There's a 1992 Bronco that I've seen locally that seems to run decent for sale for a good price. I'm thinking that by the time I got rid of some of the stuff (like the snow plow) that I wouldn't use on it I could pick it up for easily under $1,000. Which leads me to my idea... How cool would it be to put a 7.3 Powestroke into a Bronco. I figure that there's got to be a lot of similarities between the F250's and F250's of that era which had diesels to the Bronco's of the same era. Obviously an upgraded axle is a must, as well as some other mods, but realistically how hard would it be to put a 7.3 diesel under the hood? I'm thinking that it would be a nice stable mate to my 2010 F250 Powerstroke, and would probably get really good fuel economy. I wouldn't be looking to go crazy with power or anything like that, in fact I'd probably keep it at or near stock power levels and just change the front axle and do whatever body work the truck needed. Am I crazy? Who's got some pictures of 7.3 Powerstroke powered Bronco's that they want to share? Thanks

 

Well if you have a complete running truck with a 7.3 then its not too hard, just lots of work. You'll basically have to swap the entire drivetrain. But just search on here, this has been covered lots of times.

Also if it was a plow truck, I'd look closely at the frame before buying it.

 

"Entire drivetrain" AND electrical system. Computer, harness, sensors, are all going to be different enough to make modifying the existing system far more difficult than simply swapping the system from a truck already equipped with said diesel power plant.

 

It sounds like if I was going to pick up a Bronco to do a diesel swap, the way to go would be a 4BT or 6BT Cummins like what jfritts has done in another thread on this forum. I guess I was thinking that since the 7.3 Powerstroke was also available in Ford trucks which shared the same body style that it would be simpler to use a donor 7.3 engine and accompanying transmission mated up with a new wiring harness from painless or a similar company. Maybe not though. I guess from my perspective I'm more worried about, or at least inexperienced with fabrication work and I thought that the metal work associated with making a Cummins fit in the right place would be more difficult than putting a 7.3 and E40D in there. I just thought that it might not be as cheap but would involve less fab work. Maybe the old tried and true Cummins is the way to go and has the benefit of delivering better fuel economy while being easier to work on. Thanks to all for the input.

 

Fordcummins.com. has most of the parts to swap a cummins into your bronco.

 

Theres going to be fabrication associated with either engine. Either engine would be easiest with a complete donor truck but can be done without. If you do get a donor truck swap pretty much everything over. Without if you go with a auto trans you will need a stand alone transmission controller (PCS makes a good one). For the 4bt you dont really need to fabricate anything more than motor mounts. With the 6bt (due to length) you might have to cut into the firewall a bit.

My 4bt is all mechanical. The engine only needs three wires to run (fuel solenoid, starter, alternator) and i went with the ZF5 transmission for simplicity and the low first gear.

For the cummins you will need an adapter plate. Either a stock one from a ford stepvan or one from Destroked.com.

Try to stay away from fordcummins.com A lot of reviews about their products say they dont fit like they should and require modification to work and for a $700 price tag it should work right the first time.

 

I did not know that, thanks for that info.

 

You could always go with a 7.3 IDI. The 87-94.5 trucks ran them and it would also be all mechanical. With a donor truck you could swap out everything including the wiring and dash. I di mine with an 86 F250 4x4 with the 6.9 in it. The only part you may need would be a rear driveshaft if going from auto to stick. In hind sight i would have rather used a F350 so I had the solid front axle (will be doing a sas this summer). It is alot easier to put the d60 sa under there than the d50 ttb that the F250 used.

 

i have a 86 bronco and a 94 f 250 and i want 2 put the 7.3 in my bronco so how much of this post is 4 me and is there eney thing else that i might need 2 know??

 

When chasing E4OD transmission problems I visited with a Ford shop foreman. He commented the E4OD was a good transmission for gas but did not hold up to diesel torque. The newer automatics are bullet proof. No problem with the newer ones.

 

I'm going to have to disagree with the shop foreman you talked to. Have you ever heard of Brian's Truck Shop in Lead Hill, AR? They do all kinds of high performance engine builds and also tranny builds. Well I live in the area and I can tell you, there's plenty of high HP/torque Powerstrokes running around with the E4OD/4R100. I also work in a transmission shop and we do mild performance built E4OD's and it's not uncommon to see just a stock tranny go 150,000 miles, and that kinda mileage is GOOD for my hilly *** area, especially behind a torquey diesel. I've personally seen an E4OD go over 250,000 miles and it was behind a 7.3 and it was used for hauling farm equipment. Good maintenance and a competent driver of course is needed, no trans can hold up to ignorance.

 

Also to contribute to the actual 7.3 bronco swap topic