Easiest/cheapest swap?

[guardian13]

My tired old 2.9 has seen better days. It was burning a little oil so I replaced the gasket set. Now its still leaking and is getting some nasty blow by. Instead of fixing this engine, I'm considering swapping to something a little bigger.

My question is, what engine swap will be easiest? Is there a swap that will wine up with the FM145 trans? How hard would it be to swap a SBC and T10?

 

[RonD]

2.9l engine and 4.0l OHV engine use the same block casting so trans and motor mounts match up.

Good read here on that swap: http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/4L_Conversion_faqs.shtml

 

[guardian13]

Thanks Ron

 

[guardian13]

Is the casting for a 2005 mustang 4.0 the same as the explorer? Just a thought. I think my friend is getting rid of his 4.0

 

[swynx]

the 4.0 sohc ( mustang 4.0) has the same bolt holes as a ohv 4.0, theres i believe 2 more bolts but itll bolt up fine without them. the later year sohc 4.0s in mustangs, rangers, and explorers is the same. youll probably have a problem with pats, but you can get the sohc 4.0 to run off of a ohv 4.0 computer without problems. lots of info on this out there.

 

[guardian13]

Sounds good. If he gets rid of his SOHC 4.0, I may try to run that with a 5speed.

 

[WhiteLX]

the 4.0 sohc ( mustang 4.0) has the same bolt holes as a ohv 4.0, theres i believe 2 more bolts but itll bolt up fine without them. the later year sohc 4.0s in mustangs, rangers, and explorers is the same. youll probably have a problem with pats, but you can get the sohc 4.0 to run off of a ohv 4.0 computer without problems. lots of info on this out there.

That's interesting. I never knew you could run the 4.0 SOHC with the OHV ECU. I wonder how well it would run as the timing and fueling are probably different. Probably something that could be corrected with tuning. Using the OHV wiring and ECM would sure make it easier to swap into an early Ranger with a 2.9L.