$150 EFI Swap

Well I blew my budget tonight - I spent $150 at the parts store getting gaskets, coil, plug wires, intake elbow and filter, water temp sensor, TPS, double roller timing chain, fuel line and a throttle cable. I could have spent half that if I had just gone to the junkyard, which would have kept me in budget, but at this point I've decided that my 450HP windsor won't be going into this Bronco and this motor will live here from here on out.

I obviously got a late start today based on how early I was up and a friend woke me up around two and wanted to do some shooting. We went out and spend a few hrs testing his .45 loads and I put a couple magazines down range out of my .45 Storm. It was a perfect day for it - after we made a parts run we got started on putting the motor back together.

Started with the timing chain - simple enough.


Then we dicked around with the timing chain cover, put the new seal in the wrong (Explorer) cover and then realized the seal we put i there isn't the same type as the old timing chain cover so we just put everything together with the old seal and I'll just hope it doesn't leak, whatever, it's easy enough to get at. We took off the fuel eccentric as well - it was hitting the cover. Stuck the fuel pump in there because we didn't have a block off plate, it won't be pumping either, so no big deal - I've got a spare in case anyone needs one


I tossed the alt and power steering pump on there and had to stop as my buddy had to go home and pull the crank pulley off his Bronco so I can get my motor together, he is getting my old pulley. He also needs to find the distributor so we can actually start the motor - details...



Now comes the fun - this is how close the intake is to everything-


Not only is the elbow interestingly close to the master cylinder, I'm not quite sure how the throttle linkage is going to work. I'm thinking I have to totally ditch the bellcrank throttle setup and run a more traditional direct form the pedal to the throttle body cable setup. That would alleviate some of the clearance issues back there.

This is what I've got to work with-


It's roughly 36" long, so I think I'll be good, if not too good. I guess I can cut the sheathing back and make it whatever length I want...


Tomorrow I'll pickup the pulley and distro and try and get the started install, the manifolds buttoned up and finish off the motor with the crank pulley and radiator install. At that point I should be ready to start plugging wire in and trying to remember what I forgot.

I got the wiring harness in, plugged everything together and chased a bunch of butchered wiring and got it running tonight. We didn't run it long as it was late and we don't have a way to verify oil pressure - we were testing the new style oil pressure gauge but couldn't afford the noise we were making.

We had a massive fuel leak early on - somehow the FPR got bumped which bent the rail and caused a leak. We took everything apart and bent it back which fixed the leak - oil pan is leaking around the rear corners though, fawk. I'll deal with it later - no engine cross member in the way, so I can do it without even touching the exhaust.

This is all I have to say



Today I'm going to install the rest of the front accessories, radiator, finish bolting up the motor mounts and missing transfer case hardware and take it for a test drive.

I had everything correct the first time, just a mislabeled fuel pump circuit threw me off.

maybe i missed it...curious why ya ran intake on that side?

Ahh - it doesn't look like it will fit in the other direction... and this is how it came. I guess I should have looked at flipping it, but it works like this. It might work better the other direction though - wiring included.

KyleQ said:

I got the wiring harness in, plugged everything

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Holy Cow! Man that wiring looks like a friggin nightmare. So that's what a $150 EFI setup looks like.

Nah, I just had everything torn apart- you will see how clean I'll get it.

This is speed density, so it's bank fire, correct?

I guess I'll eventually have to Convert it over to MAF.

Ok, vess up and tell everyone the amount over the 150.00 estimate you gave us?

what did you do for your fuel system

snipi said:

what did you do for your fuel system

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didn't you see it in the pic posted above ?

markperry said:

Ok, vess up and tell everyone the amount over the 150.00 estimate you gave us?

Click to expand...

My estimate was based off of two things -
* - I was going to basically put this engine in until my 450HP 351W was ready
* - I was going to get a balancer and conversion pulley from my buddy.

Well - I got the balancer and when I yanked my buddy's pulley it turned out only to be a 3 bolt, so now I've got to look at the Balancer Guys or the Driven Pulley.

I paid $49 for the motor (what an ass, I was a dollar short ) and it came with the harness, ecu, oil pan, pickup and everything to make it run sans a distributor - fuel pump included.

As I tore into the engine I realized I needed a timing chain (didn't want to possibly blow up a perfectly good motor) and an oil pressure sensor, water temp sensor, an oil change, throttle cable, timing cover/water pump gasket set, 5 gallons of gas, 4 feet of EFI hose to get it running, etc etc. You can see I got nickle and dime'd over my budget. At this point I am right around $200-225 total which really isn't that bad. At this point I've got to order a pulley to get the motor running - I spent $5 last night on the two nuts I need to weld in the O2 sensors (which I found in my 351W stuff).

