2002 Ecoboost swapped Ranger build thread

[bobbywalter]

When I did this swap my original 2.3 duratec motor did have AC, but before the swap I had a turbo on the 2.3, which required deleting the AC to fit it in there. Even with my current swap the heater blend door gets in the way. I am currently using a little heater core thats meant for utility vehicles. It heats up real nice. It sits right where the passenger side glove box would have been, no big deal to me. I highly recommend going with a 2.3 ecoboost motor. Ford performance no longer sells the controls pack for the 2.0l, its discontinued. The biggest part of this swap is the heater ducting sadly. Lots of hacking away and test fitting. At some point (prob next summer) I would like to pull my whole dash out and throw out all the hacked up ducting since it serves me no purpose anymore at all.

i would like to see what you have first. pretty sure you can use a modded setup. your pictures indicate it anyway.

 

[02 EB swapped ranger]

that depends.


these trucks and chassis and firewalls vary greatly. i would offset the turbo with an adapter which is a pia but worth it as well... this is the best way to keep some fead options open.


if you have a 2wd ranger edge your golden. no cutting save for the shifter...via opening the hole up or remoting or reforming a shifter will be things to consider...

....you may want to go to a longer mazda trans ect...but keeping ac and custom mounting a powertrain is cake compared to what this rig had to do. its light enough that moving the engine forward a few inches is a non issue...drive shaft being longer sux though. but plenty of room for cooling even at 4 inches forward...

offsetting the engine helps too..depending on chassis...


if you have a 2wd tib truck...it is easy to do and keep ac as long as it is 95 or newer with the 15 inch ac box....


the earlier 95 down rangers had bigger boxes that will need massaging to work. if it has the pcm under the hood you have the smaller good ac box.


so oddly enough

...the only chassis this duratech engine came in....

is also the hardest one to put the ecoboost version of the duratech in

you cant make that shit up...


the 4x4 sla with a 4 inch lift will allow it to fit fine as well and keep ac. but i would consider firewall mods with those unless your good with a 3 in body lift and some minor massaging just to make it easy......

which i prefer a body lift to make fixing the now doomed transmissions on the regular a breeze. especially if you use the 5r55e with a turbo fixing itmight be what happens at oil change intervals if you use that boost part of things...

ttb chassis with some cutting on the k member and light firewall work along a body lift will be workable..but firewall mods are a good option as well.


the good thing about the later rangers like this one the op has here...it only takes an hour or two to pull the dash out of them...they are the easiest systems to work with...so hot forming the inside hvac and cutting/modding the firewall with mild patience are easily done.


this truck was so busy blazing the trail it charged right past creature comfort and just got er did....

two thumbs up and a snap in a circle for those blazing berries...

from there refinement begins... i hope to see it some time...

it pointed out all of the areas i just mentioned...


so like i said....your actual setup will dictate path forward. because rangers are not all the same.

Anything pre-2002 will NOT bolt to an ecoboost motor. The bellhousing would be different. The optimal swap candidate would be a 2002-2011 2wd 5 speed 4 cylinder ranger. As for the v6 5 speed rangers, I am unsure if the bellhousing is different or not from the 4 cylinders. Same goes for the automatic rangers, plus even if it did mount up you would have to have a way to control the trans. The stock 5 speed ranger trans (m5od-r1) works great with my 2.0L swap. It's held up to the torque so far and proven to be quite a fun daily for me, however 2wd with 300 torque in the winter is a bit sketchy. 4x4 would be sick. If I ever get an opportunity in the future to get a full 4x4 drivetrain (trans, diffs, random axle bits and all that) I would love to have a 4x4 setup. But for now, that is not in my budget and another project is taking up all of my free time. Its not really ranger related, but its neat.

1970s VW bradley gt kit car. Found it at a scrap yard. Would have had a 1.6 VW bug drivetrain and all that. Its getting a 2.0L zetec swap with a fwd setup, but in the rear. That pic of the motor is as far as I've got getting it mounted in there. currently waiting on wheels and tires to show up so I can make sure my motor height/axle height is atleast ballpark close.

 

[bobbywalter]

well...i thought it obvious you would have to use a duratech trans.


i guess it should be pointed out to those that dont know..

i mean...my 6.5 diesel wouldnt bolt up to my 2.9 trans or windsor trans either.



what i used to do is piggy pack the eec4 to run a e40d or 4r70 w on carb v8 applications. it wasnt the best but worked ok for what it is.

i have not used a eec5 with those fullsize units or a 4r55e piggy back yet....but tunability is there if it will work...

but suspect a 4r55 with a duratech bell and pump would be pretty easy to do based on it....

my bronco will get a 4x4 duratech unit...for m5od...or a 4r55 duratech hybrid just to see.

my measurements are based off of a 2017 di non turbo focus engine in relations to all of the cab and chassis configurations.. with an eye to the issues you listed.


like i said earlier...i was shocked that your unit is the hardest to work with according to the tape measure


i could care less that i have to make all of mounts. thats the easy part.



i am confident you can make the factory hvac work fine with what you have.

 

[bobbywalter]

based on what you have reported.


the optimal swap candidate for rangers is an edge 2wd.

 

[02 EB swapped ranger]

well...i thought it obvious you would have to use a duratech trans.


i guess it should be pointed out to those that dont know..

i mean...my 6.5 diesel wouldnt bolt up to my 2.9 trans or windsor trans either.



what i used to do is piggy pack the eec4 to run a e40d or 4r70 w on carb v8 applications. it wasnt the best but worked ok for what it is.

i have not used a eec5 with those fullsize units or a 4r55e piggy back yet....but tunability is there if it will work...

but suspect a 4r55 with a duratech bell and pump would be pretty easy to do based on it....

my bronco will get a 4x4 duratech unit...for m5od...or a 4r55 duratech hybrid just to see.

my measurements are based off of a 2017 di non turbo focus engine in relations to all of the cab and chassis configurations.. with an eye to the issues you listed.


like i said earlier...i was shocked that your unit is the hardest to work with according to the tape measure


i could care less that i have to make all of mounts. thats the easy part.



i am confident you can make the factory hvac work fine with what you have.

Exactly! the motor mounts are literally the easiest part of any project. It's all the other random crap that gets in the way. Honestly though I wish for my swap I could have got my hands on a totaled parts car. Just so I could get nearly everything in one lump sum. I had over 2 weeks of just waiting on random intake sensors to show up. IAT and MAP sensors are essential to a proper idle and drivability. But for the most part, the 2.0/2.3 ecoboost controls pack from ford is impressive. Comes with literally everything you could ask for. wideband o2 sensor, drive by wire gas pedal, colder set of spark plugs, clutch position sensor, and a very nice little relay/fuse box. Along with that it includes a very helpful wire loom of like 6-8 wires all for starter relay engagement, fuel pump, and even an AC switch if you did have it.

 

[Jim Oaks]

But for now, that is not in my budget and another project is taking up all of my free time. Its not really ranger related, but its neat.

1970s VW bradley gt kit car. Found it at a scrap yard. Would have had a 1.6 VW bug drivetrain and all that. Its getting a 2.0L zetec swap with a fwd setup, but in the rear. That pic of the motor is as far as I've got getting it mounted in there. currently waiting on wheels and tires to show up so I can make sure my motor height/axle height is atleast ballpark close.

Glad to see you got the Bradley in the garage working on it. You should start a build thread for it in the Non RBV Build Threads section:

https://www.therangerstation.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=162

I'd like to follow its progress.

 

[02 EB swapped ranger]

Glad to see you got the Bradley in the garage working on it. You should start a build thread for it in the Non RBV Build Threads section:

https://www.therangerstation.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=162

I'd like to follow its progress.

Will do! I have lots of pics around of whats going on with it so far. Right now its more or less a pile of parts waiting to be pieced together but it should come together nicely in the end.

