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- Joined
- Dec 10, 2008
- Messages
- 627
- Reaction score
- 12
- Points
- 18
- Location
- Warrenville IL
- Vehicle Year
- 1998
- Make / Model
- Ford
- Engine Size
- 5.0
- Transmission
- Automatic
Ok, before I begin, a few things, this information applies ONLY to swapping a 1998 Explorer motor into a 1998 AUTOMATIC 2wd Std cab, Stepside Ranger.
The Victim:
1998 'autum orange metallic' Std cab, Stepside ranger. Truck has manual windows/locks, and was powered by the 2.5 dual spark and an autotradgic.
I originally purchased an ENTIRE donor truck, and ended up using nearly nothing off of it:
The donor truck was a 1997 AWD, I thought it was a good idea at the time...
Don't make the same mistakes I did, and learn from me!!!
Some Issues with the swap:
2WD rangers are coil sprung, You cannot use the factory engine mounts, or engine mount brackets as you can on the 4X4 rangers
The wiring harnesses both for the engine and for the body harnesses change in explorers for 1998 pretty drastically.
SO onto the swap! Step one, Pull out the 4 popper:
It is really pretty easy honestly to tear out the 4 popper, disconnect everything, drain all the fluids, pull the battery, etc, etc.
Once you are at that point, the way I removed the motor and trans was as such: I put a jack under the transmission with a piece of wood, and lifted it to support the trans. With the trans supported I removed the trans brace and mount, once that has been removed, I removed the nuts that hold the brackets to the motor mounts. With all that removed, there is a big-ass hook on the front of the 4 cylinders that was strong enough to tear the whole she-bang out with my engine hoist.
Now you have a nice empty engine bay that will need some nick-nack work done. You will need to remove the factory motor mounts, as the mounts to use for this project are the 4.0 SOHC engine mounts. They may share Anchor part numbers with the 4 cylinder engine mounts, but DO NOT BE FOOLED, ITS A LIE, SERIOUSLY. Order FORD OEM engine mounts, Nothing else will work with the swap. To replace the mounts on a 2wd ranger, you will have to remove the struts and springs to have access to the studs in the frame that hold the mounts in place.
Once you have your new motor mounts in, you will need a motor: I am using a 1998 Ford Explorer 5.0 V-8, with a 1996 lower and upper intake manifolds (I used these manifolds just because I had damaged my 1998 intakes, the 1998 ones would work fine)
On a side-note, I've been told only certain oil pans will clear the 2WD engine cradle in the ranger, Again, my 1998 motor DID clear, it is VERY tight.
Along with your motor, you will want to decide how you want to fuel the thing, I decided to stick with the RANGERS returnless system so I didn't have to add any more lines, so I purchased the fuel injectors and returnless rails off a 1999 Explorer (99-01 Explorers were returnless, 98 and older were return style)
So along with this, I used a 1998 4R70W Automatic transmission out of a 2WD Explorer (fairly rare, and is specific to the 5.0, the only other transmissions to my UNDERSTANDING that match the bellhousing on the 5.0 is the 3.8 4R70W Mustang transmission, the 4.6 4R70W will NOT work on the 5.0)
Mounted it all up, and got to the next big hurdle, engine mount brackets. The factory brackets will not work, you have to have new brackets custom made.
Per respect, I will not publish the blue-prints for these, if you want a set of these blue prints, please contact BrianB, or start a thread and someone will get in touch I'm sure.
Basically with the use of BrianB's engine brackets, and the 4.0 mounts, you can drop the sucker in!
It will not go easy, It will not go fast, it took quite alot of jerking and shaking to get the sucker in there.
The FACTORY 4 CYLINDER TRANSMISSION BRACE WILL BOLT RIGHT UP, I was AMAZED, It attaches right up to the 4R70W Transmission mount and holds it all nicely.
SO once you have the motor bolted in, You will need to figure out your wiring, driveshaft, ECU, and Shifting.
