2000 Ranger 4.0 to 2.3 EcoBoost Swap

[bobbywalter]

yup.....i would have d 30 swapped it...after seeing those issues. your patience exceeds mine.

 

[Boost Bucket]

After a little bit of fooling around I figured out a way to take basic measurements from the stock axle to transfer to spring and shock perches on the new axle. I set the old axle in place, measured the angle of the front face, then placed the new axle in the same spot with the same angle and welded them on. I need to rebuild the brakes on both sides so I haven't tested the fit yet but I'm sure it's good enough.

Ugly but functional

Looking good so far but I'll be happier when it's sitting on wheels.

 

[ekrampitzjr]

What kind of paint or coating did you use on the rear diff and axle? Looks like a good one.

 

[Boost Bucket]

What kind of paint or coating did you use on the rear diff and axle? Looks like a good one.

Anything that isn't new I've been blasting with Rustoleum Rust Reformer. It's not the cheapest, but I can get a lot of run time out of a can and I've always used their Hammered black with much success on everything else. Since it's not glossy like the frame I think it will age well as it starts to rust again.

 

[Fretful]

What was you planning to use to to control the engine coming from a 2020 ranger? Do you think that the mustang control pack would work for it?

 

[Boost Bucket]

What was you planning to use to to control the engine coming from a 2020 ranger? Do you think that the mustang control pack would work for it?

Since my drivetrain is a pullout with the computer still attached, my hope is I can at least get it to start with what I have. I have a video of it running before it was pulled. With a lot of reading time put in on this, I'm not sure that I want to run a Mustang pack on it straight up due to slight differences in the engines. Wouldn't they rate the same engine for the same power figures if it could handle it? What about the performance tunes being more conservative for the Rangers over the Mustangs? All the people thinking about those ratings are smarter than me and have a bigger research budget. Granted, if you keep your foot out of it it would probably be fine as a quick way to get down the road, assuming the sensors and connectors are the same. Last I checked I think one of those harnesses was $1300 which cost more than the whole truck. I'd like to avoid it.

Once it runs, I'd like to reduce the complexity as much as possible to try to give some guidance for anyone to use later on. A standalone system would be preferable. Admittedly I do have a secret weapon I'm keeping in my back pocket though. There is a specialty Mustang performance shop within driving distance that I can consult in a pinch. I'm very thankful they took my call before I started this build and I was able to chat with a professional who didn't brush me aside. This number may not stand the test of time but I asked the age old question of "if I provided every part you needed in hand, about how much would it cost to get this engine in, and get it to work?" I believe he said about $8000 ballpark on labor. Only time will tell if I end up upside down on the cost doing it myself but I'm in it more for the science anyway.

Bottom line - if the weather stays nice I should be able to get to the bottom of this within a few weeks!

 

[Boost Bucket]

Finished up the brakes and pushed in the leaf spring bushings. Spring perches look good enough but the shock mounts are a little questionable. We'll have to see if they slot in correctly or not. Unfortunately something I didn't see coming was that the axle tubes on the Explorer rear end are are larger diameter than stock Ranger. The lift kit U bolts didn't fit. At this point I have serious regrets for not solid axle swapping the front and just welding up my own lift. I know this part wasn't their fault but I feel like with the RC kit I can't stop throwing good money after bad. Waiting on parts again...

On the bright side I went ahead and set the front down for the first time on its own. The bad news is that I now realize just how much of a lift I got myself into. It currently measures 36 inches to the top of the frame. I'm almost certainly going to have to downsize tires because this thing is a monster and it just doesn't need to be.

 

[Boost Bucket]

I had been putting off pressing in new leaf spring bushings considering the time I had getting the old ones out but the new ones took seconds. I used some threaded rod instead of fooling with the ball joint press this time and it paid off handsomely.

Since the U bolts in the kit didn't work for me and I couldn't really afford to wait any longer, I went ahead and made my own to get the platform mobile. The new ones have since come in but I want to weigh the old vs new axle to compare and I don't have time for that yet.

Speaking of weight - the wet 2.3 with transmission and transfer case (plus 1-2lb of chain weight) runs just under 750lb. I'm not sure what the listed spec is but that's what I measured. I'll get the weight of the old drivetrain later on but I haven't had time to do that either. I don't know what the weights are supposed to be compared to each other, but I'm looking to save weight anywhere I can to improve my tow numbers.

Getting the axle underneath meant I could move the platform and put the engine in head-on which was necessary now that I don't have side clearance with the lift and tires on. Getting the engine in was nice to clear up floor space and also start planning engine management.

