Project "ForD55" - 4D55 Turbo Diesel - 94 Ranger 4x4

Hey Guys,

I've built a little camper trailer, I rebuilt a motorcycle, now, I want to build a turbo diesel Ranger. It's my next and biggest project yet. I've done research, and the 4D55 sounded like the best option. I'm sure there will be a couple guys roam in here and compare it to the 4BT.. but their is no comparison. It's half the weight, almost half the displacement. I'm not out to build a race car, I'm out to build a solid, reliable, efficient and comfortable 4x4 capable truck. I'm actually a little further than I'm sure I'll post tonight and the next several days, I lost a bunch of pictures, and the ones I have now are scattered so I'm trying to sort through them, and present them in a sequential order.

So the story goes.. I set out to get an engine for the project. I found one, thought that it had everything (it didn't) and had a heck of a time finding parts for the swap. Brian, a friend that lives up in Canada saved my butt and donated some of the parts I needed to complete my swap (various pulleys..etc). He uses these engines on his boat, and customizes much of his accessories and various parts to suit his needs. With his help, I was able to sort out a rough idea of what I was getting myself into. I also had a friend that lived near by, Ethan, who has also been someone for me to run to in the event I run into something that I need some explanation on. I'm no diesel mechanic, I haven't owned a diesel at all, but with the help of these guys, I was ready to move forward.

So here is the Victim! 1994 Ranger with a blown 4.0 OHV - 500$
The day I towed it home:

It is fair shape, the truck had 230,000 miles on it I believe? So it is far from perfect. Didn't bother me, I wasn't going to use any of the drivetrain anyway. No major body damage, and I'm likely to give it a paint job if everything goes as planned. The interior was really bad. I lost pictures of it, but the headliner, torn and saggy, the carpet was actually cut out of the passenger and driver floorboards, seats were bad.. but 500 bucks?! alright, I can work with that!:rock:


It didn't take me to long to gut the 4.0 / M50D outa there. I was able to sell them for 250$. Made a little back there.



So, now the heart of the swap. The engine! I tore the head off and was very happy with what I saw, very clean pistons and nice cylinder walls. I don't know how many miles are on the bottom end / engine.. But it looks good from what I can see. Slapped a new Felpro Headgasket on there.




While doing this, I had my injector pump and injectors rebuilt at Seattle Injector. They did a great job.






I'll update regularly. Let me know what you think / questions / input!

subscribed. looks like alot of work but will be awsome in the end!

Subscribed as well, and wish you success on your build. At 190k on my 4.0L SOHC, I'm watching you diesel build guys very closely...

Chuck

Subscribed! I'm very interested. Good luck!


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Thanks guys!

The next thing I had to do was get in and fitted. Had to make sure it was possible. So here is the deal, the 4d55's bellhousing will mate to the FM-145 , FM-146, and the TK5. I Don't want to have to mess around with drivelines / anything any more custom than I have to so I chose the FM-146. The FM-146 is the same length as the M50D (what the truck had originally) so If I used that transmission, I wouldn't have to shorten/lengthen anything and or make transmission cross members. I did have to change the front bearing retainer on the transmission (again no pictures) to accept the FM-145's slave cylinder style. With the transmission and engine mated, I could now drop the engine down into the engine bay, and see where the engine needed to sit. I ended up having to get creative. With the engine sitting where I wanted hoisted by my cherry picker, I used a chunk of dense styrofoam and cut it into the shape of the 4.0 motor mounts I was going to use. I was then able to determine what I needed to use for brackets.. etc. On the driver side, I was lucky, and it lined up with the crossmember. The passenger side was a different story, I had to come up with a bracket and use several grade 8 bolts.











Wiring is going to be a blast!

Warm up the soldering gun and break out the heat shrink.... its going to be a long ride!

Hahahahha Amen Brother!

Alright, pulled the bed, cleaned out the tank. Flushed it a couple times with diesel. Ran new lines from the tank to under the hood (one for flow to engine, one for excess return back to the tank). It only needs a couple PSI (2-4) so I removed the high pressure fuel pump and bypassed it with a fuel hose and sock. This way I can retain my fuel float for the gauge. Replaced it with a inline fuel pump.

Here is something kinda neat kinda strange :





Thats bastard looking thing is a couple things in one. It is first of all, a fuel filter.. but also has a long heating element acting as a fuel heater (for colder weather) it also has a sensor for monitor water levels in the filter. I will be able to use this to trigger a warning LED for 'Water In Fuel'. There is also a drain spout in the event the water needs to be drained. It's a cartridge style filter, so it snaps in with clips vs. the standard spin on filter. Fuel system is pretty well figured out.

Another diesel project, this is great!

**edit**
I just looked up that engine, I didn't realize you were using the same engine that came in the old diesel rangers - neat. Let me know how it goes.

Hey, nice project! Ethan is also a friend of mine as well, he and I are deep into swaps, using the Kubota and Yanmar reefer motors. We will have to meet up sometime after you get it on the road.

Welcome FTE, you will be another FANTASTIC resource as your a seasoned 'swapper'

Alright, good news and bad news. The good news is, I half-hearted bolted all of my accessories, power steering, alternator.. etc and it looks like that is all going to work fine. Clutch line is going to have to be custom, and the power steering lines are going to be special. I'm going with the 4.0's radiator, its a nice thick unit, however the engine and the radiator have different ideas which side should have the inlet and outlet. I'm going to have to hunt down some hoses with the right bends and make persuade them to fit or get a universal fitting hose. We will see, little ways out from that.

Bad news is, it sitting a little high. The engines height is alright, but there is a spout that comes off the head that goes to the radiator that won't allow the hood to come down. Here are some pictures of the little bastard on the engine before I started cleaning it up:


So I had two options, put a scoop in the hood,... or... get a newer front end with a raised hood. I vote #2 largely because I had someone selling what I needed for a great price. It's been up on craigslist for a while, but I just need the justification. So I got new fenders.. lights etc.

As of now, engines back out, going to spray down the crossmember with some paint, get some of my wiring through the firewall while I have easy access, and start figuring out how much of the stock harness I'm going to use. I'll probably not use much if any at all for the engine. The alternator designed for the motor was a 2G and the truck had a 3G in it before. Gonna have to weigh out if it makes more sense hacking up the 3G wiring and keeping the 2G alternator, or trying to make the 3G alternator fit in it's place... hmmm

Here she sits with a crappy cell phone shot on my 'Engine Stands' ugh..

joecool85 said:

Another diesel project, this is great!

**edit**
I just looked up that engine, I didn't realize you were using the same engine that came in the old diesel rangers - neat. Let me know how it goes.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I thought it would make things a little less scary for a guy that has little to no experience with a complete engine swap. My mechanical experience otherwise has been pretty limited and light. The fact it was in older diesel rangers was the biggest plus, I wouldn't have to spend the $ on fabricating bell housing / clutch setups. Other than that though, everything else has been pretty much...

Hardest thing about this all is .. it's a driveway swap. No garage. Makes things kinda miserable at times.

If any of you guys are interested, here is the camper I built:
http://www.popupportal.com/index.php?topic=50469.0

Can you modify the spout, rotate it, or find a different one? I imagine it is steel or iron, so it could be reshaped.


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Got a welder? Seems to me that cutting an inch out of the middle and welding it back up is less effort.