If I had gone to the junkyard and gotten the little crap I needed I would be much closer to my meager budget - but having a buddy working at a parts store, picking stuff up for you at his discount and then bringing it to your house and helping you install it is very hard to pass up ;D

snipi said:

what did you do for your fuel system

Click to expand...

As pictured above, but I'll have to cut a hole for the hood to close all the way ;D It's there as a temporary deal - I'm not 100% certain what I'll do with the fuel system at this point, the lines go towards the passenger side. I'll either run hard line around the motor or just run it down the other frame rail and cross over by the tank. I'm either going to tap into an evap line or use a bulkhead fitting in the filler neck - I'd like to use one of the existing holes though.

I attacked the harness with a dike and some electrical tape and got it cleaned up so it doesn't look like a $150 hack job %)



I've got everything tucked away and wrapped up to about 6" away from the ECU and where my power and grounds go - I've still got to finalize where I put the ecu and run the wires, so I can't get ahead of myself.

I've got somewhat of a mess, too long battery cables, I've got a bad ignition, so I've got a button on my dash setup to crank the truck. The fuel pump wiring is obviously temporary along with the fuel lines (might switch to a boat tank on the other side of the engine for road/burnout testing )

Today I've got a friend heading over so we will work on putting my floor back together after my no-body-lift 435 install. The Atlas II being there was just icing on the cake - I really needed a body lift, whatever, it's only sheet metal.


I'm looking to avoid this again - I hate getting my feet wet.


I drive to the limit, I'm not afraid to break parts or try the hard line. This Bronco is wide open throttle fun and is an attention whore and I like it. I've done damn near every modification I've wanted to and waited until last to do the motor - now I need to bend up a roll cage because now I'll be able to kill myself on the trail

200-225 is still very cheap nice work!

That is cheap but it still looks pretty rough to me. I wouldn't feel comfortable driving it very far. Good luck to you and I have to admit it is creative.

I'll accept you want to hate - if wiring and a gas can scare you so be it. This motor and wiring harness is form 1987 and still runs and operates perfectly. You do realize this is temporary correct?

The simple fact is that I see way too many people on here spending crazy amounts of money trying to get fuel injection working in a older vehicle and I made a point of doing it as cheap as possible. I've spent thousands of dollars on power steering, 1 ton axles, Cage arms, Atlas transfer case and all sorts of other things but CHOSE to do fuel injection this way. I'm going to mount the ECU on that fender as it makes a great place to put it and I don't have to cut anything up to do it. The wiring for the fuel relay and TFI will go under the intake and the only wiring you will see will be from the back of the motor to the ECU on the fender.

I could have simply used the Mustang ECU and harness I have boxed up for my 351W build, I could have thrown on the MSD Pro Billet distributor and 6A ignition box, the Hooker headers and giant TB & MAF I've got, but didn't. I wanted to see how cheap it could be done and run reliably well. The fuel injection swaps are simple, they look scary but in all reality every wire has a purpose and when you understand what they do it all just becomes an equation.

I hooked up three power wires, two grounds and powered a fuel pump and the Bronco runs. I'm going to get the motor running and shake the crap out of the harness, spray it with a hose and try and make something fail. After it survives that I'll look at it again when I drop GT-40 heads, a cam and a mustang ECU in it. The ONLY thing I wanted to achieve with this swap was a motor that starts easily in all conditions and runs reliably. I'm done with screwing with a carb'd motor and a nearly blown motor under it.

I've enjoyed every moment of this project and have only learned from it. This could be done in an afternoon to an existing motor-

No offense or hatred intended and I am sorry if I came across that way. I think you've been very creative but you should not compare that to someone who's goes out and buys top quality stuff and builds an EFI engine from the ground up. There is a major difference between making something run and building a top flight engine. And I am not suggesting you are implying there isn't a difference. I look forward to seeing your 351 when you build it. Again my hat's off to you for scrounging up enough stuff to make it run for o cheap. Honestly, I am sorry if I made you feel bad I just don't want people to start tearing their stuff apart thinking this swap can be done for $150 and then finding out too late that you get what you pay for. I've seen a few threads where people did just that and could not get it running for months, some never did get it right and that's just sad. You obviously have some skills that many others don't. I know folks that can do anything to one of these rigs but are scared to death to take on an EFI conversion. You've obviously proven that it's not as complicated as some people think.

