1991 Ranger 2WD 302 Swap Newbie

[sjmills1]

All,

I have started my first Ranger v8 swap with my best friend who is an accomplished mechanic. This has been a great adventure so far - I am learning a lot.

Here are the details of the build:
- 1991 Ford Ranger 2wd 5 speed manual
- 1997 Ford Explorer 5.0 donor engine
- Mod5-R2 5 spd manual tranny from a F150
- 8.8 4:10 LS Rear end
- This will be a carbureted 5.0 swap - old school approach

Although this is a straightforward, very simple build compared to most, my research on this forum and others tells me challenges still exist such as:

- Header choice (or lack of choices!)
- Motor mount choice
- Relocation of oil filter
- Radiator choice

What other challenges have I not yet consider in my list above?

You support is most appreciated!!

 

[19Walt93]

You'll need a distributor with a steel gear to live with the 97 roller cam. I bought a Pertonix billet distributor which I've replaced with Duraspark because of the sluggish centrifugal advance- it took 8 seconds to start advancing with the RPMs held at 2000. I didn't put a 351 in my Ranger because I wanted to accelerate 8 seconds after I stepped on it. I used some 66 full size Ford 289 exhaust manifolds I bought at Carlisle, I think the commonly reproduced Mustang 289 hipo manifolds would work too- the left side non hipo Mustang manifold is too close to the firewall. I used an oil filter bypass adapter that screws on like the filter did and would get one with a center retaining bolt if I had it to do over. My oil filter is behind the bumper shielded by a section cut out of a coffee tub. I used a Griffin universal radiator and mounted it inside my hollowed out core support, you should have more room if you're using Explorer front drive brackets and pulleys. My truck had previously run a 302 and I used the mounts it came with, I'd recommend getting someone else's opinion because mine were a pain to get aligned- they look like early Bronco mounts on adapters. 4.0 mounts with adapters or Fox body convertible mounts would be better, I think.

 

[sjmills1]

Thanks for the quick reply and your insights. I really appreciate any/all comments on my build.

Your truck is awesome!!!!

 

[sjmills1]

BTW - one other thing I intend to do is to paint the engine bay with Raptor bed liner vs traditional paint. Here is a picture of the engine bay of my Supercharger D-150 with Raptor bed liner.

 

[Dirtman]

That engine looks like it is goes vroom.

 

[Angie]

I haven't done this type of swap, however, 1 thing that popped into my head with your queston of what else... Fuel pump fuel delivery might be problematic? going from pressured system to carb? (just tossing that out there)

 

[Dirtman]

Easiest way is just to use a mechanical pump if the engine still has a spot for it and then remove the in tank pump and keep the pickup/float intact. You can also leave the EFI pump alone and run a special regulator to drop the pressure from EFI levels to carb levels.

 

[19Walt93]

I haven't done this type of swap, however, 1 thing that popped into my head with your queston of what else... Fuel pump fuel delivery might be problematic? going from pressured system to carb? (just tossing that out there)

I used an Airtex electric pump and mounted it on the frame near the tank, there's no room for a mechanical pump..

 

[corerftech]

When the ranger featured two fuel pumps, an inline H/P and an in tank L/P lift pump, it allowed a carburetor to be used by removing the H/P pump from circuit. The lift pump is specd at 4-6psi, Airtex I,e,.(min/max manufacturer spec, with high volume) which should be ideal for a carburetor ala 1987/88 early efi cars. You can adapt a low pressure lift pump to the H/P in tank pump assembly on later cars. A couple of hose clamps, solder, and shrink wrap at worst. Plus no cooling or noise issues.
The in tank pumps are tinkertoys and legos for assembly.

 

[superj]

on bmws that i put a carb in place of hte fuel injection, i just used the stock return line with a holley manual carb pressure regulator. the return line let all the excess fuel go back to the tank and since it wasn't dead heading against the regulator, the fuel pump never had problems.

when i first did it, i didn't use the return line, just the holley regulator. it ended up burning out the fuel pump. thats why i went back to using a return line in the system. no more pump noise or anything with the return line hooked up, too

 

[Maui-sprint]

Superj,
So you just Teed the supply line before the regulator and cut in the stock return line to the tee? Can you post a pic?

 

[Danger_Ranger.308]

Why carb?

While it may be easier to get a carb swap running with only a few wires and a fuel pump modification, I personally find it more difficult and expensive to get the little things working such as gauges, brakes (if you like abs) etc. Carbs are old school and not many shops have techs that know how to properly tune them anymore. A pcm makes all the adjustments a fat man with a screwdriver does and it does those adjustments everyday and you only pay them once.

There's a reason they dont make automobiles with carburetors anymore, they suck lol dont get me wrong I know some dudes that can tune in some serious HP with a timing light and flathead screwdriver. If you like cold starts, problems with altitude and inclines then carb it up. Fuel injected is the shit tho and a 1990 model pickups efi has more technology then the NASA lunar missions. Use that shit and take the wire harness and pcm from the exploder. It may be 200 something wires but that's 195 things you dont have to do with the screwdriver all the time. Just my .02