91 Ranger 5.0L Swap, and SAS

[MadDog]

So I am moving from my other thread that was in introduce yourself to here since it makes more sense.

The plan: 5.0L D44 HP front, Ford 9" rear, 5.13 gears.

Haven't been on a in a while, school kinda came first. Here is a recap of what has been done and a couple new things I have done.


This is what she looked like when I brought her home.


Did a dove tail on it since, why not.


The bed sitting back on the frame to show how much of the bob I did.


Got the body lift on and this is showing the difference in height it gained.


Got the frame cut down to size to match the bob.


Got it all lined up with the body lift on, and looking at it for the first time sitting properly. It was amazing how the body lines acutally lined up and how the holes to mount onto the frame all lined up.


Mocked up this 36" on some leaf we threw under there.

Not much progress has been made, drove her up to the farm so I could work in the shop and she blew up(kinda expected either had a bad valve or lifters), so I haven't been around to work on her.

I did just buy an 88 f150 for a motor, trany(m5OD-r2) and tcase, doner. Headed back up during spring break to pull the motors and do a reseal/upper rebuild on the motor. Transmission needs some work too I am just hoping it is the shift tower and not the internals of the actually trany. Will then also get the rear 4-link built so I can get her back on its own feet. Decided since she blew up and didn't need to drive it back home that I would take the time and just 4-link it instead of doing leafs and then 4 linking at a later time.

Now we are up to date.

 

[Shran]

Nice work on the bed, you'll like the clearance and less chance of crushing body panels in.

My suggestion for your transmission is to scrap the M5OD and find a small block ZF 5 speed. The Mazda transmissions are fine behind a 4 or 6 cylinder but pretty weak behind even a stock V8. Pretty well known issue. The ZFs are really stout. I have a 2wd one that has 330,000 miles on it and is still in great shape. A T19 would also be a good choice since you'd have the synchronized 1st gear but they're sort of hard to find these days since the good ones are usually only found in 85-86 F250's with the 460. T18 and NP435 are OK too and more common but the lack of synchronized 1st is a big bummer.

 

[MadDog]

Ideally I would find a ZF5 but around here they are very scarce around here. I figure that I would get wheeling with my M5OD until I can replace it with something stronger. Ya my buddy did all of the welding on the bed, I just cut it apart and now i have to do some finishing work on making it look better before i throw some paint on it.

 

[MadDog]

So just got everything I need to do the reseal/regasket of my engine, and everything to get the rear 4 link set up. Looks like next week during spring break is going to be a busy.

Also if time permits going to help my buddy with the rebuild of his 4.0L.

 

[MadDog]

OK so I got a weeks worth of work done over spring break and this is what I have done.


This was the '88 F150 that the drive train came out of.


Just a picture once I got the motor pulled.


This is just showing how dirty it was and that it had a couple of leaks.


The top end.


The bottom end.


One after shot.


Another after shot.

This rebuild of the motor started out as a reseal/gasket since the rear main was leaking, and then it turned into a strip down and cleaning and painting of the whole motor.

The colors were Ford Blue on the block, and heads, Ford Grey on the valve covers, intake, and accessories, and Black on the exhaust manifolds, and the accessories bracket. The motor is all done other than bolting on the accessories to the front since I ended up having to wait for Ford to get me a thread insert to bolt the brackets on.

I know that the throttle body is still dirty and ugly, but I had another one and it was all pretty and painted to match, but it was slightly different so now i am waiting to see if it will still work since I am taking off the smog pulley/pump and I am not sure where the tubes coming off of the throttle body actually go.

 

[MadDog]

So I know I haven't posted anything in a while, been busy with the end of the semester, sister leaving the country, finding work, and the list goes on. I did however get some work done, and even got to make a couple trips to junk yards looking for parts.

While at the yards I managed to find 3 sets of steering Dana 44 shafts ($20 ea), and the illusive ZF5 ($55). I am totally psyched to have found the tranny. So onto the pictures of progress


This is just a shot of getting the blow 4.0L out.


Another angle of pulling the motor.


It was getting late and I had some 37s laying around and i thought I would mock up what the front end would look like to make me more motivated.


Then my buddy came over and he wanted to see what the whole thing looked like with the bed on and no more work got done.


This is what she should look like once I get it all done. That should be ride height, the right size tires (not rims though).

It is kinda a bummer that she is in a shop 90 miles away and I just can't go work on her whenever I feel like it. But with summer here, and more work up by her, I bet by the end of summer, or maybe June, the motor will be in, the rear axle in and I should be able to be driving her around.

 

[dangerranger83]

I'm read wherever that you are going to have to clearance the hood for the f150 intake since they are so tall.

Sent from my rooted SPH-D710 using Tapatalk 2

 

[MadDog]

Ya I am expecting to run into problems getting it to fit. I was planning on hacking and modding the mounts from the F150 and cutting them down and bolting and welding the mounts to the frame and seeing if I could make it all work. Any tips/points would be appreciated though.