I have about three grand into mine but I purchased a really nice mustang engine with low miles, had it machined, rebuilt it, rebuilt a nice set of GT40 heads, GT40 upper and lower, RJM harness, and a bunch of other stuff. But my intention was to have a finished piece that I wouldn't have to mess with for a while and looked as good as it ran. My background is restoring muscle cars back to stock, so I'm used to spending thousands of dollars to dial them in and then sell them to collectors. For whatever reason I ended up with a Bronco and I bring some of that perfectionism to the table on the Bronco. Again I'm watching this thread with great enthusiasm.

^^^ ilovemaui - I understand where you are coming from; maybe this isn't the norm, but it is for me. I didn't just buy this stuff together and cross my fingers, I've been researching EFI swaps for probably over two years and just putting together a badass 351W setup this was a cakewalk - more on that later.

We started by setting up my throttle linkage, I had bought that universal kit form the parts store and it worked out sweet.


I ground off the carb stud , ground the back of it round for the connector and that side was done, totally factory. On the other side we ground off the other stud and mounted the adjustable side with the cable on it after making a bracket that supported the cable.
We also rotated the TB after we ground off one of the original throttle linkage mounting plates and cut off one of the vacuum ports and threaded a bolt in it.

Here is how everything is pretty much going to end up sans a few last minutes changes - the hood should close now with the IAC on the back side of the intake, the throttle cable is level with the hole in the firewall with it on the bottom and my coil mount off my custom power steering reservoir works out perfect.


Here is the ECU side - I just mounted it on a 2x4 to keep it off the metal, help hold it in place while I moved wires around. I've got to build a box for it to sit in, but that is where it will be.

The extra wiring you see is for my temp switch and hand held starter button

I figured I should dig out my GoPro and shoot a quick video of how it runs, great throttle response. I've yet to hook up O2 sensors at this point - exhaust is hooked up as well


One of the lights on my stand is burnt out, so it made a perfect camera stand

Great Job! Sounds tight.

Alright - I got some more work done this evening. I came to the realization that I didn't want to spend money on a v-belt setup I didn't plan on running for very long, so I pulled the timing cover and water pump back off...



I then went down to the barn and started looking for my other crap I needed and found most of it, the rest was hiding in the garage.


I'm short a few bolts, but everything lines up and clears - I've got to notch the hell out of the idler pulley area for the TFI to clear, but that's easy stuff. I may also lower the power steering reservoir a bit - who knows. I do need a fancy fitting though-

It looks like a 120* fitting may just be the ticket, too bad they are ~$30

This is where I threw in the towel tonight - a few bolts, a belt, some facy hose work and I should be in business. After I've got everything plumbed and a test drive under my belt I'll work on the fuel system - just over two weeks to go...

Making progress.

Well tonight I got a serpentine belt, but the stock Explorer belt without AC was too short, I think I need something ~2" longer. I got everything dry mounted though - got the rest of my bolts (ended up getting longer stuff, spinning on a die, cutting them off with a cutoff wheel and then spinning the die off to get clean threads, worked perfectly.


Then I whipped out the cut off wheel and grinder again and started hacking - I think it turned out awesome. I can make a full sweep without touching -


I then ripped out all of my old PSC stuff and got my hoses buttoned up - I need to make a new high pressure line and call a few local speed shops about a 120* -10 fitting, some -10 suction line and a straight -6 fitting.


Here is how everything sits together - the intake clears the master cylinder about as much as it clears the power steering reservoir.


I modified a factory coil bracket and I'm going to mount it off the throttle body - it stils lower than the intake and just happens to put the spout connection in a killer spot.


I played the distributor game and got the engine timed by ear, or close enough just by idle, I can get it dialed in once I've got my O2's installed and my TPS mounted. I got a throttle return spring mounted off the coil bracket and got the spring tuned how I like it - not much pedal travel with this setup...
I probably won't end up with a fitting tomorrow, so I'll get the longer belt installed and look at what I'm going to need to get my fuel system installed. Any issues with running everything down the passenger side frame rail vs the driver's? I'll probably pull the hard line I ran on the driver's over to the passenger and mount them together.

After the fuel system is good I need to get the 4G hooked up, motor mounts drilled and bolted, get my gauges mounted (thinking in the old radio spot), Atlas linkage back together, my D60 rebuilt, the D70 quickly gone over and then some sheet metal work from my drivetrain swaps.

Clock is ticking - I've got this weekend and the next before my trip, I still need to hammer down a tow rig too!