Thanks You all, That's a big weight off my mind. Yes I am going to replace the water pump, the thermostat ,Both idler pulleys ( Rock Auto sent me the wrong one, I need Power steering No AC) and fanbelt and I was getting a funny rattling noise when the engine revved and the fan clutch felt like it had a little too much play ,so a new one of those. Also second fan belt in
25k so yes, I guess it doesn't pay to cheap out there.
Don't know about stuffin' a small block Chevy in a Ranger Though I would be free to admit it would be no tougher than a 351W, Did have a 1965 Corvair with a 300HP Camaro engine, in the back seat about 30 years ago, 140 mph with g78 15"s on the back (Ran out of rev's ,not power) and low 11's with slicks. Kind of seems kind of wrong to mix makes on engine swaps if there are suitable motors from the same manufacturer but Hey that's just me, Of course I did put a 1967 Pontiac 400 cu in GTO engine in a 1960 Willys Station wagon when we could no longer find certain replacement parts for the perfectly adequate Hurricane 6 (I had the just rebuilt engine left over after I picked up a better than new '69 Ram air III motor!) We did throw a scrounged up 2bbl manifold on it just for sanity's sake!
Old now used up all my extra lives,
After the last 15 years, and a Half a dozen or so, VW Diesel Rabbit Pickups Bought a Little old man's '91 2WD Ranger (Came from an estate sale) Stealth Grey (Well that's what I call it!),4 cyl, 5speed, PS,PB No AC, tall rear end, LWB reg Cab and the Ford AM FM Cassette and a CB radio, Neither of those functioning all that well. No real bad rust and it came with a years inspection and an iffy clutch (Which I nursed for 6 months) In the Spring I replaced a caliper and rotor (The other side was fine! and I'll get to it) New Radius Bushings and shocks all around (I had a pair of 1 5/8" bore shocks leftover from a 1971 Ford F350 project (It was gonna get 2 pair!)) They should last forever!
I remedied the too tall gearing by going from 225 70R 14's to 205 60R 14's (Not so good in the snow!) With 5 gear's instead of 4 why didn't Ford make
1st a Granny, like in my old F350? , I guess we'll never know