3.8L SC motor and 5spd trans in 4 bangor 90'ish ranger.. questions

[dougday84]

Hey guys... been a long while. I will getthis thread updated with pics. For now I'm updating via my cell phone. Anyrate. Swap is done, we are trying to figure out wheel/tire combos as I convinced my dad to lower the truck during the swap cause I knew that this thing would be fas and that cornering and basically handling would become an issue.. and I was right.. so a quick rundown. We ended up shipping the motor to coymiller (huge tunning and motor parts source for sc's) and bought a stg 1 kit. Basically its an off the shelf setup for 350 hp and 425 trq. But as that was getting done I came across a sweet deal on another 03 cobra supercharger, (550 BUCKS) so I grabbed that up. we installed an 04 cobra 6spd tranny, and my dad went ahead and swapped in an 8.8 rear end from an auto 5.0. We had to fab up new mounts for the tranny,and modified v6 mustang mounts for the motor. I'd say the hardest part was installing the six speed tranny and playing with that. We ended up a good week on playing with fitment and getting everything to feel like an oem fitment. (I'll include lots of info in the write up). Anyways, 255 lph fuel pump for those wondering. We swapped over a good amount of the sc wiring harness along with the computer. Currently looking at ways to update the gauge cluster with either sc cluster or a cobra cluster. As far as gofast, its really really fast! We ebayed a godspeed front mount ic and installed custom piping, we have a lot of boltons that were spare or left overs from my sc's. Has intake, tb, headers, full exhaust with h pipe and borla mufflers, an m112 with 10% blower pulley and just a few other boltons, as well as a coy miller motor. We haven't dyno'd the truck but I'm guessing its gotta be real real close to 400hp and 475 trq.. the gittup is insane when you have traction. We had some 255's on the back and the truck spun completely through third, and he was forced to let off after that. I'll just say that it goes faster then any ranger should. I caught an 01 camaro ss the other day in the truck, he saw the front mount, and still revved on me. I was doing 65, I grabbed third and gave him a salute. He jumped a car length on me and held that till I shifted to 4rth, then I ran him over, baaaad.. I shut down at 125 and I had 6 or 7 cars on him and was still pullin. (In mexico ofcourse) anyrate, as soon as I get back to my home computer I'll do a full write up and post pics of everything. I have 200 plus pics. Should have the writeup done within a few days. Later gents!

[Psychopete]

Originally Posted by dougday84

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[sohc86-06]

man cant wait to see the pics an vids of this truck

[feellnfroggy]

I ran 19x11 with 275/45/19 on the rear of my 3.8 mustang and you cant break it loose except in the rain, lol. 18x8's up front and it handled nice. BUt as far as numbers go anything above a 17 inch rim is just for show. MM&FF did a wheel test couple years ago with 15-20 inch rims, lateral G's stopped improving and stayed the same at 17 inch rims and above. But a set of 10 in wide rims in the back woul def hook wiht a set of 9 inch up front, Nitto 555 series will hold the road in any condition. if you do the 555r extremes then dont drive it in the rain, falken has a couple good sets too.

[AllanD]

About the Supercoupe manual transmission.

Most people here are wrong and a few are half right.

The actual designation of the trans in the Thunderbord Supercoupe,
which IS a "Mazda", is "M5R2"

It is not an M5OD-R2, but it is very similar to one.

the big difference is that unlike the truck versions of the transmission
the shifter is mounted in the tailshaft like the T-5 shifter and the trans has a simple top cover in place of the shifter cover use on the truck transmissions.

The one thing I can absolutely assure you of is that the bellhousing on the supercoupe 3.8 engine (mine was a 1989 cougar XR7) is absolutely NOT the same as a 5.0 engine.

AD

[Psychopete]

What was different ? I didn't run into any problems at all bolting a super coupe 3.8L AOD to a 5.0L.

[dangerranger83]

I have always been told that a 3.8 doesnt have the same bolt pattern as the 5.0. I would love to see pictures of this.

[snoranger]

I've got an '89 Supercoupe w/ 64Kmiles and 5 miles on the engine(rebuilt about 5 years ago.) that could use new syncros. Anyone care to make a bet with me?

Bring $2000. We'll pull the trans and bolt it up to a 5.0l I have on an engine stand. If it doesnt bolt right up, you leave with the car and the cash. If it does, I keep the car and the cash.

[Psychopete]

Don't know, the AOD from the 3.8L super coupe I used worked fine using 3.8L torque converter and 5.0L flex plate. 3.8L bellhousing bolts are metric, but they bolt into the engine. I can't say anything about the manual, haven't done it. Even the ford bell housing wiki lists RWD 3.8L under windsor w/ 5.0, with exception that the front wheel drive 3.8L engines use the vulcan pattern. If the wiki is wrong, then fix the mistake.

[snoranger]

Originally Posted by Psychopete

Don't know, the AOD from the 3.8L super coupe I used worked fine using 3.8L torque converter and 5.0L flex plate. 3.8L bellhousing bolts are metric, but they bolt into the engine. I can't say anything about the manual, haven't done it. Even the ford bell housing wiki lists RWD 3.8L under windsor w/ 5.0, with exception that the front wheel drive 3.8L engines use the vulcan pattern. If the wiki is wrong, then fix the mistake.

There is no mistake. The 3.8l SC is a Windsor pattern. I'll bet my Supercoupe on it.

[Psychopete]

Just saying that people immediately blow that off as a bad source, if the information is wrong, then they are more than welcome to correct it.