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My 2000 2WD Ranger, and a '99 expo 5.0 swap in progress


Gallo

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Hello all, i've been around for quite a while but never actually posted anything until now.

Bought a 2000 XLT 2WD a couple years ago, and have been (slowly) working on it (budget)
It has a 4.0 OHV engine, manual trans. 4 door, power everything.
It had lowered front coils can't remember the brand, and lowered leaf springs
This is how it looked when i got it:

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First thing i did was to get rid of those wheels :p
Bought 3.5" lift spindles and replaced the leaf springs

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Months later i hit something (not gonna give any details lol) i removed the (trashed) front bumper and a friend of mine fab'd something nice for me

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Got a different set of wheels and tires for cheap 265/75-16's
Wrong offset so i bought 2" wheel spacers all around.
Got rid of my old 355 diff, and got a 8.8 410 LSD from a explorer (sorry no pic)

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I've been driving this truck everywhere and i love it, engine still pulls strong

Needless to say, i read everywhere (before i got the explorer diff) that explorer and ranger differentials were the same, the one from the explorer is i think 1" wider, which was cool to me...

Everything was FINE until about a month ago i was scrolling through marketplace on facebook, and someone was selling a 99 5.0 explorer for $450 dlls.

I used to think about a 5.0 swap in a near future but i said nah, i just let it go, when i saw the explorer post i just couldn't let it go, made a 2hr drive and bought the damn thing, it has 140,000 miles on the clock, after driving the explorer for 2 hours back home i fell in love with the 5.0, never actually driven one before, i had to have it :p

I always thought that if i did the swap that i was gonna leave it manual trans but it's just too much trouble, so since the explorer trans is working fine i decided to swap everything and make the ranger 5.0 auto...

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I got it home now what? i'm getting old for this and i almost thought about not doing it but wth let's do this!

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Got the engine out and put it on an engine stand to started working on it...

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First thing i did was to get rid of that camshaft, got one from a HO 5.0 mustang (in a crower box) no, i won't get another cam, this is mexico and fuel and everything else is EXPENSIVE, so the mustang cam will do for now.

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I took almost all the engine apart, cleaning parts, cleaning parts and more cleaning parts

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I've been cleaning and painting for 2 days and i still have like 200 more parts to clean laying around

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Got new timing chain, gaskets, thermostat etc, etc, etc...
It's not the blue that i was expecting but screw it, i already bought the paint...
It's getting there...

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I liked gray valve covers better :p

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Time to remove all the wiring from the expo...

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Wiring out, i'll deal with that later :p

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Since the expo was AWD and the ranger isn't, i had to take the tranny to a shop and they changed everything that was needed to be changed to make it 2WD, i thought about getting another tranny but didn't want to spend more money and besides, this one i know it's working fine without any issues, tech said it was CLEAN inside, so another thing that i won't have to worry about (i hope)

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This is where i am right now, it's 115 deg outside so i don't know when i'm gonna see more progress, i'll keep the post updated, thanks for watching.
cheers.
Art.
 
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Bird76Mojo

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Nice progress, but you may come to regret that decision on using the Expo automatic transmission. I've seen sooooo many Expo autos that slipped or lost gears, etc. I know I wouldn't use one. Much like the old A4LD..
 

Gallo

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Nice progress, but you may come to regret that decision on using the Expo automatic transmission. I've seen sooooo many Expo autos that slipped or lost gears, etc. I know I wouldn't use one. Much like the old A4LD..
thanks.
Man, i know expo transmissions sux, i really wanted to keep it manual but...
1- well the guy at the shop took it all apart and checked everything, looked me in the eye (ha) and told me everything was ok with the trans, discs (or whatever they're called) and everything else...
2 -i never liked (to drive) cars with auto transmissions but i kinda enjoyed driving the explorer back home (maybe i'm getting old for manual lol) also, i'd need to get a manual transmission, a different starter, a new clutch kit, pay a tuner to change the pcm from auto to manual and dunno what else...

Well i know you're right, but since it's damn hot outside i guess i have plenty of time to think about what i'm gonna do before i pull the engine out of the ranger...
thx man

Art.
 

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Nice progress, but you may come to regret that decision on using the Expo automatic transmission. I've seen sooooo many Expo autos that slipped or lost gears, etc. I know I wouldn't use one. Much like the old A4LD..
The explorer V6 transmissions are problematic. The V8 gets the 4R70W out of the F150 and it's a whole different situation.
 

88workcar

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What has to be done to the tranny, between the awd and 2wd? Thanks
 

Gallo

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The explorer V6 transmissions are problematic. The V8 gets the 4R70W out of the F150 and it's a whole different situation.
that's good to know :)

What has to be done to the tranny, between the awd and 2wd? Thanks
Just 2 things i believe, he changed the output shaft, they're different, and i don't know the name of that housing thing, it's circled in red (sorry english is my second language), it's where the AWD transfer attaches to, IIRC he got that from a mustang and that's it...

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Gallo

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Ok so despite the weather, engine is out...

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I've always known that this isn't a direct swap but i bumped into some problems already (too soon)
From what i've read, the wiring harness is (almost) all plug and play, i took the rangers wiring harness out and noticed that i only have 2 main plugs instead of 3 like on the expo, i've done engine swaps before, never a ford, and i can pin all out but that's something i didn't (don't) want to do, one of the reasons is that i wanted to keep the PATS stuff working...

