2003 engine swap

[White_4x4Ranger]

Hello, I’m looking into doing a engine swap on my 2003 4x4 Ranger, it has the 4.0 sohc and recently it has developed the infamous timing guide rattle, a long with a host of other problems- super low on power. What would be the easiest/ cheapest engine to swap in?

 

[RonD]

Replacing the 4.0l SOHC is cheapest option because you can use the same Computer and wiring and transmission and exhaust and, ect..............

1996-2001 302/5.0l OHV V8 Explorer swap would the only other option worth considering

Ranger engine bay is narrow, 21" between heater box and steering shaft at the firewall
5.0l OHV is 19" wide

Newer V6's and V8s are SOHC and DOHC so 25"-30" wide
So if you have an engine in mind look up its dimensions

The 5.0l OHV is 19" wide, 21" tall, and 27.5" long and it barely fits
You CAN DO anything, just takes money, lol


Just FYI
The 4.0l SOHC uses a 60deg V block so is narrower than SOHC/DOHC engines that use 90deg V block

 

[White_4x4Ranger]

Replacing the 4.0l SOHC is cheapest option because you can use the same Computer and wiring and transmission and exhaust and, ect..............

1996-2001 302/5.0l OHV V8 Explorer swap would the only other option worth considering

Ranger engine bay is narrow, 21" between heater box and steering shaft at the firewall
5.0l OHV is 19" wide

Newer V6's and V8s are SOHC and DOHC so 25"-30" wide
So if you have an engine in mind look up its dimensions

The 5.0l OHV is 19" wide, 21" tall, and 27.5" long and it barely fits
You CAN DO anything, just takes money, lol


Just FYI
The 4.0l SOHC uses a 60deg V block so is narrower than SOHC/DOHC engines that use 90deg V block

Ok. How difficult would the 5.0 swap be? I k ow I would need new exhaust. Computer, etc. I’ve heard it pretty much just drops in and is about as plug and play as it get for an engine swap

 

[bobbywalter]

difficulty .... hard to say.


no way to gauge your capacity.


using a 2001 donor explorer complete that is stock and runs okish..... i would put it on a 1-10 scale as a solid zero. and the results as a meh.

need to add a good amount of money for the engine to produce enough power to be fun.

you can buy a decent running sohc for 6-1200 in my area....they are not cheap compared to the pushrod 4.0....but those are harder to find sub 200k miles....and go 200-500.......but if you get a sohc....you can swap it in a day....


then again....once you have some experience with the platform....you can do the explorer v8 swap in a day too.

 

[RonD]

Go to the Tech section here: https://www.therangerstation.com/tech/

Select Engine section

Scroll down to V8 swaps, there are several articles to look thru

They never made a manual V8 explorer
But you can use a 1997-2008 M5R2 manual trans from an F150 with a 4.2l V6 it has the same bolt pattern as a 5.0l OHV, and you can get it from a 4x4 F150

 

[2011Supercab]

Also just a heads up, your 4.0 has 210 hp, the 5.0 v-8 Explorer has 215 hp, it's a lot of work and money to swap for 5 hp

 

[19Walt93]

Also just a heads up, your 4.0 has 210 hp, the 5.0 v-8 Explorer has 215 hp, it's a lot of work and money to swap for 5 hp

Just basing it on advertised horsepower tells only part of the story. I picked a 2011 Ranger 4.0 and a 2001 Explorer 5.0 to compare.
4.0 made 207hp@ 5280 rpm and 238 lb/ft @ 3000
5.0 made 215hp@ 4200 rpm and 288 lb/ft @ 3300
In almost all driving situations, the 5.0 would feel substantially more powerful.
Torque is how much work the engine can do, HP is how fast it can do it. Torque is what you feel when you step on the gas.