 

[Shran]

I remember from reading another thread about the F150 intake that it's not really as tall as it appears. Only like 1" taller than the car intake or something like that. I also remember reading that if you get the engine low enough, you don't need to do anything to the hood at all.

I have at least an inch between my hood and the car intake I used. I also used the Mustang motor mounts but my engine could be a lot lower if I'd done it differently. Just play around with it, you'll get it to fit just fine.

 

[MadDog]

Been way too busy for it to be summer. I am planning on getting a decent amount of work done this next week though.

As far as the motor goes I really hope I don't run into problems stuffing it in the frame, part of the reason I put a 3" body lift on it to help the motor fit and help for clearance in the tranny tunnel. I will hopefully get the rear end all assembled so all I have to do is the final math and set up the 4 link at a later date.

I also plan on helping a buddy get his 4.0L stuffed into his Bronco II and getting that running so we can go wheeling in that again.

Just so much to do and I some times feel I am not making progress.

 

[MadDog]

Well I can'y say I made progress in a week. I managed to snap a bolt off in the block right through the water pump, and the timing cover so I worked on that for a bit to get it out (still not out yet). But we did make a lot of progress on my buddy's 4.0L Bronco II swap.

Got this all wrapped up.

That is what she looks like sitting pretty in the frame.

We also got it all wired up and running. Roughs a little rough so it may get pulled back up to see what the problem is.

So that was my week of working on my motor.

 

[MadDog]

So I haven't updated this in a long time. Sorry about that things have just been crazy and it wasn't high on my priority list. I did get some things done after taking a couple steps forwards and then a couple back. Oh well it's life I guess.

This was our first attempt at seeing how the motor was going to fit in the bay.

Took a step back to look at it again after removing the front grill.

We got it down into the bay by putting the motor in facing the wrong way and then rotating it once the pulleys cleared the core support.

It was close but we ran into a problem with the passenger side header hitting the frame.

Took the header off and got it to sit down on her own weight to see how it looked.

We noticed that the throttle body was sticking up pretty high and wasn't going to clear the hood. So I said oh well I will make a custom cowl and it will fit and it will be functional.

Then we started looking at the radiator and how it was going to fit and it was going to be really close if at all.

So I went in and cut out most all of the core support and shoved it in there. Yes I am aware that the top is bent, but this one is the mockup for clearance.

So after debating it with a buddy, he said lets just cut it all out and we will make a new one. I said ok so the core support is now gone.

We took it a bit further and just decided that a new motor mount/crossmember was in need. So I cut out the old one as well.

I also decided that since my crossmember wasn't going to be as tall as the factory one I would be able to lower the motor a little bit, and that difference is about where it ended up.

Where she was going to be sitting hopefully by the end of the day.

Boxed the frame up on each side a little bit to make it beefier for where the cross member was going to go.

Got it all tacked in and setting on its own weight. Also looks like the throttle body will be close to fitting under the hood now without having to make a cowl.

The tranny was a lot easier to get mounted. This was the cross member that I made for it.

This was about all I had to cut out of the tunnel to make the shifter fit into the cab. I am thinking that I will have to modify the shifter itself to make it not hit the dash.

This is what it looked like all solid mounted in and centered in the vehicle.

I did get most of my 9" put together as well. I got the truss all welded on and the gears all built. Now I just need to get my rotors (which I left at the farm) and get my disk brake conversion completed.

Some things I don't have pictures of right now are the finished cross members and what they look like all installed in the truck and painted. Also where I had to modify the passenger side frame to make the header fit. Next time I make it up to my truck I will get pics of it.

It was a sad day when I was told grandma was going to have to sell our farm. It means I am losing my shop that I have been working on this in. It does mean however that I will get my axles temporary mounted so I can trailer it and bring it home. So soon it will be in my garage where I can work on it more often.

 

[Grunizzle]

I dig it, sub'ed

 

[MadDog]

Thanks man. Since my truck isn't currently sitting in my garage, I get to do research on how I will put parts in. The biggest thing I need to decide is how I link my front axle. I did recently pick up a welder so I was able to take the smaller things with me and get those things fabbed up.

 

[MadDog]

So I have done my disk brake conversion on my 9" I just need to burn it in and paint it up and she will be done. I will get some pics once it is all burned in.

Also I am contemplating what D44 to use up front. I currently have a HP '79 F250 that was a radius arm setup with disks. I have a friend that has a leaf sprung HP D44 with brakes that he said I could have. I am trying decide which housing would be better. My ultimate goal is to 4link or, 3link with a PHB. I am just not sure if there is that big of a difference between the axle housing of the 2. I do know that the way the radius arm brackets are welded onto the housing are different and mine aren't able to be cut down. So I am just lost a little on that.