well you have to find a ford vehicle that has the engine and trans. the aerostar was an old van that my mom had i practically grew up in the thing. we had put a new engine in it trans had just been rebuilt. we were gonna run it till the wheels fell off of it. 3 months after it was put in a woman pulled out in front of her. caved in the whole front end of it. just luckily it stopped short of the w/p. the engine was about 2500 brand new complete long block. i bought the truck for 400. i basically had everything there to do the swap. it was mainly finding the time to do it. i had to take out both sides of the wiring harness sit down with a battery and the key switch and figure out what i needed to keep for the electronics to work. the best route would be to find an aerostar or other rwd vehicle. that runs but you can get for 200to500 and go from there you will need to keep the wires for the VSS to make the locking torque converter and overdrive work. or find the old enough model i think its an 88 the has a mechanical OD.my donor vehicle was a 92. keep the slide yoke from the trans so you can mate it up to the mazda rear.
ok so the ugly screwed up hood is now gone. YAY! anyone got pics of the battery relocated? wanting to dress it up under the hood a little. it shouldnt be no problem. i got plenty of 2/0 gauge cable.i just wana build a dry compartment to put the battery in but have like a trap door to access it.