80 engine swap

[rapture]

I just got a 1980 bronco from a relative and found the engine totally blown. i am pretty broke and was going to look for a junkyard motor for a quick fix till i can get better parts.. what kind of vehicle should i look for, for a replacement? thanks in advance

 

[Broncobill78]

Consider yourself lucky. With a 1980 you pretty much have everything wide open and available to you. Now at the end of the day you need to be prepared to do some work, there won't be any two ways around THAT issue. Since it's an 80' what you have is a carb'd engine in an early model chassis and as such you can swap in *whatever* you want. Unfortunately here's the deal, if you get ANY carb'd engine from a junkyard you can pretty much assume that it will be in the vicinity of 20+ yrs old and as such it probably isn't going to be anything you'll want to run for an extended period of time, if it runs at all. You can install any late model fuel injected engine you want but to do so you'll have to also swap the matching EEC processor AND most if not all of the harness. NOT a weekend job but well worth considering. A better choice might be to remove & inspect the engine. If the heads are in good shape then get yourself a short block then reinstall everything and be merry. To me that would be the quick, easy, cheap AND reliable way to go. Beyond that you're looking at swaps & upgrades. Not that any swap or upgrade is impossible it's just that the cost goes WAY up with each step along the path. Sometimes it's best to just install & run a nice carb.

 

[rapture]

Thank you for the advise. what kind of ford should i look for if i want to swap in an injected motor? should i just go look for a f150 with a v8? my main concern is the motor mounts and tranny. im not good at welding but will if necessary. ty in advance

 

[Broncobill78]

Thank you for the advise. what kind of ford should i look for if i want to swap in an injected motor? should i just go look for a f150 with a v8? my main concern is the motor mounts and tranny. im not good at welding but will if necessary. ty in advance

Well, questions like that get into personal choices. The engines you can *easily* swap in will be either a late model 302 or 351, OR a 300 if that's what it currently has. The 300 uses completely different frame mounts than the 302/351 so swapping from one to the other will involve ALSO swapping out frame mounts. To keep things easy you want to remain as close to what's in there as possible. If it's a V8 then you want a 300/351 and if it's an I6 you want a 300.

A late model 302 would be my first choice. It has plenty of Hp and torque but doesn't use the fuel that a 351 does. Others may have different opinions but in this case this is what I'd look for. A 300 does even better on fuel but it's way down on HP & torque by comparison and swapping frame mounts will add to the cost. Don't lose track of the fact that a late model engine will also need the processor it came with and most if not all of the wiring harness. It's not going to be an 8hr swap but is IS doable and something that can be accomplished in the driveway over a wkend.

 

[rapture]

it had a 351 in it. but you say a 302 would get better mileage? so it appears my next trip to the junk yard is to grab me a 302. when you say all of the wiring harness does that include everything in the dash? tach temp and oil? and also .. would going from a 351 carbed to a 302 efi, would that effect smog in any way? i want to keep it street legal. again thx in advance

 

[Broncobill78]

it had a 351 in it. but you say a 302 would get better mileage? so it appears my next trip to the junk yard is to grab me a 302. when you say all of the wiring harness does that include everything in the dash? tach temp and oil? and also .. would going from a 351 carbed to a 302 efi, would that effect smog in any way? i want to keep it street legal. again thx in advance

Well, it may just be that someone out there has something else to say about it and if so I welcome the comments but NO, I can't imagine ANY situation in which swapping from a carb'd 351 to an injected 302 will NOT improve your mileage. It should go up by several points and the reliability & drivability should also go way up.

Now in a best case scenario yes, you'd get & swap a complete harness along with then engine. With the late model trucks you may well run into a problem if the engine/processor package is from an automatic since those trucks used AOD-E and E4OD transmissions and they were computer controlled. I really don't have any info on how the processor reacts when the tranny it expects to talk to isn't there. The guys I've spoken to who HAVE made this swap didn't have any problems but that was more than a few years back and current intel would surely be appreciated.

The only retro swap I gave good info on swapped in a late model EFI into a manual equipped Bronco and he just let the check engine light burn without reporting any major issues. Maybe there were some but *I* never heard about them

It won't effect your smog numbers in any way, the EFI engines are much more efficient and your emissions numbers will go down with an EFI engine compared to a carb'd engine. The reliability & drivability will go way up.

When you grab an engine you'll want as much of the harness as you can score. At the bare minimum you'll want everything that goes to the processor itself as well as everything that goes to a sensor AND the sensor & housing. You may well need new sensors and you'll want the housings when you do that. Best bet is to always grab everything.

 

[rapture]

alrighty, i know what im looking for now. thank you very much for the help. if i have any more questions or just want to show my work ill stop by /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />