SBC swap because...

[Steakneggs]

700R-4. Hi, I'm an automotive machinist and shadetree engine swapper, I'm 43, I don't dislike the Windsor V8s, but I do hate the AOD and the electronics in the 4R70W.
Sure, I could adapt the 700R-4 to a Windsor, but this build in on a salvage yard budget, and the Vortec 350 heads out-flow the GT40 and GT40P heads, and there's no need to fab an adapter plate to bolt a 700R-4 to a Vortec 350.
Furthermore, I already have a new intake manifold for putting my Q-Jet on a Vortec, and I have a new points distributor for a SBC.
I also have a new SBC 1-wire alternator with voltage regulator all EMP-proofed in a safe place.
The recipient is a '95 Ranger 2WD RCSB with 2.3 & 4R44E & 3.73:1 7.5" and worn 225/70R14s on rusting steelies.
My hope is to slightly raise the front end, then fit 31x10.5 tires. In back I want a 4.10:1 TractionLok 8.8"
And it'll get a thicker radiator.
If cost was no object I would do a 427W stroker with AFR heads. But I need this done before election 2020.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

There has been a few chev swapped builds documented on TRS.

 

[bobbywalter]

700 r 4 you say.....

 

[Steakneggs]

Went to Pick-N-Pull with $400 cash in hand, found 4 Vortec 350s, but then I saw a set of 6 new LT235/85R16Es on dually wheels for $350. Exactly what my work truck needs. By the time they added environmental fees it came to $407, but the money this saved me will cover the cost of the 350 and the cost of the 700R-4.

 

[Steakneggs]

 

[RangerFabWorks]

Did someone say SBC swap?

 

[Steakneggs]

I've found several SBC ranger builds, and it was a pic of welding 2 little steel plates to the frame, in an empty engine bay, that decided me. None of the builds showed a 2WD '93-'97, so I'm sort of pioneering.
At PNP yesterday, I found a pair of FEs, an EFI 460, a pair of EFI 5.8s, an '87 Tbird 5.0 with AOD, 3 Vortec 454s, a TBI 454, a dozen TBI 350s, and a 95 F150 with EFI 5.0 and the doubly-cursed AOD-E. Same crap ratios as the AOD, same crap electronic valvebody as the 4R70W. The exact opposite of what they should've done. My only beef with putting 4R70W ratios in the AOD is that it doesn't bring the GM style input and lockup of the 4R70W to the AOD.
You never-GM'ers have no concept of how excellent a 700R-4 can be when you get everything dialed in just right. It's intuitive. There's no better description. Put it in a ponycar with a 350 and a 3.08:1 rear and 235/60R15s for MPG in the upper 20s with a really good first gear pull, or go as far as 3.73:1 for real fun with still-barely-tolerable cruise RPM, (converter locked) on 275/50R15 drag radials. You Gould go 3.90:1 on 275/60s without it being too much gear in first.
I've owned 3 200-4Rs, all 3 failed on me.

 

[Steakneggs]

And a half dozen 5.3L LS engines.

 

[19Walt93]

Thank you for not calling the 8.8 a posi, Ford never made a posi but Eaton now sells one you can put in an 8.8. I drag raced for 20+ years and spent too many hours baking in the sun in the staging lanes while the guts of a sbc were cleaned off the track. If you're going to run the sbc hard make sure to use aftermarket rods and pistons. One of my former techs raced a chebby around in circles and was talking about using "pink" rods, when I asked he said the rods with pink on them had been checked for cracks and defects- meaning unmarked rods were a crap shoot but good enough for production. I've seen many fox Mustangs with over 100k on the original engine run 11's with a blower bolted on without ever breaking a rod, a few would start steaming from blown head gaskets after being thrashed. An engine swap isn't cheap enough to transplant a potential problem.

 

[bobbywalter]

I've found several SBC ranger builds, and it was a pic of welding 2 little steel plates to the frame, in an empty engine bay, that decided me. None of the builds showed a 2WD '93-'97, so I'm sort of pioneering.
At PNP yesterday, I found a pair of FEs, an EFI 460, a pair of EFI 5.8s, an '87 Tbird 5.0 with AOD, 3 Vortec 454s, a TBI 454, a dozen TBI 350s, and a 95 F150 with EFI 5.0 and the doubly-cursed AOD-E. Same crap ratios as the AOD, same crap electronic valvebody as the 4R70W. The exact opposite of what they should've done. My only beef with putting 4R70W ratios in the AOD is that it doesn't bring the GM style input and lockup of the 4R70W to the AOD.
You never-GM'ers have no concept of how excellent a 700R-4 can be when you get everything dialed in just right. It's intuitive. There's no better description. Put it in a ponycar with a 350 and a 3.08:1 rear and 235/60R15s for MPG in the upper 20s with a really good first gear pull, or go as far as 3.73:1 for real fun with still-barely-tolerable cruise RPM, (converter locked) on 275/50R15 drag radials. You Gould go 3.90:1 on 275/60s without it being too much gear in first.
I've owned 3 200-4Rs, all 3 failed on me.

pretty sure your not pioneering.


should be able to install a 350 in a tib chassis with no welding. a cut off wheel...a drill.... some bolts and some modified box tube. i have done a few. as a matter of fact...pretty sure my current engine uses the same mounts....but i have a totally different setup and purpose.


and i do like the 700r4's first gear and deep overdrive. it is definitely a decent trans when constructed properly. not hating on it...just cant use one.

i came pretty close to running one with the ford engine, but i knew running 300 hp, in a 4wd, doing 4wd stuff, that i would blow it to hell like an a4ld....

so i stayed with the aod. the money i would have spent on an adapter to use the 700 behind a ford, put into the aod.... makes it stronger then the 700 and twice the life. but 284 1st gear is as good as it got with the aod and the shift shuffle with standard vb is easy to get used to... in a race car.....i would run a turbo 400.

Thank you for not calling the 8.8 a posi, Ford never made a posi but Eaton now sells one you can put in an 8.8. I drag raced for 20+ years and spent too many hours baking in the sun in the staging lanes while the guts of a sbc were cleaned off the track. If you're going to run the sbc hard make sure to use aftermarket rods and pistons. One of my former techs raced a chebby around in circles and was talking about using "pink" rods, when I asked he said the rods with pink on them had been checked for cracks and defects- meaning unmarked rods were a crap shoot but good enough for production. I've seen many fox Mustangs with over 100k on the original engine run 11's with a blower bolted on without ever breaking a rod, a few would start steaming from blown head gaskets after being thrashed. An engine swap isn't cheap enough to transplant a potential problem.

yeah...i guess its all in where you run.....i have seen more split in half scattered 302's then scattered anything else combined. guys just wishing it merely lifted a head....

hell i split the cobra engine in half that was in my ranger with over 350 k road miles.....got my moneys worth out of that poor thing....

i sure as hell would have any windsor over a 350.

 

[Steakneggs]

So after the dually, I had a dental emergency cost me most of $600, then I scored a set of 4 new General Grabber AT2 27x8.50R14LT tires for $67 at Pick-N-Pull, and I got 2 of those on this Ranger yesterday. I hope to get the other 2 done this afternoon. Pics after. I really wanted to find the chrome 15x7s off a Splash, no luck.
Please forgive me if I repeat myself, but I have a set of stainless shorty headers for a '70s Camaro, I have NO clue if they'll fit, but I've done 2 SBC S-10s, and the shorties for that swap route 2 tubes out around the steering shaft. I think I'd prefer the driver-side exhaust manifold from an '87-'92 Camaro 5.7L
When I ordered Mike Knell's JTR mounts for my Astro, he sent me 2 sets, so I'll probably try those.
I have a long iron water pump, the intake, carb, and distributor, an alternator, and most of the little detail items, I just gotta get the Vortec 350 and a 200-4R. Using a 700R-4 would just burn the new tires off. I have a 2WD 4L80E, with torque converter, but I'd have to order TransGo's "Stick Shift Kit" for it. So the 200-4R is better-geared and less cost.

 

[35Remmy]

Sounds like you need to buy a chebby.

 

[Steakneggs]

Sounds like you need to buy a chebby.

Why, are you a brand-loyalist? That makes as little sense to me as racism.
I can't sell this Ranger, but I can give it a better engine and transmission. The only reason the LS isn't best is because the water pump needed for the timinh cover that accepts a 351W distributor is no longer available, and even when it was, it was hideously overpriced.
So of the salvage yard engines that can be installed easily, the Vortec 350 has the best flowing heads and the best automatic transmissions.

 

[35Remmy]

If being brand loyal is racist (working on Model A Fords since I could walk) is racist, then I am indeed a racist.