 

[32 ford pickup]

I have the Ranger 5 speed transmission on to a 2.0 Ecoboost. My clutch has to be on the floor before I can get disengagement. I have adjusted as far as I can. Have bled this numerous time. Are there different throw out bearings? Thanks!

 

[Bird76Mojo]

I have the Ranger 5 speed transmission on to a 2.0 Ecoboost. My clutch has to be on the floor before I can get disengagement. I have adjusted as far as I can. Have bled this numerous time. Are there different throw out bearings? Thanks!

You can always go with an aftermarket throwout bearing/slave cylinder.

 

[02 EB swapped ranger]

I have the Ranger 5 speed transmission on to a 2.0 Ecoboost. My clutch has to be on the floor before I can get disengagement. I have adjusted as far as I can. Have bled this numerous time. Are there different throw out bearings? Thanks!

This was probably the most finnickey part of the swap for me. I messed with clutch engagement and disengagement for probably a good week or so. Im running an aftermarket ranger style clutch now good for 400 ft lbs of torque. make sure your clutch hydraulic system is bled! When I was on the stock ranger clutch it wouldnt go into gear for me for about an hour and out of no where I started it and popped it into first and it went in perfect. Another Issue I'm still fighting is when driving going from gear to gear sometimes the gears get "locked out" for a little bit. Still no clue what is causing this. Could be clutch drag or something along those lines. Im going to swap out to a focus st clutch this summer and Ill be sure to take lots of pics and post my findings.

 

[walthagl]

Great article. I have a question as to what clutch, pressure place and flywheel did you use. I have been trying to put together a build list using the 2.3 Ecoboost engine and the M50D-R1 transmission from a 2008 4 cylinder ranger.
Thanks

 

[02 EB swapped ranger]

Great article. I have a question as to what clutch, pressure place and flywheel did you use. I have been trying to put together a build list using the 2.3 Ecoboost engine and the M50D-R1 transmission from a 2008 4 cylinder ranger.
Thanks

Flywheel, starter, clutch, and pressure plate are all ranger style parts I'm running. The clutch I'm using is a ranger style upgraded clutch rated for 400 ft lbs of torque. At one point I had the stock ranger clutch in thee just for testing but the 270 ft lbs of torque my 2.0 makes spun that clutch very easily and I upgraded within a week or 2. Only notable issue is when I changed out the clutch I couldn't get the new upgraded one to disengage properly. Unsure if this fixed it but 2 shims behind the hydraulic slave cylinder seemed to fix it. Only issue I currently have transmission related is sometimes between shifts I get "locked out" of the next gear for a split second. This may or may not be an issue with using shims. I think some time this summer I'm going to pull my trans again and try to run a focus st or ecoboost mutang clutch and see if I can get it to shift more smoothly.

 

[Bird76Mojo]

Sounds like you need an adjustable depth slave cylinder to me..

 

[02 EB swapped ranger]

Sounds like you need an adjustable depth slave cylinder to me..

I very well might. I'll do a bunch of testing when I pull the trans this summer. Originally when I had the stock ranger clutch in it was just fine and didnt get hung up. so maybe its an issue with my new upgraded clutch.

 

[walthagl]

Flywheel, starter, clutch, and pressure plate are all ranger style parts I'm running. The clutch I'm using is a ranger style upgraded clutch rated for 400 ft lbs of torque. At one point I had the stock ranger clutch in thee just for testing but the 270 ft lbs of torque my 2.0 makes spun that clutch very easily and I upgraded within a week or 2. Only notable issue is when I changed out the clutch I couldn't get the new upgraded one to disengage properly. Unsure if this fixed it but 2 shims behind the hydraulic slave cylinder seemed to fix it. Only issue I currently have transmission related is sometimes between shifts I get "locked out" of the next gear for a split second. This may or may not be an issue with using shims. I think some time this summer I'm going to pull my trans again and try to run a focus st or ecoboost mutang clutch and see if I can get it to shift more smoothly.

Thanks for the information!