• Welcome Visitor! Please take a few seconds and Register for our forum. Even if you don't want to post, you can still 'Like' and react to posts.

Start of my slow 302 build


PAWGEdward

Member
Joined
Jan 9, 2015
Messages
33
Reaction score
0
Points
6
Location
Ohio
Vehicle Year
1990
Make / Model
Ford
Engine Size
2.9
Transmission
Automatic
For starters, I am going to redo my whole frame and suspension on my truck and I pulled the bed off and there is a lot of rust, but no holes in the frame, So I was wondering what you guys would say is the minimum safe frame thickness on a ranger is. With just scraping the loose rust off, a section of mine measured .112", I didn't have much time to find a thinner spot to check.

So I have done quite a bit of reading on this forum and I have found that a 96 explorer 302 is the best bet to go with, but I would like to convert my 90 2.9 with a4ld to a manual, and figure it would be easier to just get a vehicle and pull the engine, transmission, and wiring from it all at once.
So my question is, is there an ideal vehicle to look for when doing this, or would I be better off getting the engine, transmission, and wiring separate. I have seen a lot of posts asking about the best manual transmission for the swap but non of them (as far as I saw) have a vehicle to get both engine and transmission at once.

I have a 1990 ranger xlt 2wd that had a 2.9 with a4ld in it. Im looking for a EFI 302, and I plan to make this my daily driver.

I'm sorry ahead of time if I make an stupid posts in this thread, I'm still learning, which is why I'm taking this slow. :icon_thumby:
 


prymetime1

Member
Joined
Sep 19, 2015
Messages
510
Reaction score
1
Points
18
Hey dude, good luck with this build. I'll be following along! I am just about to get into a similar build and will be taking notes :)
 

PAWGEdward

Member
Joined
Jan 9, 2015
Messages
33
Reaction score
0
Points
6
Location
Ohio
Vehicle Year
1990
Make / Model
Ford
Engine Size
2.9
Transmission
Automatic
Bump.

Thanks prymetime. :icon_thumby:

Mainly interested in the frame thickness for now, I am cleaning the frame and replacing suspension first which will take awhile without being able to work on it during the week. Engine and trans can be figured out later.

Any help would help, if anyone knows a better place for me to find out about ranger frames that would help also.

Thanks
 

willy

New Member
U.S. Military - Veteran
V8 Engine Swap
Joined
Feb 9, 2011
Messages
277
Reaction score
2
Points
0
Location
cedar lake, in
Vehicle Year
2000
Make / Model
Ford
Engine Size
5.0 explorer
Transmission
Automatic
Its one of those things if you dont feel comfortable with the thickness plate it up and box it in but theres junk rolling down the road in alot worse shap from the sounds of it pictures help alot tho. engine wise if this is your first swap follow the kiss method there is alot of work that goes into a manual swap and a few good threads on here for reference but since you want to daily drive it id go auto put 150000 miles on my ranger with a stick it now has an auto after swap much more plesant in chicago traffic
 

prymetime1

Member
Joined
Sep 19, 2015
Messages
510
Reaction score
1
Points
18
Agree with willy, u can box alot of the frame and make it more sturdy but I've seen rat rods with hardly anything holding them together ripping down the road.
I think it becomes more of an issue with higher hp builds, they were never meant for big power numbers with some v8 swaps.
 

PAWGEdward

Member
Joined
Jan 9, 2015
Messages
33
Reaction score
0
Points
6
Location
Ohio
Vehicle Year
1990
Make / Model
Ford
Engine Size
2.9
Transmission
Automatic
Alright, I wanted some input because the frame looks thin to me, but I've seen that the rangers came with thin frame to begin with. So I will just watch how it looks as I clean it and decide what to do after the rust is off.

This is my first swap, I have pulled engines before but haven't swap one. I was hoping to do a manual swap because I like them much more than automatics. But when I get to it I guess I will have to make a decision , If their isn't a single vehicle to get both engine and manual trans from I might as well go find an explorer to get everything out of at once.

Thanks for the advise, everything helps.
 

Sponsored Ad


Sponsored Ad

Staff online

Today's birthdays

Member & Vendor Upgrades

For a small yearly donation, you can support this forum and receive a 'Supporting Member' banner, or become a 'Supporting Vendor' and promote your products here. Click the banner to find out how.

Truck of The Month


Kirby N.
March Truck of The Month

Recently Featured

Want to see your truck here? Share your photos and details in the forum.

Follow TRS On Instagram

TRS Events

25th Anniversary Sponsors

Check Out The TRS Store


Sponsored Ad


Sponsored Ad

Sponsored Ad


Amazon Deals

Top