 88. i could be wrong. any help?

Well, my '86 has a 302 FI in it. I think that was the first year for the FI's, though. According to Wikipedia, anyways.

 

[love_my_bronco]

ok thx. hmm guess i was wrong.

 

[LOSTinthewoods]

Some 85's had a fi 302(was a dealler option) and its alittle different from the 86 fi 302(the way the fuel filter and fuel lines are set up). And the 351 was not fi untill 88 like redneck86 said.

 

[ashfordgrrl]

I JUST PUT A NEW 351 ENGINE IN MY BRONCO AND I LOVE IT

I WOULD DO THAT

 

[Broncobill78]

reading earlier posts. i thought they started feul injection in 84 so anything 84 and up would work.?? just a thought. pple have been saying 88. i could be wrong. any help?

Ford DID use some FI engines in 84' but they were the early CFI engines that were basically carb'd engines with FI throttle bodies on them. The Bronco's started getting FI 302's in 86' but the 351 still had a carb up until 87'. 88' was the first year that ALL Bronco's were fuel injected. Anything 88' and later *should* be injected unless a previous owner swapped in a carb'd engine.

The CFI engines are a real nightmare to work on, they really won't accept *any* performance upgrades and most guys just junk the whole system and revert back to a carb on those engines.