98 Ranger V8 swap

[Rclcyl]

I recently acquired a 1998 ranger 4x4 extended cab Xl trim with a locked up 3.0. Truck is like new inside and out. Originally thinking of buying a good 3.0 and going that route. However I found a 97 V8 Explorer with 124k miles on it can buy fairly cheap. Runs great, currently on the road. I have read up on the swap. I have the shop and the tools to make it happen. A few things I need help with. I want to eliminate the cruise control. The ranger doesn't have it. Which oil fllter relocation kit to use? What to do about the speedometer? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Craig0320]

I recently acquired a 1998 ranger 4x4 extended cab Xl trim with a locked up 3.0. Truck is like new inside and out. Originally thinking of buying a good 3.0 and going that route. However I found a 97 V8 Explorer with 124k miles on it can buy fairly cheap. Runs great, currently on the road. I have read up on the swap. I have the shop and the tools to make it happen. A few things I need help with. I want to eliminate the cruise control. The ranger doesn't have it. Which oil fllter relocation kit to use? What to do about the speedometer? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Your suspension set up is the same as the exploer so your good there.

98 ranger is returnless fuel system and the regulator is on the pump in the tank which is controlled by the pcm. So you will need to swap in the fuel pump and pipe a return line back to the tank off the 5.0 rail.

I would guess just not installing the cables and cruise motor in under the hood would be sufficient enough. Someone chime in on this if I am wrong.

You will not need a oil filter relocation kit because the suspension is the same on both. The oil filter sticks out of the front bottom right of the engine. The ttb setups needed them.

Speedo is a different story. 97 explorer is on the transmission. 98 ranger and 98 up explorers use the abs sensor in the rear to convert the signal and send it to the pcm.

 

[RonD]

+1 on the above, but...............

You should be OK with the speedo as is.
Ford uses an 8,000PPM(pulse per mile) speedometer, thats what the gear driven setup on transmission or transfer case VSS(vehicle speed sensor) sent out, this was used starting in the late 1980's for cruise and the computer for automatic trans shifting.
In 1995 Rangers got electric speedometers so VSS also was used for that

1998-2000 used the rear ABS VSS which sent out about 20,000PPM, so in those years Ford sent that 20,000PPM signal to the GEM(body computer) and it changed it to 8,000PPM and sent it out to the speedometer, computer and cruise as needed
You will still use the GEM in 1998 Ranger so the dash wiring will stay the same, you will need to use that 8,000PPM signal for the 1997 computer
On the computer(PCM) pin 58 you will see a Gray/black stripe wire, thats where the 8,000PPM signal needs to go

1997 V8 and 1998 V6 PCMs will have the same Gray/black stripe wire on pin 58
In 1997 it came from VSS on trans
In 1998 it came from GEM. so find and cut this Gray/black stripe wire from pin 58 on the 1998 V6 PCM, then splice it to the Gray/black stripe wire on pin 58 of the 1997 PCM

1997 Explorer PCM also did not have PATS(passive anti-theft system) which is one less thing you have to deal with

 

[Rclcyl]

Thanks for the input. Probably gonna be a few weeks before I start on this. I just would like everything figured out before I get on it.

 

[Rclcyl]

It's fairly possible that the Explorer rearend will be in the Ranger at some point. Not sure the 7.5 in the truck will hold up with the 5.0.