so...the bug body + BII thread got me thinking...

oh yes, the gears are turning, are we in trouble now...lol..

so, I was thinking about something. I was thinking about the state of my BII's body, as it's alittle rough, as some are. I'm working on fixing all of it, but I had a thought before that suddenly came back to me. try and stay with me here. I'm also on several forums for my DD, an 01 focus ZTS. Nice little car, sporty (compared to the BII's and ranger's I've owned...lol) gets good mileage, the 2.0 Zetec's got some good pep (especially with the 5-speed) and it's fairly easy to mod. I've owned it about 1 1/2 years now, and in that time, I've added a CAI, short shifter, some interior neons (red, like the car), blacked out the tailights, 3rd brake light, corner markers, painted the mirror caps body color (SVT focus style), stuff like that. Me and my now-wife even drove it from ontario to florida and back for our honeymoon in june, and the only problem I've ever had with it was 1 flat tire on the interstate near Atlanta (changing to a spare on the side of I-75 sucks nuts...), and just in july, the fuel pump crapped out on it. Oh, and the CEL came on tonight, and it's making a faint ticking noise from what sounds like the top end, but I was driving it like I usually do, like it's stolen, when it happened. That's another story and problem...
Anyhow, since I'm getting off-track here, on these forums, one of the hot topics is a RWD and V8 conversion...several companies offer either parts or whole kits to convert. It's not cheap, but I imagine it's hella fun. Now, I was looking around, and I found a company that makes an adapter to bolt a T-5 to the 2.0 zetec in the event you only want RWD, not a V8 too (yea, right...)
Now, I was bored, looking around, and I found 2 possible ideas. One, is a focus sedan, like mine, 2.0 5-speed, but a base SE, for $600 something on ebay. The other, is a 98 Escort 4-door, same 2.0 zetec as a focus, 5-speed (bad gear/gears), for $450 locally...
Some of you may be putting 2 and 2 together by now.
What, and a hypothetical "What", if I took my BII, stripped it to a rolling chassis, only frame, suspension, and axles, and took either the escort or focus sedan, stripped the front and rear suspensions, transaxle, etc out. Made a cradle on the BII frame with which to mount the Zetec north-south, mounted the body on the frame, hooked a T-5 to it, swapped in an 8.8, D35 front (or maybe an EB D44 if I get lucky, or something...) and had a sweet hybrid wheeler? I mean, stock, the 2.0 puts out almost the same power as the ol' 2.9. A Bronco II weighs something like, what, 3700-3800 lbs? A Focus or escort weight in at about 2600-ish Lbs. I wouldn't need to change any of the factory wiring in the car (only engine harness, possible lengthing for FWD to RWD change, and engine fuel line), keep the stock gas tank, fuel system, lighting...no need to change it...

Potential problems
-well...mounting the body to the frame? still trying to figure out a "good" way to do it...
-t-case...probably have to run a divorced case I imagine...
-wheelbase. A BII is 94", an Escort is about 99", and a focus is about 102-103". So, most likely end up making the rear coil sprung to lengthen the wheelbase to fit the body (unless you can have a leaf sprung rear with a 102" wheelbase?)
-Steering. Escort/Focus is rack-and-pinion...adapt car steering shaft to BII steering shaft at steering box?

That's what I've got at the moment. All feedback is welcomed!

Sounds fun, I saw Car & Driver swapped a V8 into a hatchback focus.. It had wheelhop like none other.

One thing though, if you do use the Zetec you have to remember that the the power it makes is probably higher up in the RPM's and that it probably lacks the low-end grunt you want in a truck. If you do it though, I wanna see it!

have fun, you must have more time on your hands than me!

well after i know when my zx2 is dead...i am slappin that on a b2 frame with v8 :}

i always wanted to do something similar with my 87 cadillac touring coupe deville. Had an s10 frame i could have used. But i didn't have time, and i was REALLY broke so i had to scrap the cadillac

I was also thinking about something crazy, like building a 6x6 ranger out of a cheap 2wd (there's lot's around) too bad UA 6x6 wants $2700 US for a gear-thru box...

well, I'm sure I'll figure something out...

PARKINGLOT said:

Potential problems
-well...mounting the body to the frame? still trying to figure out a "good" way to do it...

-Steering. Escort/Focus is rack-and-pinion...adapt car steering shaft to BII steering shaft at steering box?

That's what I've got at the moment. All feedback is welcomed!

Click to expand...

You could use hydro for steering. I'm curious about mounting the body to the frame? What kind of mounts or mounting positions are on the other vehicle? Some "heavy" angle maybe?

PARKINGLOT said:

I was also thinking about something crazy, like building a 6x6 ranger out of a cheap 2wd (there's lot's around) too bad UA 6x6 wants $2700 US for a gear-thru box...

well, I'm sure I'll figure something out...

Click to expand...

not to mention Daniel at USA 6x6 is probably the biggest Rat of any 4x4 shop ever. you should go read about his dealings at pirate4x4.

Toreadorranger said:

not to mention Daniel at USA 6x6 is probably the biggest Rat of any 4x4 shop ever. you should go read about his dealings at pirate4x4.

Click to expand...

yea, I've read some of that drama...

beyonder said:

You could use hydro for steering. I'm curious about mounting the body to the frame? What kind of mounts or mounting positions are on the other vehicle? Some "heavy" angle maybe?

Click to expand...

I don't know about hydro for street driving...we'd need to see...

I'd have to find good mounting spots on the underside. I've got a couple in mind I'd use from looking at the underside of my DD during oil changes and stuff.


I think I may have found an idea thought. I've toying (lol) with the idea of buying a Formula Toy tube body/cage, tossing the BII body, and stretching the WB to fit the formula toy unit. Or, since I imagine shipping to here from CA would suck, building one myself.

We'll see how all this pans out...

I would talk to a local shop they could build you a formula toy type cage, to fit the b2 for prolly the same price.

On the old forumn I read a post about someone putting it in for street driving, there was a website with it,etc. I'm looking for it because I was going to put it in my ranger.

What are you using for the mounts? I know nothing about mounting the body of another vehicle to the a different frame,etc.

PARKINGLOT said:

I mean, stock, the 2.0 puts out almost the same power as the ol' 2.9. A Bronco II weighs something like, what, 3700-3800 lbs? A Focus or escort weight in at about 2600-ish Lbs.
-

That's what I've got at the moment. All feedback is welcomed!

Click to expand...

Lets do some guesswork here. Let's say the Body on the BroncoII weighs 1500 LB's and let's say the car suspension weighs 400 LB's. Your rig will weigh 4500 Lb's give or take depending on the weight difference between engines keeping in mind the added weight of a divorced tcase. That will with 4wheel drive make the rig go half as fast as the car at best. Plus car engine's lack what every 4x4 needs, torque. The 2.9L makes decent torque, and I'd bet there is a good reason why the BroncoII never had a 4 cylinder option. I like your idea as a whole but just trying to make you realize that it may not perform as well as you hope.

I know...that's why I'm in the spitballing stage. I actually figured it would weigh somewhere close to the stock bII, but that's just being enthusiastic. I don't know about the divorced t-case, didn't they make 4x4 T5's?

I'll figure out a solid plan eventually...

there is a transfer case that mounts to a T-5 in cetain 4x4 s-10s but i don't know the specifics.

the 2.0 zetec is a good motor, but i would never try to power something that heavy with it. it just lacks low end grunt.

How about an Escort Wagon body onto a BII frame?

Just throwing an idea out there..