2.3 Turbo Tranny

[travisbarker04]

I am swaping in a 2.3 turbo in my 4wd ranger and want to know what Tranny and T-Case should I use?

 

[skyy_4life]

T5 trans with adapter and manual tranfer case. idk wut case to use but deffinatly use a t5. friend of mine has a 5.0 4X4 with T5 and it will hold every bit of it.

 

[Beanmachine7000]

2.3L M50D-R1 of course, out of any 2.3L truck The T-5 isn't near as great as people think it is... I've seen more than my share of T-5's blow up... I would trust an M50D-R2 before I'd put a WC T-5 in my V8 Ranger (assuming I had a V8 Ranger)... The only thing the T-5 has going for it is that it's a close-ratio gearset... Plus, why go through all the trouble of trying to adapt a T-5 (which is impossible) to a t-case... Just use a M50D-R1...

 

[Ric]

The t5 is a better shifting trans, but dont worry about the trans in your truck now. You'll be breaking other stuffs before you run out of room with the trans. I ran 18psi in my 96 and the transmission held up just fine.

 

[Sevensecondsuv]

Just use a 2.3 M5OD that came in ranger's 88+. Mine had 250,000 miles before the swap, now 15,000 of 16 PSI abuse and it still shifts/drives fine. You'll want to upgrade the clutch though.

The 4-cyl spec T-5 is hardly any more trans than a M5OD. The only reason I can think of to swap is that they shift like a sports car, whereas the M5OD's are a clunky truck transmission. But that's not worth the pain-in-the-rear swap and $$$$$$ for an adapter to mate it to the t-case and more $$$$$ for custom length driveshafts.

 

[AllanD]

The secret to a successful and "happy" engine swap is to avoid making more work
for yourself changing things that don't need to be changed.

BTW, on a street driven 2wd 2.3turbo Ranger you probably don't want
4.10 or even 3.73 gears...

Why?

The 2.3 makes "power" but the REAL thing it does is make TORQUE.
That fact and that turbo engines like having a "load" to pull against
actually aren't happy with gears that are too "short"

I've driven several Turbo Rangers over the years usually when they
were here for me to swap the original 3.73 geared out for an 8.8" axle
Let the torque do the work AND keep the rev's down for highway cruise.

My personal recommendation for one is 3.55's and for ~225/70-15 tires
or tires of similar diameter and width for a TIB suspended truck
(Smaller tires simply make the front suspension scrub too much)

 

[skyy_4life]

2.3L M50D-R1 of course, out of any 2.3L truck The T-5 isn't near as great as people think it is... I've seen more than my share of T-5's blow up... I would trust an M50D-R2 before I'd put a WC T-5 in my V8 Ranger (assuming I had a V8 Ranger)... The only thing the T-5 has going for it is that it's a close-ratio gearset... Plus, why go through all the trouble of trying to adapt a T-5 (which is impossible) to a t-case... Just use a M50D-R1...

ok for one, i hear M50D's slip under boost. im not sure if its true so dont get ur panties in a bunch.... and its not impossible to adapt a T-5 to a transfer case because guy down the street has one and many people on my other forums have them. so

 

[AllanD]

ok for one, i hear M50D's slip under boost. im not sure if its true so dont get ur panties in a bunch.... and its not impossible to adapt a T-5 to a transfer case because guy down the street has one and many people on my other forums have them. so

For the cost of the adapter you can buy SEVERAL rebuilt Mazda's.

For the cost of installing the adapter you cold probably buy a couple more.

AD

 

[fastpakr]

ok for one, i hear M50D's slip under boost. im not sure if its true so dont get ur panties in a bunch.... and its not impossible to adapt a T-5 to a transfer case because guy down the street has one and many people on my other forums have them. so

Um...

How does a manual transmission slip?

 

[Barton]

The clutch doesn't grab the flywheel?

 

[fastpakr]

That's hardly the transmission's fault.

 

[Beanmachine7000]

For the cost of the adapter you can buy SEVERAL rebuilt Mazda's.

For the cost of installing the adapter you cold probably buy a couple more.

AD

+1... Because the easy way (Advance Adapters) quit making them a while ago... So, it's impossible unless you want to do everything yourself...

 

[Davis]

That's hardly the transmission's fault.

It's not the fault of the transmission, its the fault of the smaller clutch that comes one the ranger vs. the TC clutch which is mated with the t-5.

He said it wrong, but I heard what he meant.


And while a t-5 isn't necessary, it sure is nice. I prefer it to the m5od any day.

 

[Davis]

And I believe if you are dead set on a t-5 and 4wd you can use a jeep t-5 and transfer case, or s-10 transfer case.

 

[fastpakr]

I'm assuming the 4.0 flywheel can't be mated to the 2.3 crank?