4.0 ranger swap

[pastorby3]

will a 4.0 engine in a 98 ford explorer, interchange with a 4.0 in a 93 ford ranger and are there any modifications necessary?

 

[Ranger44]

There is the difference of OBD-I and OBD-II. The blocks should swap over. I'd almost say you'd be fine if you used the block and heads from the 98' and your intake, computer, etc. from your 94. But maybe someone else can chime in.

 

[Yellowsplash]

Blocks, pistons, and heads are all different, not to mention the OBDI and OBDII difference. In 95 the combustion chambers were redesigned to a heart shaped fastburn style, therefore the pistons had to be redesigned to maintain the correct 9:1compression ratio. They redesigned it all again in 98 for a lighter rotating assembly which included newly designed pistons, and revised heads that sported smaller exhaust ports to increase exhaust velocity.

If you were to put newer heads on a block with older pistons, you would get a compression ratio somewhere in the 10:1 range. While there have been people who have did this sucessfully, I wouldnt recommend it. Mixing and matching the parts isnt a good idea.

That leaves swapping the whole motor....Which would probably require swapping ECUs and wiring harnesses, but I'll leave that up to someone else who has actually done it to chime in...

 

[hiwy101]

YellowSplash,

You are correct about them being different. However I took a 97 Ranger 4.0 engine and used a 94 ranger computer/sensors/etc and it is fine. I did this in 2002 and the engine runs fine and passes smog checks. It has gone about 35,000 miles and still runs fine.

What I did was use the 97 lower intake, fuel rail. For all the rest(upper intake/sensors/intake tube/injectors etc) was all the 94 stuff. I suggest using 94 injectors as the 97/98 ones are different looking. I did have to rig an adapter connector for the 97 camshaft sensor.(I was swaping a 4.0 in place of a 3.0. So I didn't have camshaft sensor for a 94) I suggest changing to the 94 camshaft sensor but I had no choice but to use the 97 at the time with limited money. A new 94 camshaft sensor was $300 and all the junkyard ones I found at the time were broken. It worked fine anyway with the newer 97 one. So it IS possible and it DOES work. Even with the strict California Smog check. I live in San Diego.

Don't Be discouraged with everyone here saying it won't work because it does (no offense to anyone here). Everyone told me it would burnup at 5,000 to 10,000 miles. this never came to pass. I used to be a member of this site under a different name at the time I did this. I found this site was quite helpful with everything and everyone here as resources. Good Luck!!

 

[hiwy101]

YellowSplash,

You are correct about them being different. However I took a 97 Ranger 4.0 engine and used a 94 ranger computer/sensors/etc and it is fine. I did this in 2002 and the engine runs fine and passes smog checks. It has gone about 35,000 miles and still runs fine.

What I did was use the 97 lower intake, fuel rail. For all the rest(upper intake/sensors/intake tube/injectors etc) was all the 94 stuff. I suggest using 94 injectors as the 97/98 ones are different looking. I did have to rig an adapter connector for the 97 camshaft sensor.(I was swaping a 4.0 in place of a 3.0. So I didn't have camshaft sensor for a 94) I suggest changing to the 94 camshaft sensor but I had no choice but to use the 97 at the time with limited money. A new 94 camshaft sensor was $300 and all the junkyard ones I found at the time were broken. It worked fine anyway with the newer 97 one. So it IS possible and it DOES work. Even with the strict California Smog check. I live in San Diego.

Don't Be discouraged with everyone here saying it won't work because it does (no offense to anyone here). Everyone told me it would burnup at 5,000 to 10,000 miles. this never came to pass. I used to be a member of this site under a different name at the time I did this. I found this site was quite helpful with everything and everyone here as resources. Good Luck!!