derf

I went with Next Venture Motorsports out of Grand Junction. I'm going to stick with all Ford parts. It just makes life easier. And it keeps the 5 on 5½" bolt pattern.

The patient is on the table, doctor. Everything from the ball joints out will be replaced. I have new Reid high steer knuckles and all the hardware I need to do a disc brake swap. First step will be to finish removing bits and grinding the slag off the tubes before I can weld on the truss and brackets. Then the build up will start.

I'm going to be giving a 4.6 stroker a try in my next project. More power and torque without the headaches that come with swapping in a different type of engine. All I have to do is pull one 4.0 block and bolt in a different one.

Honestly, not much of the cheap bolt ons will give you what you are looking for. If your engine is typical, it's likely in need of a rebuild. A slightly upgraded camshaft may give you some more pep. But as far as bolt ons, most really are snake oil. Especially for a low revving, mild motor. A good tuneup wouldn't be a bad idea. Sometimes just fresh spark plugs can make a big difference. Most effective upgrade you can do is to swap out axle gears. Matching the axle ratio to the bigger tires will make a big difference. Some 4.88s would be a good upgrade for 36" tires.

One thing if you have to replace them again. I don't remember the exact compound you use but a light coat of sealing compound on the mating surfaces before you drive them in can prevent leaks. I had an engine rebuilt and a couple of the plugs leaked because the shop skipped the sealant.

I've seen a DSPO (Dip "Stick" Previous Owner) use wood screws to attach valve covers. These days, very little surprises me. Way too much "I need this to get me to work right now" desperation combined with ignorance and apathy out there.

84-86 is direct swap. Just plug it in. 87-90 requires you grab the clip that is on the speedometer cable with the donor cluster. Or swap the speedo guts from your original cluster into the new one. That has the benefit of keeping your odometer "correct" Either way, the oil pressure sender bolted into the engine comes in 2 forms. The idiot light sender is a simple on/off switch. The gauge sender is variable resistance to drive the gauge. You just need to swap it out on the engine block. The same wire should attach and work. If you keep the idiot light sender with an actual gauge, your pressure gauge will always read 0 or max with nothing in between.

Forgot the pictures...

Diff oil in the front was way low. And there's a film of grit. Probably past due for a rebuild. It is 50 years old after all. It's a good thing I was already planning on doing a complete rebuild already when I regear. Every last removable part will be replaced.

The radius arm nubs come off pretty easily. Just need to grind the remaining weld down. And cut off the track bar bracket. It's getting a full truss with XJ/MJ mounts.

Yep. Out of a 70s F150. With a bunch of convoluted hydro assist steering going to the scrap yard.

Now that my other projects are out of the way, it's time to use up the table full of parts. Building the axles is the first step in actually getting this project built. I will also be tearing down the engines in the background to build 1 good one. If anyone is looking for Renix parts, I'll have extra.

Came out of a YJ. Probably too big to be worth shipping. Local pickup in Denver. 23 spline short input. Will work best with an AX15. $200 If it doesn't sell locally by Christmas, I can throw it in the truck for my annual road trip to eastern IA and meet up along the way. I can either do I76 to I80 and through or head out I70 through Kansas City and then up north on I35 to IA.

I lost the cross bar on the top but the tray and the T-bolts are still there. I don't mind splitting up the parts if people want or I can ship the whole works. Local pick up in South Denver is fine. $25 for everything. We can talk if you just want some of the parts. Shipping on your dime.

I hope I'm remembering these right. I am clearing out parts I've had stashed for a while. I believe these came off a 1987 short bed. Factory gas tank slids. No real damage but they're not the cleanest. $20 plus shipping. Local pickup in the Denver area.

Remember the Explorer Sport Trac? Beds were only a few inches bigger than 4'.

The 304/360/401 share the bellhousing bolt pattern but they're bigger than the small blocks from Ford, GM, and Mopar. They are hard to fit. As is the 4BT.

Yeah. It's a self feeding cycle. Everyone does Chevy swaps because everyone does Chevy swaps. Parts for Chevy swaps are plentiful. Ford and Mopar are arguably similar in capability but the lack of bolt in swap kits make them rare. So nobody makes the kits. So nobody buys them. If you can fabricate the mounts, you still have all of the nitpicky details to sort out on your own. The Chevy swap kits cost a bit but they bolt right in and save you a bunch of time and (when you add it all up) money.

If I was going to swap a classic small block Chevy, I'd probably do a 383. It can be done with the Vortec setup pretty easily if you want. But if I had time and money to burn, I'd look at doing a small block Ford. A 302/5.0 would tuck in that engine bay nicely. You would need to do more fabrication but you could start with the frame side mounts for a Chevy and make engine side brackets to fit. Everyone does Chevy swaps. A Ford would be unique.

I dropped a thread with the VIN in the registry. Link to the search on their page: https://www.pullapart.com/inventory/search/?Locations=39&MakeID=33&Models=1319&Years=-1&LocationPage=false&LocationID=0#results Looks pretty rough. I may see about rescuing the bed this coming weekend if it's not already gone.

Just dropped at the Pull-A-Part in Aurora, CO. 4 cylinder, manual.

Hauling, sure. But it lacks towing chops. It can handle light duty towing fine but a built Jeep on a trailer is too much for it. And, unfortunately, that's what I really need. But for daily work stuff, it's hard to beat.

This came out of my 2006 XJ. It should fit any Jeep (including Chrysler and Dodge) vehicle from that era. I'm not sure of the exact year range. It worked well before I pulled it a couple of weeks ago to swap in a touchscreen double DIN unit. $100 shipped.