4.0 OHV to SOHC & Hydroboost Article Help

[Jim Oaks]

Hey everyone,

This fall I want to add a couple of new articles to the Tech Library and need your help:

4.0 OHV to a 4.0 SOHC Swap:

I know it's been done here. I just need to find the threads and posts. Seems like I remember reading that you can use the OHV computer on the SOHC engine. I also recall that someone had put one in a Bronco II. What are things you need to do or problems that you'll encounter? What engine years should you look for, and what years should you stay away from?

If you know of any threads or posts related to this, please link them below.

Also, if you have any photos on know of a thread with helpful photos, please share those as well.

Hydroboost Swap:

I know people here have done a hydroboost conversion, but we don't have an article on how to do that either. I need info such as what vehicle you can get the donor parts from as well as photos from anyone who has done the swap.

Again, if you know of any threads and posts from people that have done it, please post the links below.

 

[Uncle Gump]

I know @JOLENE_THE_RANGER has done an SOHC swap... runs it on the OBD1 ECM

jolene

So yesterday I got the sohc in. Everything went relatively smoothly and I realized that I didn’t need to rush as much as I did during the whole process cuz I finished at like 3pm lol. But I did take some time to clean up my frame and paint some areas that were left exposed because of the old...

www.therangerstation.com

 

[Curious Hound]

I have junk yard parts to do hydroboost. Got a couple higher priority things to do. But I’ll document it.

 

[PlumCrazy]

I have done hydroboost on a Ranger and a few other rigs. I used a 99 Super Duty unit, but an OBS F-SD would work just as well. I can dig through pictures since I'm sure Photobucket ruined my old build thread.

 

[bobbywalter]

the easy stuff was the astrovans for hydroboost. generally just make a custom interface with the firewall side to space out the apply rod so you dont sideload it in working stroke.


as gump mentioned its possible in certain scenarios, actually most to use obd1 to run the cammers. and vice versa when wanting to dial in tune past a certain point....like the gm the air temp goes intergral with the maf at one point. i know some of the supercharger guys actually go to a map setup for programming at some point in upper power..

but there are a few situations where the late ohv running with the non fast burn ohv pcm can cause issues. i dont have the catch codes anymore of the known ones i have had problems with though. i do have some pcm and harness somewhere to get data from.

 

[Brain75]

Pardon the faux pas if it is... can we pool info from other sites as well?
A quick google says someone on the explorerforum.com has done it ( I read the first page and then noted it was 8 pages long - didn't read, but several other google results point towards it)

Brett's 4.0L SOHC Swap

Okay, the time has come to start this swap. While everyone was off goofing around in Moab over the weekend, I pulled my old 4.0L and 5spd from my sport. Here are the details: The patient - 1994 Explorer Sport 4.0L ohv 5spd manual 151K miles The donor - 2004 Ranger 4.0L sohc 5spd manual...

www.explorerforum.com

 

[bobbywalter]

Pardon the faux pas if it is... can we pool info from other sites as well?
A quick google says someone on the explorerforum.com has done it ( I read the first page and then noted it was 8 pages long - didn't read, but several other google results point towards it)

Brett's 4.0L SOHC Swap

Okay, the time has come to start this swap. While everyone was off goofing around in Moab over the weekend, I pulled my old 4.0L and 5spd from my sport. Here are the details: The patient - 1994 Explorer Sport 4.0L ohv 5spd manual 151K miles The donor - 2004 Ranger 4.0L sohc 5spd manual...

www.explorerforum.com

seems we can just link so source is direct.. there are tons of them out in the desert....many running aftermarket ecu, not because they have to, but due to system integration for data collection.

i have played with running piggyback systems since the early 90's ... not always successful but these days it would be nice to have had recorded it so its on here.


for instance....
i know how to piggyback gm setups to run the 4l80 behind the mechanical diesel in my ranger from trying to run e4od and 4r70w transmissions with carburetors..

 

[mikkelstuff]

I installed a 1977 Mercury Grand Marquis hydroboost into my 1975 Ranchero. As bobbywalter noted, the Astrovan hydroboost is likely the best match for a Ranger.

For the Ranchero, I had to move the brake pedal arm actuator pivot point to prevent binding.

The only other problem is with the return line from the hydroboost, at least for the Mercury hydroboost. I T'd this into the return line from the power steering sector but the back pressure was simply to high for the hydroboost to work properly. As a quick solution, I simply ran the hydroboost return line into the power steering pump fill tube. I'm assuming here that the Astrovan hydroboost has a separate return line.

I also recommend changing out all the power steering line fittings to AN-6 units to prevent leaks.

 

[JOLENE_THE_RANGER]

myself and a few friends have done the sohc swap without swapping wire harnesses or computers. myself, im running it on a ohv eec-iv computer with a custom tune of course.

I documented my entire swap here with tons of info and pictures. a few others who have done the swap have also chimed in with their anomaly's with different year vehicles and such.

ford 4.0 ovh to 4.0 SOHC swap guide

Starting this thread for anyone interested in the swap what this thread will cover: swapping a 4.0 SOHC engine into a OBD1 or OBD2 ranger/expo that has a 4.0 ohv engine. this swap uses the OBD1 OR OBD2 OHV engine wireharness, computer, and body harness. whats the difference? almost double the...

forum.badlinesgoodtimes.com

 

[Ramcharger90]

@Jim Oaks I'm gonna be swapping the M50DR2 and 4406M in the explorer do you want me to document that for a tech article?

 

[Snoranger]

I did an EEC-IV SOHC conversion about 15 years ago. I guess I could help here.

 

[ben_2_go]

Econoline vans for hydroboost. Early 2000+. Even the E150 gassers had it. My 2007 has it. Hoses should fit up. No big deal if an end needs to be changed. Most hydraulic shops do them.

 

[Curious Hound]

I think the parts I scavenger came from an Econoline. I was concerned about the height of the master cylinder reservoir. So I got a different one from another vehicle that I hope will work and not be as tall.

 

[Jim Oaks]

Didn't some of the Mustangs have Hydroboost?

 

[Jim Oaks]

seems we can just link so source is direct..

The problem is that over the last 25 years there have been a bunch of articles that I have linked to, and the links ended up not being good over time. Either the site no longer exists, the page moved, or for a variety of reasons the pics are no longer available on the linked page. I learned a long time ago that the best thing is to preserve it here and have a link that gives credit to the resource.