Happy Thanksgiving 2023 Everyone =) i have a question

[Gary DuBois]

Do you think that ford should of put the 5.0 v8 302 into the 2002 and 2003 ford ranger fx4 off road packaged rangers ??

The explorers that are compact have the 5.0 v8 302 and the explorers and rangers are both compact.

 

[2011Supercab]

wouldn't have been worth it, but people would have bought it any way.

The 4.0 SOHC was 207 hp and 238 ft lbs torque, the 5.0 was only 215 hp with 288 ft lbs of torque

 

[RonD]

Do you think that ford should of put the 5.0 v8 302 into the 2002 and 2003 ford ranger fx4 off road packaged rangers ??

No, while it would be cool it was also squirrely in the Ranger pickup with no weight in the bed, so not exactly safe for all drivers
People who swap a V8 into a lighter vehicle known there will be traction and other issues, so much different that Factory provided powertrain

Fords SVT(special vehicle team) did build 2 V8 Ranger prototypes in 1996/7, Cobra V8 and 5-speed tremec
Pic here:

I think one died in a fire(not a crash) and the other was dismantled

In 2002 they did a "concept" SVT Ranger Lightning Bolt with 5.4l V8, but never meant for production

But there are certain legal obligations Car Makers have in general liability for idiots that buy vehicles that are inherently unsafe

 

[OneSlowVulcan]

No, as cool as it would have been, it wasn't the right move. The 4.0 SOHC was just starting to be added into rangers, and therefore they had no justification to randomly throw in a pushrod mustang or even explorer motor, especially when it only yielded 8 more horsepower and 50 lb-ft more of torque. Also, this was in the years of the mustang just being swapped to a modular motor, a 4.6, and the 5.0 was not even being used in explorers anymore, so there wasn't really reason to just bring back the 5.0. From a person who enjoys modifying ranger's perspective, I am sure it would have been awesome, as the 5.0 has tons of aftermarket support and can truly be turned into a badass motor without much cash into it. But, I assume the execs at ford are not considering whether or whether not their customers will be able to cam and boost the motor within their top trim off-roading truck. That rather, is a job for Ford's Special Vehicle Team (SVT), and as Ron mentioned, they did attempt to give it the lightning treatment: Ranger SVT Models, but it never really saw fruition, because it was sort of hobbled together, and included many "fixes" to make it drivable (as to be expected when you throw a supercharged v8 into a mini-truck), which meant that it wouldn't really be feasible to produce in mass.

TLDR: No, there was no reason to, but it would have been awesome!

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Plenty of reason to, like 20' worth of timing chains reason to.

But they didn't know that yet.

IMO the SOHC never should have happened, they should have quit throwing bandaids on that platform and moved onto something else.

No, while it would be cool it was also squirrely in the Ranger pickup with no weight in the bed, so not exactly safe for all drivers
People who swap a V8 into a lighter vehicle known there will be traction and other issues, so much different that Factory provided powertrain

Fords SVT(special vehicle team) did build 2 V8 Ranger prototypes in 1996/7, Cobra V8 and 5-speed tremec
Pic here: View attachment 102214


I think one died in a fire(not a crash) and the other was dismantled

In 2002 they did a "concept" SVT Ranger Lightning Bolt with 5.4l V8, but never meant for production

But there are certain legal obligations Car Makers have in general liability for idiots that buy vehicles that are inherently unsafe

I kinda think one of the concepts just reappeared, maybe at Carlisle or somewhere like that. Red one with the Explorer nose. Someone somwhere (either here or FB) posted pictures of it at a show.

Meanwhile Dodge was stuffing 4.7/5.2/5.9's in Dakota's as fast as they could, while GM was slapping superchargers on their Syclones...

 

[OneSlowVulcan]

Plenty of reason to, like 20' worth of timing chains reason to.

Ha! True. But as you said they neither knew that nor would have had the idea to replace the troublesome platform with a V8 of the past, that wasn’t in use at the time

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Ha! True. But as you said they neither knew that nor would have had the idea to replace the troublesome platform with a V8 of the past, that wasn’t in use at the time

The 5.0 was still in production when the SOHC 4.0 came out in 1997.

They had to kind of have an idea as they were adding a jackshaft and all the extra crap to make it work they were kind of going thru a lot of work to polish a turd.

A couple years later the 3.5 was making about the same torque with an extra 60hp without all the funny business.

 

[OneSlowVulcan]

The 5.0 was still in production when the SOHC 4.0 came out in 1997.

Yes, yes it was. However....

Do you think that ford should of put the 5.0 v8 302 into the 2002 and 2003 ford ranger fx4 off road packaged rangers ??

It stopped going into the explorers in '01 I believe, and therefore was obsolete during this time period, and was replaced by the modular 4.6, drawing me back to my point that Ford would not decide to simply bring a motor back out of its production run to drop into a mini-truck.

They had to kind of have an idea as they were adding a jackshaft and all the extra crap to make it work they were kind of going thru a lot of work to polish a turd.

Yeah! You would think so! However, due to the placement of that specific jackshaft like exactly where a pushrod's cam would usually go, it really makes me wonder if the SOHC was just a half-assed attempt at bringing the pushrod ranger motors up to date with the time with as minimal changing as possible in order to get a little more power and tech into the next gen. I assume this led to them noticing the timing chain issues enough to issue a TSB as well as a new cassette that could be changed without pulling the motor, but not enough to give up on the powertrain altogether and go back to the pushrod technology of the 80s and 90s.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Yes, yes it was. However....

It stopped going into the explorers in '01 I believe, and therefore was obsolete during this time period, and was replaced by the modular 4.6, drawing me back to my point that Ford would not decide to simply bring a motor back out of its production run to drop into a mini-truck.


Yeah! You would think so! However, due to the placement of that specific jackshaft like exactly where a pushrod's cam would usually go, it really makes me wonder if the SOHC was just a half-assed attempt at bringing the pushrod ranger motors up to date with the time with as minimal changing as possible in order to get a little more power and tech into the next gen. I assume this led to them noticing the timing chain issues enough to issue a TSB as well as a new cassette that could be changed without pulling the motor, but not enough to give up on the powertrain altogether and go back to the pushrod technology of the 80s and 90s.

It was a half assed attempt for sure.

But the thing was there was no next gen, they ran that pig until the end in 2011. The biggest baddest engine in a Ranger was 60hp behind a boring Taurus.

Other brands have dome quite well with pushrods, Ford actually just released a new pushrod V8 a couple years ago that has been a big hit.

 

[OneSlowVulcan]

My apologies, I meant next gen of ranger, as in the 98+ (third gen) which afaik had a complete redo of both exterior and interior (as well as the obvious SOHC option), which would make this "new" engine tech seem fitting, if it wasn't so poorly executed.

Other brands have dome quite well with pushrods, Ford actually just released a new pushrod V8 a couple years ago that has been a big hit.

Yes! You are referencing the 7.3, right? Great motor. I just meant the Ford 80s/90s pushrod tech like the 3.0L/4.0L OHVs. Pushrod motors are not bad in any sense, in fact I dare to say one of the greatest V8 engine families around, the Chevy LS, is a pushrod, and has been thrown in all sorts of vehicles, is very easy to get some power out of, handles boost, and has seen some crazy power numbers in all out drag cars.

 

[rusty ol ranger]

I think they shoulda kept the 2.9.

Either way...a factory 5.0 ranger woulda been sweet...and honestly probably woulda stole some buyers from V8 dakotas.

 

[RobbieD]

I think they shoulda kept the 2.9.

Case closed.