1992 Ford Ranger needs a boost!

[fordmike1]

I see you have a 5.0 in your truck. How would they compare?

Only becuse I had of the Explorer 5.0's in my garage. I would have done a 2.3 turbo if I had one sitting around. Compairing depends on what you are wanting to do with the truck. Driver, work, show, crusing or race it all depends on you for that and then ask yourself what one would work better or you can afford.

 

[mini274]

on your motor put the turbo piston and rods.... and porting the head is always a plus but not a must... in my swap with buying a truck and all i have rite at 1800 rite now... it runs but add about 250 for a tuner and you wil be good... so in other words 1300 is all it took buying a motor, intercooler, piping, injectors, FPR, and other odds and ends

 

[red85]

Money wise I have very little into my 5.0 85. I got the truck for free, the motor for $50 from my brother in law, 200 for the tranny and tc, 180 for the shifter, 125 for the carb (it came on a Chevy 327 manifold which I sold for 150), 150 in gauges, 40 for an Explorer rad and likely another 100 or so in odds and ends. So let's see.. about $600 for a running driving 5.0 swap. That was pretty cheap. I ported the heads, modded the valvebody and did some fab work myself and that little truck just screams. Now for the 94 (my DD) that I'm doing the turbo swap on, I know I've spent more than just $600 and I still need to get a set of new bearings, a better clutch, and a gasket set to make it "complete". I can't wait to rip into this thing!!!

 

[mini274]

my stock replacement clutch will grab 3rd but i was only running 15 psi an intercoller with a ported head so it wasnt too much more... but no slippage

 

[Mforrest327]

Right on. Thank you all for the info. The only reason I was thinking a v8 swap would be cheaper is because I have been told so. Like I said, I can v8s purdy cheap and the only thing I checked so far on a turbo are the turbo kits which I have only found for like 1800. From what I am gathering from all of the info here is that a bone yard turbo swap is seeming to be the easiest way to go. Granted, it wont have that v8 rumble that would be oh so awsome in a little truck, but I am most interested in easy of swap, costs, and total all around performance. I dont race almost ever and when I do its with my buddies and just horsing around. I like as much power as I can get. I dont want anything sluggish off the start and then have my power come in and I also dont want it all at once on the bottom, then have nothing once I get up in RPMs. I want a nice, smooth powerban from idle to pinned. I aint into super high speeds, but I want to be able to take off from a dead stop and my head slap my rear window as I shift into third. Thats why I was sort of leaning towards a v8 instead of turbo, but since I have never driven a turboed anything, I cant say anything about them. Also, somthing came to mind. half the swappers drop in 5.0's or GM v8's and the other half will turbo their 4 banger and a few 6 cyl. Why not get a little crazy and turbo a 5.0?

 

[Mforrest327]

Oh and how in the hell do you put up a photo of your rig under your display name? I want to put up a picture of the beast but cant seem to figure out how to do it.

 

[1mean02hd]

That was my original plan with my truck. Kinda went awry when I got my hands on a nitrous kit pretty cheap. But there are a few cats around that ended up turboing the V8 trucks.

 

[Mforrest327]

Even though that would be some serious fun, I do beleive that would be a little too aggresive for my needs. Would be fun to play with though.

 

[Robert_1967]

If you didn't live in Cali, and the money you could be really different and put a jag v10 in it, a jy close to where i live has one for 500.00 with the tranny still attached, bad part is the tranny is a auto.

 

[Mforrest327]

Well I wouldn't mind so much going with an auto if i was doing a v8 swap. But if I end up turboing it (which im leaning that way) i want to stick with my stick. So just a run down of turboing stuff. I would need to drop in some dished forged pistons, get a turbo, run oil lines for the turbo, get inter cooler, piping, exhaust manifold, turbo coupe computer, and some bigger injectors. That sound bout right?