3.8L question...

[don4331]

It did in the Explorers.

Really I don't think they are much longer than the 4 cylinders Rangers received.

It's really subtle and it might not even be the fore aft length, but the side to side limit.

The Explorers which received the 5.0s are 2" wider than the Rangers of the same time period.

Crush space was a huge issue when the team was designing a super mileage vehicle at my alma matter.

They wanted to make the vehicle as narrow as possible to make it fuel efficient. But the regulations for required deformation before it started intruding into the passenger compartment caused the team heart burn. And the rules didn't care if you reinforced the sides so that intrusion didn't occur.​

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[85_Ranger4x4]

It's really subtle and it might not even be the fore aft length, but the side to side limit.

The Explorers which received the 5.0s are 2" wider than the Rangers of the same time period.

Crush space was a huge issue when the team was designing a super mileage vehicle at my alma matter.

They wanted to make the vehicle as narrow as possible to make it fuel efficient. But the regulations for required deformation before it started intruding into the passenger compartment caused the team heart burn. And the rules didn't care if you reinforced the sides so that intrusion didn't occur.​

​

I think most of the extra width was more fluff than actually wider wider. I know it was with the first gens, the lights, hood and grille were the same as a 89-92 Ranger. Fenders were flared more to cover the wider track width of the D35.

I don't think they were that super nit picky yet. The door came open, the dummy tried coming out and hit its head coming back in... which was "acceptable"

1995 Ford Explorer 4-door SUV

1995 Ford Explorer 4-door SUV - midsize SUV

www.iihs.org