Wiring wise, The 4 cylinder BODY HARNESS, does not reach to the factory 96-01 5.0 engine harness plug. the 4.0 BODY HARNESS (Ranger) Does reach to the factory 5.0 engine harness plug above the motor (I switched over as I did not like the ghetto look of my extension I origionally had made)
ECU wise, if you are staying returnless, you will need a 99-01 Explorer ECU to control the motor (You can use 96-98 engine harness wiring without a problem however) Complications ensue with the Cam Positioning sensor and PATS. My truck does not have PATS, so I am kinda 'skipping over' that. However the 00 Explorer ECU I used DOES have PATS, so You will need some form of tuning solution to remove PATS from the ECU (We used Sniper Special Forces 'Bullet" on mine)
Also, if you are using a 00 or 01 Explorer ECU, you will need to switch and run wiring for a 2 wire CPS sensor, in a perfect world, you will want a 99 Explorer ECU to save this head-ache.
Continuing with wiring, if you are using a 96-97 motor, you will need to switch to a 98 or newer Battery/starter wiring harness for everything to still be 'plug and play' otherwise you will have to splice harnesses... Which sucks, and which I had done, and am not going back and un-doing *which again, is a pain*
As far as plumbing goes, the only 'special' thing you need is a power steering line off a V-8 explorer to attach to your ranger rack if you are have power steering.
So now we have everything wired, and more or less good to go except for a driveshaft, and a way to shift the truck. Amazingly the factory 4 cylinder shifter cable works on the 4R70W Just fine, and the driveshaft is the correct length. The only 2 things here that need to be changed is that the 4 cylinder slip-yolk does not line up to the 4R70W's Keyways. I used a Slip-yolk off a 97 Crown Vic with my stock 4 cylinder driveshaft, worked like a charm. And the last thing would be throttle cable, which will be needed off a 96-01 V-8 explorer.
I will update with more pics, and more nitty gritty later, but Figure I share a buncha info now since the deed is done, and has been driving for about 3 months now problem free. Feel free to Email me questions at dasfinc@hotmail.com, and if an admin could sticky this or put it in the Tech Library I will update it and make it more co-heriant later, I'm just REALLY tired right now, Lol.
________
how to make a vaporizer
The Victim:
1998 'autum orange metallic' Std cab, Stepside ranger. Truck has manual windows/locks, and was powered by the 2.5 dual spark and an autotradgic.
I originally purchased an ENTIRE donor truck, and ended up using nearly nothing off of it:
The donor truck was a 1997 AWD, I thought it was a good idea at the time...
Don't make the same mistakes I did, and learn from me!!!
Some Issues with the swap:
2WD rangers are coil sprung, You cannot use the factory engine mounts, or engine mount brackets as you can on the 4X4 rangers
The wiring harnesses both for the engine and for the body harnesses change in explorers for 1998 pretty drastically.
SO onto the swap! Step one, Pull out the 4 popper:
It is really pretty easy honestly to tear out the 4 popper, disconnect everything, drain all the fluids, pull the battery, etc, etc.
Once you are at that point, the way I removed the motor and trans was as such: I put a jack under the transmission with a piece of wood, and lifted it to support the trans. With the trans supported I removed the trans brace and mount, once that has been removed, I removed the nuts that hold the brackets to the motor mounts. With all that removed, there is a big-ass hook on the front of the 4 cylinders that was strong enough to tear the whole she-bang out with my engine hoist.
Now you have a nice empty engine bay that will need some nick-nack work done. You will need to remove the factory motor mounts, as the mounts to use for this project are the 4.0 SOHC engine mounts. They may share Anchor part numbers with the 4 cylinder engine mounts, but DO NOT BE FOOLED, ITS A LIE, SERIOUSLY. Order FORD OEM engine mounts, Nothing else will work with the swap. To replace the mounts on a 2wd ranger, you will have to remove the struts and springs to have access to the studs in the frame that hold the mounts in place.