On the 3rd one there's just a blank plug cover thing, and when i took it off i noticed that there are no pins there, so what do i do with the 3rd plug from the expo?

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And comparing one of the plugs from the ranger (left) with one from the expo (right) i also noticed that the wire colors don't match.
Anyone has any advice? i'd really hate to have to sort all the wires one by one to get everything working...
For reference, the ranger was built on 11/99 and the expo on 11/98.

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thx all.
Art
 

Ramcharger90

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First off all.... you need to bring that powerwagon from your house and transfer that title over to me. Secondly looks good.... but seriously show more power wagon pictures (just sneak it in the background these guys wont notice)...



Ohhh I just noticed going through the thread its a 4 door... I got blood flow... how much?
 

retep88

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Might have already figured out your wiring problems by now...

It's seriously worth the 30-60 dollar investment to buy the wiring diagrams for one or both of the trucks. I bought one for my 2000 ranger and it really saved me. The Gray plug is mostly stuff going "into" the cab, and the brown one is stuff coming "out". Only reason I know this was I recently just went through those plugs for my truck. I would snap a pick of the plug pinout for you, but it's not helpful with out the entire book. The pin out only has the circuit numbers on them, and you have to search through the book to figure out what those pinouts are. If you need help on specific circuits, I can do my best it send you images for the ranger. Can't help with the explorer.
 

Gallo

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First off all.... you need to bring that powerwagon from your house and transfer that title over to me. Secondly looks good.... but seriously show more power wagon pictures (just sneak it in the background these guys wont notice)...



Ohhh I just noticed going through the thread its a 4 door... I got blood flow... how much?
It belongs to a friend of mine, he was actually working on it when i read your post, he's not selling it but he said "tell him to make me an offer" :)

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Might have already figured out your wiring problems by now...

It's seriously worth the 30-60 dollar investment to buy the wiring diagrams for one or both of the trucks. I bought one for my 2000 ranger and it really saved me. The Gray plug is mostly stuff going "into" the cab, and the brown one is stuff coming "out". Only reason I know this was I recently just went through those plugs for my truck. I would snap a pick of the plug pinout for you, but it's not helpful with out the entire book. The pin out only has the circuit numbers on them, and you have to search through the book to figure out what those pinouts are. If you need help on specific circuits, I can do my best it send you images for the ranger. Can't help with the explorer.
I appreciate it man.
I have the mitchell software, i have the wiring diagrams there (i'm gonna need them lol)

I ended up removing both dashes and swappng the whole wiring harness from the expo, once i removed the expo dash i saw like a main plug that connects to the rest of the cab (power windows, locks, fuel pump, rear lights etc) i couldn't think of anything else, it looks like a lot of work but it was actually not that bad, once i mount everything, i'll i have to do is plug everything back, only bad thing is that i'm gonna have to match a lot of wires from the expo wiring to the rangers (power windows, locks etc) since the plugs are not the same, there's another plug behind the driver's seat on the ranger that goes to the rear (lights fuel pump etc i think) it's gonna be a PITA but i'm not really worried about it, i want to get the damn engine running first.

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you can see the 3 plugs that connect to the wire harness on the engine bay, i already swapped the wire harness from one dash to the other, it wasn't that bad

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Clutch pedal assy is out, auto stuff in, i already got everything i needed from the expo installed on the ranger, ac lines, power steering lines, trans cables...

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I ordered the engine mounts adapter plates, they'll arrive on monday, that's all i'm waiting for to mount the engine and start connecting everything, this is where i'm at, we'll see what happens...
cheers
Art
 

Gallo

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Well, now that the heat is gone, i was able to continue...
engine mount adapter plates are on... i did change the spark plugs :p

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Engine going in...

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Now that the dash is in, i can now plug the rest of the wire harness to those 3 main plugs...

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Transmission ready to go in...
i used the ranger's transmission crossmember, i didn't have to cut or do anything to it, it went right in...

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Almost ready, the engine sits about 1" higher, i noticed it when i installed the radiator shroud, it's not leveled with the radiator, i may get an electric fan and be done with it, engine can't be lowered because the oil pan barely clears...

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That was the easy part, this is where it got interesting:

I had A LOT of wires to match, dome light, door triggers, power windows, locks, mirrors, cargo light, tail lights, stop lights, fuel pump etc...
It required a lot patience which i don't have, one of the problems i ran into was, on they expo, they ran the a lot of the wires down from the left kick panel all the way to the back, and then came back on the right side, (all the electric stuff on the right door, among a few other things) i was having a hard time finding some of the wires until i found out what they did, i ended up runing some wires behind the dash from left to right to match my missing wires...

Another thing i had to figure out was, the expo has a separate bulb for the turn signals and the ranger doesn't, after looking at both wiring diagrams, it was actually really easy to do.

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First drive...


To the muffler shop

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I think i'm done, i'm happy with the results, i still need to cover that hole on the floor when the manual stick used to be, but it runs and drives and sounds really nice, everything works including all the inmobilizer stuff...


Thx all. cheers
Art
 

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