With the rear tires on you can see how massive this thing is. I'm not sure it will even fit in the garage once the cab is on. Also if you saw me running the massive 1.5" spacers earlier it's just because I got a stupid deal for these wheels and tires and they are 5x5 pattern and more positive offset than I needed so I just corrected the offset and pattern in one move. I'm not sure if I'll keep the combo or not but at least this gets me rolling for the time being.

After a lot of thought, I'm thinking if I get creative with piping I may be able to fit the AC compressor back on with a little bracket work. I'm going to have to test suspension travel because clearances are tight, but with the factory air pipe out of the way, it barely makes space for the compressor. As I mentioned before - this build will have AC one way or another by the time it's done.

Not pictured - I visited an exhaust shop today with my cat to try to get some ideas for how to make it squeeze between the transmission and the frame and got some ideas. I'm leaning towards an aftermarket cat. The haters would say to delete it but I figure they're the same ones who would've told me to v8 swap in the beginning. The bend off the turbo puts the cat right at the frame rail in a terrible spot. We'll get to that later. I feel like it would be better to fit the cab before messing with exhaust fab work that may not fit.

Lastly for now - after a lot of reading I am pretty decided that I'm going to use a 'Mustang' ECM.

Specifically this one: https://www.ebay.com/itm/144725779462?hash=item21b2542406:g:WqIAAOSwN09jKXhn

My thought is that making the computer happy enough to idle with this, and with specific compatibility for the 10 speed, most of my headaches will be avoided. I'm going to expect to take this to a tuner after it's all done to make sure it is operating within safe parameters. Overall I figure this may eliminate the need to purchase a tune in the future to get me over 300hp if this doesn't blow it up right off the bat. The Ebay seller was very kind when I messaged them and sent me the wiring instructions so I can compare my setup and see if it will work. Since this kit includes wiring for slapshifting, I'm also considering whether I should wire up some kind of shifter and turn the 10 speed into a 5 speed by blipping the paddle signal twice when I want to shift. IMO the 10 speed may be the weakest part of this entire build.

All that said, I've been comparing part numbers for all major sensors to get a preview of what issues I'm about to have and many sensors between the 2020 Mustang and Ranger are different in both part number and connector design (thanks RockAuto for good reference pictures!). I think my biggest immediate need will be the air charge temperature because I didn't get an intercooler or the sensor with the platform. That and an adapter for the alternator and I should at least be able to plug in that harness and attempt a start.

Other than the boring stuff like brake/fuel lines and the steering rack, this project is probably going to go on hold for a little bit while I raise funds for the ECM. I've got 3 other projects to work on as well that I need to get finished and sold and we'll be back to this in a bit. Hard goal for me on this is to go down the road on its own by fall. I promise this isn't another dead build thread

 

[bobbywalter]

Are you near mars?

 

[bobbywalter]

I just traded off a Mazda L m5od I converted due to some changes in my schedule. Looks like keeping a 4.0 is winning the cost effective route for the bronco. The ranger is remaining a v8 diesel so the z can have funding ...

Sigh.

Did you look at the doubler option Kirby N is using? Not that I think it would be needed with this power train. That 1st gear is really low in the 10 speed...they work really well in the new rangers. But using a 5 speed manual with the older t case doubled could make for some fun.

 

[Boost Bucket]

Are you near mars?

Not close to mars, but I've driven farther for less. I have stumbled across their setups in the past and they have a pretty neat operation. As far as the doubler goes IMO I already have 5 gears too many with the 10 speed. Not that it can't go offroad, but this build may never see a trail or dunes so as long as I can navigate safely in midwest winter I'm not going to dwell on an offroading setup. Tools and pulling will be the primary use.

 

[Boost Bucket]

I decided in the name of progress to sell my Qwik Lift to fund the ECM. The quality seems to be extremely high and I'm glad I decided to skip past all the junk with immobilizer and whatnot on my factory ECM. My working theory is that if this seems stable, paying for the Mustang ECM might bypass the need for tuning the Ranger computer to make the gains from stock 270hp to stock 310hp just by switching the platform. For science we're going to find out if this is indeed the case or if I blow something up! Determining the cross compatibility I think is worth the risk.

I'm going to replace the alternator with a Mustang one since the mount looks identical from the pictures. The electrical plug is different, and the Mustang appears to be rated higher anyway. There are also a couple of sensors that I am going to switch to Mustang just to try to keep things as predictable as I can. I don't know which ones yet.

Here is a picture of the harness in all its glory:

The harness is currently gathering dust while I work on fuel and brake system routing. Since I have exactly zero experience with fuel system tubing before starting this, I'll post up a diagram after I get it setup to show what I'm up to. I had no idea you could spend so much on fittings! I'd love to take a shortcut here and reuse my old lines but they are really nasty. Hopefully the diagram will show exactly what you're paying for as far as fittings and how it works.