Once you have your new motor mounts in, you will need a motor: I am using a 1998 Ford Explorer 5.0 V-8, with a 1996 lower and upper intake manifolds (I used these manifolds just because I had damaged my 1998 intakes, the 1998 ones would work fine)
On a side-note, I've been told only certain oil pans will clear the 2WD engine cradle in the ranger, Again, my 1998 motor DID clear, it is VERY tight.
Along with your motor, you will want to decide how you want to fuel the thing, I decided to stick with the RANGERS returnless system so I didn't have to add any more lines, so I purchased the fuel injectors and returnless rails off a 1999 Explorer (99-01 Explorers were returnless, 98 and older were return style)
So along with this, I used a 1998 4R70W Automatic transmission out of a 2WD Explorer (fairly rare, and is specific to the 5.0, the only other transmissions to my UNDERSTANDING that match the bellhousing on the 5.0 is the 3.8 4R70W Mustang transmission, the 4.6 4R70W will NOT work on the 5.0)
Mounted it all up, and got to the next big hurdle, engine mount brackets. The factory brackets will not work, you have to have new brackets custom made.
Per respect, I will not publish the blue-prints for these, if you want a set of these blue prints, please contact BrianB, or start a thread and someone will get in touch I'm sure.
Basically with the use of BrianB's engine brackets, and the 4.0 mounts, you can drop the sucker in!
It will not go easy, It will not go fast, it took quite alot of jerking and shaking to get the sucker in there.
The FACTORY 4 CYLINDER TRANSMISSION BRACE WILL BOLT RIGHT UP, I was AMAZED, It attaches right up to the 4R70W Transmission mount and holds it all nicely.
SO once you have the motor bolted in, You will need to figure out your wiring, driveshaft, ECU, and Shifting.
Wiring wise, The 4 cylinder BODY HARNESS, does not reach to the factory 96-01 5.0 engine harness plug. the 4.0 BODY HARNESS (Ranger) Does reach to the factory 5.0 engine harness plug above the motor (I switched over as I did not like the ghetto look of my extension I origionally had made)
ECU wise, if you are staying returnless, you will need a 99-01 Explorer ECU to control the motor (You can use 96-98 engine harness wiring without a problem however) Complications ensue with the Cam Positioning sensor and PATS. My truck does not have PATS, so I am kinda 'skipping over' that. However the 00 Explorer ECU I used DOES have PATS, so You will need some form of tuning solution to remove PATS from the ECU (We used Sniper Special Forces 'Bullet" on mine)
Also, if you are using a 00 or 01 Explorer ECU, you will need to switch and run wiring for a 2 wire CPS sensor, in a perfect world, you will want a 99 Explorer ECU to save this head-ache.
Continuing with wiring, if you are using a 96-97 motor, you will need to switch to a 98 or newer Battery/starter wiring harness for everything to still be 'plug and play' otherwise you will have to splice harnesses... Which sucks, and which I had done, and am not going back and un-doing *which again, is a pain*
As far as plumbing goes, the only 'special' thing you need is a power steering line off a V-8 explorer to attach to your ranger rack if you are have power steering.
So now we have everything wired, and more or less good to go except for a driveshaft, and a way to shift the truck. Amazingly the factory 4 cylinder shifter cable works on the 4R70W Just fine, and the driveshaft is the correct length. The only 2 things here that need to be changed is that the 4 cylinder slip-yolk does not line up to the 4R70W's Keyways. I used a Slip-yolk off a 97 Crown Vic with my stock 4 cylinder driveshaft, worked like a charm. And the last thing would be throttle cable, which will be needed off a 96-01 V-8 explorer.
I will update with more pics, and more nitty gritty later, but Figure I share a buncha info now since the deed is done, and has been driving for about 3 months now problem free. Feel free to Email me questions at dasfinc@hotmail.com, and if an admin could sticky this or put it in the Tech Library I will update it and make it more co-heriant later, I'm just REALLY tired right now, Lol.
________
how to make a vaporizer
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