Looking for suggestions on a EFI engine for my 77 Bronco?

[roloniko]

I have read many different opinions from 351W Swap, 5.0 Swap, 390, 428, 460 and other swaps to Chevy 350. What are the best candidates for a solid EFI engine swap?

 

[DirtDonk]

Hey roloniko. Welcome to CB.com.
And another '77 too! Nice. Show us some pics when you get a chance.

I think you'll find all of those have supporters here, but the most common recommendation is likely to be the Ford factory 5.0 EFI swap. Whether the whole engine, or just the intake stuff, it works well and is well supported in both parts and info.

Check out EFI Guy's thread about using the later model Explorer stuff which gets rid of the distributor and is a generation newer than the typical Mustang/T-Bird/Etc stuff you would normally find.
The "best" way is to swap in the entire motor, but if you have a good low-mileage engine in your '77 already, and for whatever reason need/want to keep it original, then changing the intake over to the modern stuff is very doable.

More and more of us too, are going to the current generation of aftermarket TBI (throttle-body injection) stuff. We sell the units from MSD and Edelbrock, so I'm kind of biased towards those two. But they also work and perform very well.
If that's an option on your list, call in sometime and talk to Johnny (uses the MSD Atomic) or Justin (has the new E-Street from Edelbrock) and see what they have to say about it.
The pros are that they're simple. The only con that I can think of is that, because you're buying brand new, the initial cost is more. But if you're not into junkyard crawling and mixing and matching parts based on what you read here, then having a bolt-on kit from a well known manufacturer might not be a bad way to go.

Good luck. You'll get plenty to work with here. Just give it time and you will have a lot of info on a lot of different ways to do it.

Paul

 

[Letsgocrawling]

It's all based on your budget---no chevy power please, If you go wrecking yard, listen to the recomended combos here at cbs, you have to purchase everything from the doner vehicle. Take your time and source the info here, It will be well worth your time!
newbie
mark

 

[WorkerBee]

I went the explorer 5.0 motor with mustang efi route. I am extremely happy with it. It's not the worlds fastest bronco but it starts every time and runs great. Worlds ahead of stock.

Do lots of reading. Spend the time and do your research. The help on this site is priceless. I could not have done it without the info I got here. Good luck!

 

[navalbronco66]

L S 1- I'm planning on dropping in a Vortec from a chevy truck. Yes I know it's not an LS1 but almost the same thing and many of the parts are interchangeable plus the vortec is cheaper to source. I know it's blasphemy in the Bronco community but I'm a chevy diehard who happens to love the bronco design. Advanced Adapters has an adaptor that will mate the dana 20 transfer case to the chevy 4L60e transmission.

Just giving you options, but if you ever go with a chevy motor you can then say you're driving a hybrid LOL

 

[roloniko]

Thanks for the input. I'll look at EFI Guys thread. Hopefully I can find it! I am very new and learning how to navigate through this site. I just added some pictures per request. Would you also know what year is best for the this swap? We were thinking of buying a reman 5.0 V8 from the explorer and buying a used explorer to use parts from it. Any thoughts?

 

[roloniko]

WorkerBee, what year did you end up using on your explorer? Did you find a used explorer and use the parts from it, did you go to the junk yard or did you buy the engine separately rebuilt or reman?

As far as the transmission goes, did you keep the original or did you swap it out using a different one from another specific vehicle? We also heard that using the transmission from the 96 explorer was a better match for the 5.0 engine. Any comments on this?

 

[Kegger]

351w efi gt 40 upper, lower 70 tb 24lb inj mass 90-93 ecu 264 ish cam after doing an efi stroker this would be my next motor/ or an aftermarket block and go 363.

 

[Kegger]

theres a dude on craiglist tx with a rebuilt gt 40 exployer motor the strieght plugs are a bummer. $ (900.00. ] with the exployer 40 intake and the 68mm throttle body, you will need harness , possible dizzy swap, cam to match option. and its rebuilt, pretty cheep.

 

[WorkerBee]

WorkerBee, what year did you end up using on your explorer? Did you find a used explorer and use the parts from it, did you go to the junk yard or did you buy the engine separately rebuilt or reman?

As far as the transmission goes, did you keep the original or did you swap it out using a different one from another specific vehicle? We also heard that using the transmission from the 96 explorer was a better match for the 5.0 engine. Any comments on this?

I got lucky and found a complete motor out of a 96 explorer on Craigslist. It had 180k miles on it and I paid 500 for it. I had it rebuilt but I probably could have ran it as it was. Sourced all the other mustang stuff out of junkyards. Bought a new Ron Francis harness from summit.

I got the transmission from pick n pull out of a 93 F150. It's the 5 speed Mazda trans. I only paid 100 bucks for it and love it. It appeared to have been worked on before as the shift rails plugs were already changed to metal ones.

I can't really comment on the automatic trans but there are many more pros on that topic here. Any more questions just let me know.