Hey,
Looking for some advice. My 4.0 will last for a while longer but I'm interested in starting to collect parts for a swap now. I have a 2002 Fx4 w/auto. I have heard that, given that the Explorer came with a v8 in 2002, you can swap in a v8 with OEM parts by finding a wrecked Explorer. I'm thinking that if I need to re-build an engine it might as well be a v8, for more power at lower rpm. What is the newest V8 that will fit like this? What do I need from the donor? What low rpm performance things can I do while I'm in the process? I'd like to run regular gas, keep my gauges and cruise control, and be VERY reliable. I know this is a newer truck but I'd really like to hear from someone with actual experience with the newer engines.
Thanks for any help anyone can offer.
The Explorer came with a V8 clear back in '96. '96-'00 or '01 is the 5.0, '01 or '02 (can't tell you for absolute sure) is the 4.6L. The end of the 5.0 also brought the end of the "Ranger-Explorer" identical frame in most ways, and stuffing the 4.6 into a Ranger is quite an adventure. It can be done, but it's substantially more work than fitting the 5.0 because of how much wider the block/crank angle is. Given how new your truck is, I would assume you would want to keep the body/frame mods to a minimum.
Emissions shouldn't be a problem with any of the '96+ V8's as these are all OBD-II setups. The Explorer's used 4x cat's total.... I can't imagine you could really fail, however, being that we DON'T have to deal with it up here in Idaho, I'm not particularly familiar with getting rigs to pass. The 5.0 is definitely a much easier swap than the 4.6. We really looked into fitting the 4.6 when we built my pickup, as I had a shot on the motor from a wrecked '04 Cobra - one of the supercharged 4.6's. Would have been killer, but the body and frame mods to fit it the right way are pretty intense.
Either route, you will want the motor (obviously, haha), tranny if you want the auto, ECM, and probably as much of the wiring harness as you can get just to be on the safe side. When we built my pickup, we had the entire Explorer brought into our shop, and we robbed just about everything out from under the hood. Washer/radiator bottles, fuse box, everything, just to be safe. We ended up using most of it. Many people choose to go with aftermarket motor mounts... with a small amount of adapting and adjusting we fit the stock Explorer motor mounts in just fine. Up to you there.
One thing I can think of that you will need to address is the returnless/return fuel setup. Being '02 your Ranger is almost gauranteed to be returnless, so be sure you get a year of 5.0 that is also returnless to save yourself the headache of pulling the manifold apart to change it. '98/'99 or newer. '98+ I believe.
As for low-rpm performance, the exhaust-intake-chip mods are always the best place to start. By nature of displacement, the V8 will give you more low-end than your 4.0, but expecting low-rpm torque like a big block 7.5L or whatever just isn't gonna happen - both the 5.0 and 4.6 are pretty revvy little motors. I would get some time on the pickup before you get very experimental with cams and whatnot, as these would require the truck to be re-tuned, and (personally) I liked to have a solid baseline before changing stuff like that. Using regular gas isn't a problem, I ran 85-87 octane in my pickup for a long time with zero problems. Your gauges should be fine as long as everything is wired correctly. You shouldn't need tach internals from a V8 pickup like I did - the Explorer ECM should take care of this in your pickup, unlike mine. Cruise control shouldn't be a problem either - again, just needs to be wired properly. The most difficult part of this swap is definitely the wiring.
Not many people out there with an actual OBD-II V8 Ranger like this. I've only seen a couple other ones than mine on the 'net with an Exp 5.0, and only one with the 4.6. Rocket5979 has a similar project in the works, and would probably have good insight here. Helped me a ton with my turbo setup a few months ago - good guy.
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