Ranger Project Idea

[4BangerRanger99]

Good parts aren't cheap, but they're worth the cost for the reliability. Ebay turbos??? I know that this project isnt gunna be cheap, but its a hellova lot cheaper than a new vehicle. Plus its alot cooler. With the engine and tranny from the project truck sold i can make a bit of money to help pay off some of the cost for this project. The truck i was looking for has a 300 I6 and a five speed manuel. Listing doesnt say what tranny it is, but im pretty sure its an M5R2(Mazda trans). I know that those are great motors, and there is parts to give em bigger power than the 145hp.(i think thats the rating, i have to check again.) But the mpg isnt that great, plus the sound of an Olds 350 Rocket under that hood would be soooo much sweeter.

 

[Angie]

OK, here is a great explanation about horsepower ratings.... http://www.bluelight.org/vb/threads/580105-Whats-the-difference-between-the-old-HP-ratings-vs-the-new-net-ratings


Now, this project won't be cheap nor easy, and why should it be? If you want to do it right, bank 10G's and build something... if you are looking for a piece of junk, toss in a sh1tty built motor and twist the frame to hell and have your bragging rights.... Or better yet, buy one already built and save the headaches.

Sorry, but sometimes the truth needs to be told.... or get a s10 with a 350 in it pre-built to save the heartaches (plus money). I know you are dreaming here and looking for encouragement, but a unsafely built truck could be your coffin.

 

[stmitch]

Do you already have this Olds engine sitting around or something? You're talking about spending $2k just for cylinder heads? Plus other costs. You're probably going to end up with $5k into this swap really fast.

If you want something that's not the traditional 5.0 swap, put that $2k towards an LS swap and have way more power and better efficiency in a smaller, lighter package. Parts will be much easier to find. I see iron block 5.3L on my local craigslist for $500 or less pretty regularly. You can get entire drive trains for the $2k that you're talking about spending on cylinder heads fro the Olds. Heck, buy a donor truck for that money, take everything off that you need, and then sell what's left to make some money back.

 

[4BangerRanger99]

stmitch, I dont have the engine yet. But im getting it for $100, not saying im putting all that money into it yet. Just a rebuild and accessories for the truck(water pump,alternator,power steering....)Which i would be taking off and reusing from the 300 I6.(except the water pump.) The new heads and other goodies would be later. Get something put on it, wait till i get some more money, get something else, and just chip away at it. This is just a plan right now, Im getting the truck, but dont have that yet either. An LS would be a good swap, but its not what im looking for. I dont want a "new"(post 90's) engine. All the electronics crap. Im good thanks. Distributer, coil, and starter are the only electronics i wanna have to worry about. Those LS engines are fuel injected correct? If thats so, thats more electronics to have to worry about. Nice 4bbl is all i need. Im just going with this because i can get the engine dirt cheap, and i wont need to do a whole lot to get it running. Once i get it running and driving i can start worrying about power

 

[4BangerRanger99]

The big thing i wanted to know is, if it will fit without major modification. I can do major modification, but i'm wanting to keep that to a minimum. I know the Ranger would've needed major modification to fit the engine in. But the 150 should have enough room in the engine bay to fit it. Without moving the firewall, or "persuading" it. Not wanting a bolt in swap, but i don't wanna be reinventing the wheel so this engine will fit. So will this engine fit in the 150 bay without making the truck fit around the engine? I know that anything is possible it just takes money, but im looking to spend as little as possible on this build (isnt that the case on most builds?)

 

[Shran]

but i don't wanna be reinventing the wheel so this engine will fit..........but im looking to spend as little as possible on this build

Different does not necessarily mean better and it definitely means it's going to cost more. Putting GM parts in a Ford (especially a full size ford) means you need a GM trans, drivelines, shifter, radiator... plus all the little things like belts, hoses, engine mounts, trans crossmember,... is it 4wd? then you need a GM transfer case, and need to address the fact that said transfer case is probably going to be passenger side drop.

And then you're assuming that all those parts you've rounded up are in working order and don't need a rebuild.

Putting anything other than Ford parts in a full size truck makes zero sense, it's stupid to custom swap GM stuff in and end up with exactly what you started with. Build a 351w or a 460 for the full size truck, anything else IS reinventing the wheel.

Swapping anything into the Ranger platform is a different story because you will have to do major surgery on damn near everything anyway.

LS swaps are relatively easy, by the way, if you can figure out a carb, you can figure out an LS. The electronics are self contained... power, ground, ignition and fuel lines and it runs.