It honestly took me hours of reviewing diagrams and comparing specs of the Mustang and two Ranger platforms to try to mold everything into one unit. The fuel pump currently installed is brand new and the specs match close enough that I should be able to use what I already have (from the 2000) as far as pressure goes. I will be installing a regulator to keep hard tabs on line pressure to eliminate that from the list of potential issues. After talking with the ECM builder, I am going to attempt to keep the whole build emissions (mostly) correct since I have all the pieces anyway. This adds some complexity but if I was going for easy this thread wouldn't be here. More on that later.

Lastly, I've done some scouting for how the wiring will need to be done and due wholly to my inexperience, I don't see me wiring this system effectively with the cab off. I wanted to do a test start with the cab off for easy access, but that doesn't seem to be in my cards. After the brake and fuel lines are done the cab is going back on and we'll see how good my placement measurements were. It will be some welcome visual progress, but will likely slow everything else down.

 

[bobbywalter]

i would run it ....floor start style.

 

[Boost Bucket]

I finished up a few other projects and made room to finally put the cab on. I maintain that it was the right move to allow me to continue plumbing fuel and brake lines before I move on to wiring. I have to thank my fiancé for this installment because without extra hands this step either would not have been possible or would've taken an entire extra day. Over the course of 9 hours we moved everything around and set the cab down. I must say it was much tougher setting it down than it was picking it up due to alignment of the body mounts and now the extra lift raising the whole unit higher.

Side note - the body had been sitting on these 4x4s for exactly one year at this point outdoors. While they were still stable, they don't have much strength left in them where I'd trust them for much longer with this amount of weight. Also if I ever have to do this again it will definitely be done with a lift because this was painful.

It took forever and apparently I didn't measure transfer case clearance properly so the body is lightly sitting on top of it. Having the steering wheel back made it much easier to move around.

The lift is not as crazy as I thought it would be and luckily it fit back in the garage. Had I not been as careful with the laser measurements in placing the engine mounts this would have been a very bad day if it didn't fit.

Here it is in the bay. While the placement of some items is not ideal, we did end up with a fair amount of space in general. Since I placed the engine mounts as far back to the firewall as I was comfortable, we have plenty of room in the front to put the radiator in and hopefully a fan setup.

While this is some very welcome visual progress, we used the last mildly cool day of summer to get this done. Now I'm going to battle the heat to make any more progress. The beautiful blue Edge in the background is also going to compete for time, allegedly needing serious engine work.

 

[Boost Bucket]

It's been slow going with the heat and other projects but I've made a new crossmember an inch or so lower so that the cab doesn't rest on the top of the transfer case. I ended up getting a new one from the parts yard to cut down instead of modifying the one I had in case I didn't like how it ended up. In my case without a body lift I just chopped it even with the bottom flange. I notched the flange a little on the back due to two lobes on the transfer case making contact. I'll add strength later on if I need to but I really just needed something that would get the placement right and see what happens.

One fuel line is done, two more to go. Most of the front end has now been disassembled to prepare for replacing the radiator support and start plumbing the intercooler, radiator, and AC lines. The whole bottom of the support ended up crusting all the way off, transmission cooler and all, with a little motivation. This has been a big help with easy engine bay access. I seem to have made a big mistake not replacing the evaporator core for the AC while the cab was off and it may be impossible now with the engine in place. I had to saw off the AC line that goes into the box because the connection was corroded together completely. Luckily this isn't the end of the world though because I already plan on taking the cab off one last time for rust repair once I know if this thing will run or burn itself to the ground. The floor pan is rusted through so much that this thing might as well be measured in footpower instead of horsepower.

In light of the extreme heat recently and not having AC in my daily driver, I have devoted time to getting the AC compressor fitted. I ended up making a pretty crazy bracket that seems to work but if I had placed the engine anywhere else it wouldn't have fit. I wouldn't say my skills have improved any, but at least I'm not afraid to use the welder anymore. Time will tell if the suspension interferes at all but my hope is that the triangular shape puts it out of the way enough to clear. Worst case scenario I'd be willing to install longer bump stops to keep AC if that's what it takes.

I am hoping the hottest days are about to settle down and progress will speed back up. While I anticipate getting decent gas mileage with this when it's done, I've just acquired a 1994 to turn into either a 1.9 or 2.0 TDI commuter once this gets closer to done. I'll probably do a thread about that when the time comes but that one has been done lots of times so I'm not sure it would be of much help to anyone.