COYOTE V8-SWAPPING A FORD BRONCO TAKES SOME WORK

Officially, there’s only one way to get a Coyote V8-powered Ford Bronco, and that’s by putting a deposit down for an off-road-only Bronco DR race truck. Unofficially, however, the aftermarket is hard at work at making V8 Ford Bronco dreams come true. But as for the process, well, it’s not exactly for rookies.

No Traction Faction shared the beginning stages of the build on its Instagram account, showing both donor vehicles. Over on its YouTube channel, NTF will chronicle the build of what will likely be one of the first Bronco Coyote V8 swaps.

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The first step was getting the engine out of the donor car, which is an S197-II generation example with the venerable 5.0-liter mill. Stock, the engine made between 412-420 horsepower and 390 lb-ft of torque at the time. Although that’s slightly less than the 418 horsepower and 440 lb-ft of torque that the twin-turbo V6 made, it’s the soundtrack that counts, and we’re sure that the engine will not remain stock.

The V8 Ford Bronco project isn’t even a Raptor to begin with, but instead just your basic Outer Banks trim model with the Sasquatch pack. Instead of packing over 400 horsepower under the hood, the example here features a four-cylinder engine, so the V8 will be a significant upgrade in this particular Bronco.

With both engines removed from the donor vehicles, it’s time for them to trade spaces. The Coyote engine fits physically in between the fenders of the Ford Bronco, but that’s always the easy part of any swap. Now begins the arduous task of making all the electrons go where they’re supposed to in order to have a functional vehicle, specifically, the GOAT system that has seven different drive modes for optimal offroad prowess.

If successful, the build will likely inspire others to build their own V8 Ford Bronco, even if the only added bonus is the rumble of those extra two cylinders. Whether or not Ford itself will be bringing a V8 Bronco Raptor R to market remains to be seen, but at least we’ll have a stop-gap in the meantime.