Hi everyone.

I have a 1995 Mazda B4000 extended cab, auto trans, 2WD - with a dropped rod. I have a line on a wrecked 1998 Explorer, auto trans, 2WD for a donor.

My mechanic has swap experience with a 280Z – 350sbc, and thinks it will be no problem to get the 302 into the Mazda.

I’d like to know if anyone has suggestions or cautions on this swap. We’re going to get the Explorer on the 14th of March. After that there’s no looking back, however I would appreciate comments during the swap. I plan on starting a thread to document and share the experience with you all.

Please don’t refer me to the swap section – I get a php error there.

Looking forward to the collective wisdom I have seen on these forums.

I got the Explorer and my brother-in-law and I started working on the swap.

I put up a page on Cardomain (http://www.cardomain.com/ride/3303602) about it.

It may be time to move this thread to the swaps forum, Mod assistance please?

Done. Good luck with the swap.

Are you gonna cover it here?

Yes, I plan to cover it here.

The Cardomain pages are setup as more of a general overview. I thought I’d keep this thread directly related to what I can learn about the engine swap.

On that front, we’ve only got the motors and trannys out of both trucks. My brother-in-law is doing the work in his garage, and lives a hundred (well, 98) miles away.

He took me for a ride in his 350FI 280ZX last weekend – that was a blast! I thought I was going to break the seat – it pulls HARD!!

Well, this is my truck, a 1995 Mazda B4000LE Ext. cab:

http://memimage.cardomain.com/ride_images/3/3215/2041/33036020021_large.jpg

The donor – a 1998 Explorer Eddie Bauer. I paid $850 for it; lightly T-boned in the passenger side, with a constant miss.

http://memimage.cardomain.com/ride_images/3/3215/2041/33036020002_large.jpg

When we got it back to the garage we took it for a quick blast around the block – the motor ran strong and the transmission shifted well. There was a bit of noise from the rear-end. My brother-in-law, Ken, troubleshot the miss down to a bad coil pack – one $50 part later and the motor runs smooth as silk.

Here are some shots of the Mazda’s engine bay:

http://memimage.cardomain.com/ride_images/3/3215/2041/33036020012_large.jpg
http://memimage.cardomain.com/ride_images/3/3215/2041/33036020014_large.jpg
http://memimage.cardomain.com/ride_images/3/3215/2041/33036020031_large.jpg

v.s. the Explorer’s

http://memimage.cardomain.com/ride_images/3/3215/2041/33036020004_large.jpg
http://memimage.cardomain.com/ride_images/3/3215/2041/33036020006_large.jpg
http://memimage.cardomain.com/ride_images/3/3215/2041/33036020032_large.jpg

Here’s the transmissions – Mazda’s on the left, Explorer on the right – the Mazda’s engine is back against the wall:

http://memimage.cardomain.com/ride_images/3/3215/2041/33036020028_large.jpg

To date we have both engines and trannys out, the 5.0 on an engine stand, and the Mazda in the garage ready to be worked on.