 

[19Walt93]

I've posted this several times but it could save someone from wasting a bunch of money building a truck they can't drive.
NH was forced to do emissions testing or we'd lose our federal highway money. The Gordon Darby OBD II system reads the VIN in the PCM and compares it to tthe VIN on the registration that the tech scans into the system to start an emissions test. If the VINs don't match, the vehicle fails. A complete 2001 Explorer 5.0 with all the emissions controls in place, swapped into a 98 Ranger would actually run cleaner and still not pass.
That's what you get when people writing laws don't understand what they're regulating.
Please make sure your state doesn't mandate this kind of testing.

 

[2011Supercab]

Please make sure your state doesn't mandate this kind of testing.

No emissions testing in Washington state, we quit doing it 4 years ago.

And in Wenatchee where op lives, testing was never done.

 

[19Walt93]

No emissions testing in Washington state, we quit doing it 4 years ago.

And in Wenatchee where op lives, testing was never done.

We wouldn't do it if we hadn't been threatened with the loss of highway money. Winter doesn't just mean spending a fortune clearing the roads, winter means frost heaves tearing up the roads.
If anyone doesn't know, a frost heave is when the ground water freezes and the road buckles upward. Then after it thaws and settles back down, water gets into the cracks and damages the road more. Then it's paved over and smooth again until the next winter.

 

[bobbywalter]

We wouldn't do it if we hadn't been threatened with the loss of highway money. Winter doesn't just mean spending a fortune clearing the roads, winter means frost heaves tearing up the roads.
If anyone doesn't know, a frost heave is when the ground water freezes and the road buckles upward. Then after it thaws and settles back down, water gets into the cracks and damages the road more. Then it's paved over and smooth again until the next winter.

come to detroit......and buffalo.

 

[rubydist]

I've posted this several times but it could save someone from wasting a bunch of money building a truck they can't drive.
NH was forced to do emissions testing or we'd lose our federal highway money. The Gordno Darby OBD II system reads the VIN in the PCM and compares it to the VIN on the registration that the tech scans into the system to start an emissions test. If the VINs don't match, the vehicle fails. A complete 2001 Explorer 5.0 with all the emissions controls in place, swapped into a 98 Ranger would actually run cleaner and still not pass.
That's what you get when people writing laws don't understand what they're regulating.
Please make sure your state doesn't mandate this kind of testing.

I believe there is a way around that by putting switches on the obd port and turning it off when going to the emissions testing station. At least here in CO, if they can't read the obd port, then they have to do the roll dyno tailpipe testing, and if it passes that with no check engine light, then they don't care about the obd port. Some other states may have different rules...

And there is a hack to be able to update the VIN in the pcm, so it reads the correct VIN out of the obd port, its just that it requires a cooperative Ford tech, which is not always attainable. There is a youtube video by FordTechMakuloco on how to update the VIN in the pcm if you are interested.

 

[RonD]

OP is in Washington state

Washington State Department of Ecology
After 38 years, Washington’s emission check program ended Jan. 1, 2020. We oversaw the now-retired vehicle emission testing program. With the end of the program, vehicle owners are no longer required to have their vehicle’s emissions tested before renewing their vehicle registration.

 

[don4331]

Just the same, the instrument panel on '03 is tied to the PCM (Power Control Module) is tied by VIN. (Keeps unsavory types from replacing instrument panel <odometer> with one with much lower miles).

As noted above there are ways to work around it; how much effort do you want to expend? Noting the newest 5.0 engine/transmission will be 21 years old..

 

[19Walt93]

I believe there is a way around that by putting switches on the obd port and turning it off when going to the emissions testing station. At least here in CO, if they can't read the obd port, then they have to do the roll dyno tailpipe testing, and if it passes that with no check engine light, then they don't care about the obd port. Some other states may have different rules...

And there is a hack to be able to update the VIN in the pcm, so it reads the correct VIN out of the obd port, its just that it requires a cooperative Ford tech, which is not always attainable. There is a youtube video by FordTechMakuloco on how to update the VIN in the pcm if you are interested.

Nope, no signal at the data link is a hard fail.