2000 3.0 Engine Swap

[jchaillier]

The Winter truck is down and I'm swapping the engine out on my 2000 3.0 4X4 Auto tranny Ranger and I wasn't sure about a couple different potential issues when purchasing the replacement engine.

1: I'm leaning toward purchasing a donor truck rather than just the engine itself, this way I can get some more parts off of it that I should need. The question here is could I get away with purchasing a 2WD truck for the engine swap if I needed to? It wouldn't be ideal because I wouldn't be able to swap the tranny later on if I needed to but that engine should work right? (I'll have to get the flex fuel engine for what I have)

2: I haven't seen anything different about valve sizing in the different years of Ford Ranger 3.0 Flex Fuel Rangers past the year 2000. I thought that in 1999 they had made changes and if I had a 1999 ranger I would have to be careful.

Anything that you particularly look for when purchasing a donor vehicle for an engine swap?

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

1: If you have the room, there is nothing wrong with purchasing a donor truck for parts, you may be able to find something that has a bad frame or bad transmission or wrecked that will supply you with lots of spare parts relatively cheaply. A 2wd truck would be just fine for an engine donor, you won't be able to use the transmission and the front suspension is different, but it's a pretty similar truck.

2: I have no knowledge on this.

Other things:

Here's where it gets interesting... you also have the option to put a 4.0 OHV or 5.0 motor in. You'll want a whole donor to do it, but the 1999-2000 Rangers were the easiest to do this with minimal splicing. There's some information in the tech archives about this. You'll have to be selective in your donor vehicle to make it easier, I forget which years of Explorer are compatible for the PATS anti-theft, but it's something to consider.


Sent from my kite using a trebuchet

 

[stmitch]

For the most part, a 3.0 long block is a 3.0 long block. They made various changes and upgrades over the years, so generally speaking newer is better, but you can make any 3.0 work.

You do not need to find one that is Flex Fuel. The only part of the engines that mattered for flex fuel stuff are the fuel injectors. Install your injectors into whatever donor engine you use, and it will give you more options, and probably cost less.

The only change in valves that I'm aware of involves the diameter of the stem, and has no perceptible effect on engine tuning or performance.