Recent content by TonkaMan

Lol. I'm 6' 1", so in my 97 the bench seat is set back almost as far as it goes in my regular cab. I've got space for a small fire extinguisher and a sunshade for the windshield, and that's about it behind the seat. When I have the cap on I have a plywood platform with removable covers I made...

There's no need to drill into the bed to mount a cross bed box. I have an aluminum diamond plate box in my 1997 when I don't have the fiberglass cap on it. I run the cap most of the time, but I have the toolbox for when I need to carry large things in the summer months. I hear you on finding...

I'm looking at an untuned 2.3L crate motor designed for a Mustang, with the Ford Performance standalone control pack. Packaging on the V6s looks to be too difficult, like you said. It's been done before, but not anything I'd like to attempt. It took a professional shop hundreds of hours to do...

Wiring is getting to be the hardest parts of engine swaps. At least if you want everything to look and function like it wasn't hacked together. Getting things to physically fit mechanically is the easy part. I'm personally trying to design a plug and play Ecoboost swap into my 1997. I've...

Pretty sure it's actually 2004. The 2004-2006 gauge clusters on Ebay all have warnings about them needing programmed to the vehicle first or it'll royally screw things up if you just plug it in. 1995 to 2003 all have the engine wiring on a separate harness and control system from the rest of...

I never use OD in my 1997 when towing either. If I do, the slightest hill means I start losing speed. Never have a problem in 4th gear though. Truck was originally rated at 1500 lbs. while the autos were rated at 2500 lbs. Never had a problem towing a 2500 lb. trailer. Just gotta be willing...

Your best bet is 1993 to 1997. That's the generation of your truck. Starting in 1998 Ford stretched the cab a few inches, so I'm not sure if they modified the seats for the 3rd generation Rangers. If you care enough about the carpet, LMC Truck sells replacements for a decent price. That's...

Also depends on how anal you are about things. I'm in the middle of planning an Ecoboost swap in a couple years for my 1997. Of course being an engineer, I'm currently reverse engineering the factory gauge cluster to build a go-between electronics module that'll get the factory gauges to talk...

The 2.3L Ecoboost is a drive-by-wire engine. I'm planning my own potential Ecoboost swap for my 1997 in a few years. I'm working on the analog gauge cluster issue right. Designing a converter box that will plug into a Ford Performance wiring harness' OBDII port and make everything in the...

As far as I understand it, the 2.3L Ecoboost in the Mustang uses the same bellhousing bolt pattern in the 2.3L Duratec Rangers. The Rangers are all 5 speed manuals, and the Mustang has a 6 speed. More gears usually means better gas mileage. How hard would it be to bolt one of the Mustang...

The third cylinder in my 97' ranger is misfiring and I can't figure out why. I took it in to a shop and they spent 5 hours working on it. They said a fuel injector was clogged and the engine computer was malfunctioning and not sending a signal to the third cylinder to fire. They replaced the...