Thread: P76 motor swap

G'day, I'm about to transplant a P76 4.4litre into my '88 Rangie, using the current fuel injection system (not hotwire). Has anyone out there done this, how successful was it, and what are the problems. All advice will be appreciated - even the negative type. The Rangie is loaded up with all the usual accessories, no winch though, home made drawers etc. The 3.5 is struggling a bit wth this and the 31s and needss more grunt. Have investigated 3.9 and 4.2 swaps but am advised that as the 3.5 was stretched out to these capacities it became (or could become) less reliable. Another factor, I've just picked up a good 4.4 for ridiculous dollars, that is, cheap. The owner had been instructed to slear out the 28 vehicles in his shed and paddock by a wife who thought it would be a good idea to park her vehicle off the road !

The 4.4 is not that bad to shoe horn in. Bolts up at bell housing but fly wheel or flex plate if auto will need re drilling. You will need to refab the engine mounts, Spacers for the Rangie efi manifold are required, efi exhaust manifold will work fine with a bit of a bend to secondary pipes, Water pumps are getting scarce so be better to use a good 3.5 timing case by redrilling the locating dowels, Rangie heads are prefered as well but will need the oil hole drilled at the back if you want to use rangie push rods etc. The heads will sit higher so a bit of bracketry for alternator etc. The efi plenum will fit best with a small body lift.

I may have missed a few things but that's most of it.

I ran a federal injection off a Rover car on mine for a wile on standard ecu and injectors with a higher pressure fuel reg and was fine other than higher RPM. I have only removed it as don't want to get stranded around here late at night by the infamous prince of darkness.

I also am planing on using a throttle body injection (Ford) set up on mine for simplicity. There is lots of high cc injectors available so should be possible to make it all work.

You do know the 4.4 is not a stiff block like the early 3.5 so wont stand up to long higher rpm abuse.

Hope this helps

Tony