Planning a swap, looking for gotcha's...

[Roger]

How so? 2.3 mounts even drop into the crossmember of an Explorer.... And after all this, do you really think that would stop me for long?

I made these because the stock 2.3 mounts let the motor flop when they fail...

 

[Roger]

To clear up one item with the wiring harness. The Explorer wiring harness didn't have taillights out through the firewall. So, I had to alter the Explorer harness to pull the taillights out. I used a couple of door connectors to create a harness that easily connects to the Ranger's harness to the taillights.

The gray connectors go to the taillights down the frame. The blue goes to the fuel pump and sending unit. The only connectors underhood that aren't used were the ABS pump connectors.

Last week, my son drove the Ranger down to the southern part of the state. Well, there was a hiccup. The truck vapor locked twice. So he was back home last night for the last time before school starts again. We used the original 2.3 fuel lines, in the original places. NOT the best idea. While fine for the 2.3, the 4.0 driver's side exhaust manifold is very close to one of the fuel lines, likely the supply side. We have them tied back for now, but I fabbed a heatshield for him to finish and install. Or wrap the manifold or fuel lines to keep the heat off the lines. Maybe with more time to work on it, we can re-rout the hoses. It was too dark to get pics...

Last pics of the Warthog at home...

My son isn't really crazy, the flash makes him look like it though. He really needs to get some paint on the underside of that thing!

Ran out of time to get his pre-runner type pushbar back on the truck. Maybe over Christmas break.

All in all, its been a fun project. Sure it was frustrating. It seems to only get a bit better MPG than it did as an Explorer. Oh well. Its been worth the trouble overall.

Welcome to the 94 Explorer disguised as a 1990 Ranger!

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Congrats.

Richard

 

[Roger]

Just an update, the truck has been out of my driveway for 8 months. Seems to be running just fine. Still has the fuel gauge issue and 4x4 issue. But since its 4 hours away from me, I can't do much to resolve these problems. If my son gets a job this summer much closer, then maybe I can dig into them over the summer. If not, then they are the son's problems... But, he and his wife are pleased with it overall.

 

[dangerranger83]

I say go with a manual tcase, that will take one headache out of the equation.

As for the fuel, just find out how many mpgs you are getting and also see if the speedometer is off too so that your calculations aren't off.

Sent from my rooted SPH-D710 using Tapatalk 2

 

[RICO9]

I say go with a manual tcase, that will take one headache out of the equation.


Sent from my rooted SPH-D710 using Tapatalk 2

Exactly! Good job on the swap Roger, You need to make it to one of our monthly meet ups some time. We're all going to Delta for the rock crawl in a few weeks maybe you could make it (it's a little closer to Cedar city)

 

[Roger]

I've got a manual 1350 in the shed, something to think about. Although, I was thinking it might be better served if I use the rest of the Ranger drivetrain somewhere else. A Shiftster will be ordered sometime, but not by me... Son spends plenty of time watching the odometer, it reads the same as when it was in the Ex, since its all from the Ex.

Up side, we were in Cedar last weekend for his Bachelors graduation at SUU. Yesterday he was offered a job in Orem, so this might be seen in SLC pretty regularly. The Hires you guys like isn't far from his inlaws...

 

[Roger]

To close this project out, my son sold this a couple summers ago. It sure was a fun project, but as he and his wife adopted a couple siblings, the Ranger was in my use for the last year he had it. I'll miss it, but the new owner was happy last I heard.