Finally a Ranger owner

[blitzer909]

Hi Everyone, I have just recently joined the ranger clan with a 2006 Ford Ranger Sport, it's got 200,000K on it with a v6 3L vulcan engine and going strong.

I've joined the community thread as i'm looking to tinker with this car and was hoping the community at large would be a great help.

Some of the things i'm looking to do (in no particular order)

- Swap the existing 3L vulcan engine to something more MPG friendly like a 2.3L Ecoboost although I am open to suggestions from the community, I'd be interested in something that is very straight forward to complete.
- Convert from Automatic to Manual
- Convert from 2WD to 4WD

if anyone else has completed any of these on this generation of Rangers I'd love to hear what your experience was and what you would do differently. I will end up making this my daily driver when these projects are complete.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Josh B]

Hey Blitzer, welcome to TRS
Good luck with it all man

 

[bobbywalter]

Easiest is buy a manual trans 4x4 3.0.


If you want best fuel economy. Swap in a vw diesel.

 

[blitzer909]

Thanks for all that info,

I'd love to improve the fuel economy my whole thing with this truck is I actually want to tinker and make the changes vs just getting a new one. in the past i've always gone the easy way and bought the car to fit my needs,

My biggest concern since i'm doing the research after reading all the forms I never know if i'm missing some crucial bit of information as I don't see a lot of forms discuss the conversions for 06 3L trucks,

so my first question would be would it make more sense to swap the engine/trans first or would it make better sense to swap the suspension components to make it 4x4.

and depending on which one, I'd like to find as many of the components in junkyards as these cars are so common and they share components with so many other cars.

as of right now if I'd be doing the engine swap to say a 4.0 as I understand it I'd need

• 4.0 Engine
• engine wiring Harness
• Matching Transmission (i'd like to make it manual at this point)
• ECU as the current ECU would freak out not seeing the automatic transmission
• clutch pedal
• 4x4 Bezel
• 4x4 switch on the console (Unless I make that manual)

if i'm missing anything Please let me know and I'd be curious to know which car years would mate perfectly to a 2006 Ranger it would be even nicer if anyone has part numbers for these things so I can compare if buying new vs finding in a junkyard is work my while.

the other question is can I do this in stages or does it all need to be done in one shot, I mean that relative to making it a 4x4 truck plus engine swap, I'd like to do this work in chunks as I do have access to a hoist and buddies that are mechanics but I don't want to abuse their time and keep my car on a hoist or in their shop for an extended period of time. If I could do as much in segments and come back to do the next portion another day that would be idea.

 

[blitzer909]

Easiest is buy a manual trans 4x4 3.0.


If you want best fuel economy. Swap in a vw diesel.

Curious on the Diesel swap how much effort was that did a quick google search not a lot of details as to how people have done it.

 

[Uncle Gump]

TDI swap parts...

Ford

Welcome to TDConversions! We have everything to suit your needs.

tdconversions.com

Honestly... I think you bought the wrong truck. Just get the one you bought to a good place and drive it while you shop for a better starting point for your dream truck.

 

[blitzer909]

TDI swap parts...

Ford

Welcome to TDConversions! We have everything to suit your needs.

tdconversions.com

Honestly... I think you bought the wrong truck. Just get the one you bought to a good place and drive it while you shop for a better starting point for your dream truck.

This is pretty cool, something to consider.

 

[blitzer909]

The Truck I have is clean no rust and well maintained I'm confident it will go for a while, i'm okay with enduring some pain to get this truck where I want it. Has anyone converted this specific truck from a 3L to a 4L before and if so how did they go about it?

 

[Josh B]

I think you have to ditch most everything from the wiring harness, motor, transmission and drive shaft. plus maybe some parts of the frame. I might not should be typing this, I hope I am totally wrong

 

[blitzer909]

I think you have to ditch most everything from the wiring harness, motor, transmission and drive shaft. plus maybe some parts of the frame. I might not should be typing this, I hope I am totally wrong

i'm okay doing that but I'd want to be sure, on things like the frame, i'm okay with ditching the drive train completely if I have to i've read that I could keep the rear axle but if someone has done this I'd love to get confirmation

 

[Josh B]

Someone will come along soon enough and explain every detail, I am fairly sure. And you are correct, others have done the same thing totally changing everything without regret

 

[blitzer909]

Someone will come along soon enough and explain every detail, I am fairly sure. And you are correct, others have done the same thing totally changing everything without regret

Thanks for the vote of confidence, all the rangers I found that were 4x4 were a disaster of a shell with rust in my area and abused. I'd much rather spend the money on a clean body and get parts I like for the drive train and engine rather than put money into body work/paint and still fix mechanical issues I love the body style of these older rangers not as many gimics in the car as newer cars.

 

[Lefty]

Hi Everyone, I have just recently joined the ranger clan with a 2006 Ford Ranger Sport, it's got 200,000K on it with a v6 3L vulcan engine and going strong.

I've joined the community thread as i'm looking to tinker with this car and was hoping the community at large would be a great help.

Some of the things i'm looking to do (in no particular order)

- Swap the existing 3L vulcan engine to something more MPG friendly like a 2.3L Ecoboost although I am open to suggestions from the community, I'd be interested in something that is very straight forward to complete.
- Convert from Automatic to Manual
- Convert from 2WD to 4WD

if anyone else has completed any of these on this generation of Rangers I'd love to hear what your experience was and what you would do differently. I will end up making this my daily driver when these projects are complete.

Thanks in advance!

welcome..nice truck

 

[Blmpkn]

Welcome!


There really isn't a single swap that's 'very straight forward' from a mechanical standpoint unfortunately.. Compounding the difficulty could/would be local regulations.


Swapping a 4.0 into that truck would be an incredible amount of work AND monetary investment just to gain 50hp. Not worth it.

4x4 and 4x2 frames are also different IIRC.. so fabrication would be required to fit the factory 4x4 bits.. a solid axle swap has the chance of being easier to do in your case.. but still.. not cheap, not easy, fabrication skills & tools required.

Uncle Gumps suggestion of driving this one until you find another one might not be the most exciting.. or the one you wanted to hear.. but it is certainly the most realistic.

I came to ford's from subarus... and its the same story with them..

"I want to wrx swap my impreza, help with parts list?"

"Sell impreza, buy wrx"

 

[racsan]

For the biggest bang for the buck-roll a 4.10 geared rear axle under the back with a good limited slip in it. The 3.0 will like the deeper gearing and the limited slip will be better than a open diff in most low-traction situations. Other than that, youre better off saving up & keeping your eyes open for your ideal truck. mpgs? drive a 3/4 ton for a month with a 351, just about any ranger is a major upgrade in the mpg area.