 

[stmitch]

There's a reason that you can get the engine dirt cheap. That reason is that it's an obscure engine that very few people want, because it's difficult to find parts and expensive when you do find them.

Just because it's cheap up front doesn't mean anything after that will be cheap.

If you value a unique engine swap over performance, ease of swap, and cost then by all means swap an Olds v8 into a fullsize Ford and get your kicks having a one of a kind truck. But, for the work and money that it will take to make that happen, you could probably have a much better performing SBC in a GM truck. They made millions of them. The aftermarket is huge. The parts are cheap. There's tons of advice and knowledge about how to do it, vs being a Guinea pig on your one-of-a-kind rig.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

is it 4wd? then you need a GM transfer case, and need to address the fact that said transfer case is probably going to be passenger side drop.

I think the later model GM's are DS drop? I remember that being thrown around once. Neither here nor there, around here you will probably find 5 GM D44's for every Ford D44 anyway.

Engine swaps on their own are not terribly cheap, I bet I have $2k in mine between trans, driveshafts, exhaust, cooling, intake/carb and all the other little bits. And that is on a fairly common engines swap with a lot of the trial and error done by others.

A Ranger engine bay should swallow a small block of any color fairly well. Like I think I said before length will get you in the most trouble followed by exhaust manifold/header choices. The less mainstream the engine the fewer exhaust choices are going to be out there.

That said my experience with the offbreed GM smallblocks is they are weird. Dad has a '57 Chevy Bel-Air. "gonna get to it someday" project that has sat for the 20 years he has had it. 283 is stuck from sitting and arguably it is a monumental looking task... where do you start? Well he has a mid 60's 350 Buick sitting around and since you always hear about interchangeable GM stuff is I thought we could poke that in and once it is running and driving we could feel more inclined to do other things to keep the ball rolling. Check into it, the thing has freaky exhaust manifolds, like they dump towards the front (I wonder if it was out of a FWD), nobody makes new/different ones and the only headers you can get are $700+ longtubes. Apparently people only put Buicks in Buicks so I couldn't find anywhere if regular small block manifolds would fit. The engine looks like a freak, the dizzy is on the front and actually goes into the aluminum timing cover (that otherwise looks a lot like a Ford timing cover )

Anyway... another idea for you. You like Oldsmobile... how about building an Oldsmobile truck? Get a Chevy truck the same vintage as your engine and build a "what could have been" truck and deck it out as an Olds. I know Ford Motor Company built a Mercury truck back in the 60's... something along those lines. That is kind of what I am doing with mine, building what IMO could have been the ultimate Ranger. Most parts are +/- 5 years of the build date of the truck, so to me it is a "what could have been".

For that matter I have seen S10's with Bravada front clips too..

Anyway if you do it be sure to make a build thread and keep us posted, oddball engine swaps are interesting to watch.

 

[4BangerRanger99]

The 350 Rocket v8 isnt an obscure engine, it was in many a few of the Olds vehicles but theres not a huge amount of aftermarket support, but there is support. The 350 sbc is a more well known engine yes, I dont know anything about the LS engines.(if you cant tell.) Im using the bellhousing from the Olds engine to go to a TKO600 which fits the factory Olds 4 speed bell and was used in both GM and Ford trucks. This isnt gunna be 4x4 so no transfer case. The tranny speedo cable input is ford so i can keep the gauges. Its an overdrive tranny that bolts up, and will fit in the 150 without major modification. All the parts i need to put it in the truck and drive it, amount to around $4500, Thats new pulleys(cuz its got none), new water pump, tranny, engine, truck, rebuild kit, carb,(cuz it doesnt have one), carb rebuild kit, headers, 2.75 ring and pinion set, clutch assembly(billet flywheel,clutch, throwout bearing, pressure plate) These are all brand new parts. Theyre not junk parts either. The tranny is brand new from summit. The rest is from forums and Ebay. Im not just throwing crap at the wall and hoping it sticks, ive planned this all out so everything fits and works like it should. With the exception of the tranny and engine, the rest of the factory drivetrain will be able to be used. 9" rear end i plan to use 2.75 diff gears. Being that ill be doing highway driving and practicaly no towing Im going for mpg, doesnt mean i wont, it just wont be anything heavy, like a 14ft jon boat, every once and a blue moon.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

If you have an overdrive transmission I wouldn't mess with those gears. They were kind of a pre overdrive bandaid fix.

Too high of gearing and you are going to be downshifting a lot on hills which will kill your mileage and makes the nutless low end even more pointless. Explorer 8.8's are really common in yards right now, a tad stronger than the strongest stock 9" and '95-01 have factory disk brakes. Common with limited slip too. I know you have a 9" but you could buy an 8.8 for less than a regear, mine was $100.

Stay pre '94 on the truck because the wiring for the dash gauges will be much simpler. 95-97 beams and knuckles are a fairly easy swap can give you twin piston bolt on front calipers.

Factory carbs started dying out in the mid 80's, the 2.0 did eek out an existence until '88. You can work around the high pressure fuel system to run a carb, it as been done many times.

Not familiar your trans, if it is like a T-5 it will probably have a cable clutch control instead of hydraulic like a Ranger, again it has been dealt with and info is out there.

If your truck starts out as a manual it will have a slightly bigger hole in the floor from the factory for a shifter (at least on first gens, not sure how long they did that)

Might check into a FITech fuel injection system if you are interested in that route, they don't cost a whole lot more than a new carb. Very nice looking system that still looks like a carb.

 

[4BangerRanger99]

85_Ranger4x4, Thanx for all the help. Im planning on keeping everything pre '94. I agree with you on the gears i think the gearing i planned was a little too much. The carb i was putting on was a factory one i found used on craigslist(Rochester Quadrajet), buy it cheap, and rebuild it. Though that is another option. The TKO600 is kinda like a T5, but much stronger(600ft-lb capacity) plus a larger overdrive depending on the year of the T5(.64 5th gear, as opposed to the T5s .72 overdrive.) The TKO600 is a five speed. I believe it came after the T5. The T56 would be lovely with the double overdrive, but i sincerely doubt it would fit without major work. That and cost. I think 3.50 would be a better diff ratio or would something else be better?

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I know guys with Foxbody Mustangs like where 3.55 gets them for an all around gear. But your truck will be heavier than a fox too (guessing similar sized tires though)

I have 3.73's and with my 31" MT's and I like them but I probably have more tire than your street truck will.

Depending on what you get for tires it would be between those two IMO. If you were going to race it more I would put it between the 3.73 and 4.10.

You are on your own with the floodrajet.

 

[Shran]

BOP (Buick, Olds, Pontiac) GM engines are widely used in the dirt track racing world. Don't know why, there must be something special about them vs a Chevy small block.

2.75 gears is gonna be awful! Especially when you have an overdrive 5th gear. I wouldn't want anything taller than 3.50's. It'll be a dog, seriously, I had an '80 F100 with a 3.00 gear and one of those funky "4 speed overdrive" manual transmissions, I could hit like 70mph in 3rd gear! 4th was useless and the truck was just a total pig!

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

BOP (Buick, Olds, Pontiac) GM engines are widely used in the dirt track racing world. Don't know why, there must be something special about them vs a Chevy small block.

2.75 gears is gonna be awful! Especially when you have an overdrive 5th gear. I wouldn't want anything taller than 3.50's. It'll be a dog, seriously, I had an '80 F100 with a 3.00 gear and one of those funky "4 speed overdrive" manual transmissions, I could hit like 70mph in 3rd gear! 4th was useless and the truck was just a total pig!

I keep picturing mom's Explorer with 3.27's. Get that thing in hills and it was like a transmission torture test. Constant two downshifts (tc unlock and grab third) on every decent hill. Somehow the A4LD never missed a beat...

 

[4BangerRanger99]

Putting anything other than Ford parts in a full size truck makes zero sense, it's stupid to custom swap GM stuff in and end up with exactly what you started with. Build a 351w or a 460 for the full size truck, anything else IS reinventing the wheel.

The Olds 350 im hoping to put in isnt the same size, a lil bigger than, but its practically the same displacement as a 351W Its a 350 engine. The 351W is jus one cubic inch bigger. Plus a 460 is a bit heavier and bigger than the 350 Olds. 460 weighs a lil over 700lbs, the 350 olds weighs like 520lbs. plus the 460 is 6" longer. Being as mine is a bit bigger than the 351W, the engine has more thickness so if i wanted too(not saying i do cuz i dont have the funds too) but i could bore out the engine. Not saying its not possible too, but i dont think the same amount you could bore out in the Olds block is the same you could bore out in a 351W. I could be wrong. Please feel free to correct me if i am. Second off, Im putting in a tranny that was used in both brands. the only thing that is GM thats going in the truck is the engine, clutch, bell housing and exhaust. Everything else is stock Ford, though i may change out the rear end if need be for a 8.8 as 85_Ranger4x4 suggested. And though it'd be significantly easier to do a 351W swap, It'd be just another 351W swap. Have you ever heard of an Olds swap for a f150? I dont think so, cuz ive looked and there is nothing for it. Im not meaning any disrespect, Im just trying to clear things up.