87 ranger 4.0 swap

[kiehn18]

Well i started my ford journey with a 86 ford ranger 2.3l 2wd single cab. Sold it for $600 then baught a 87 ford ranger 4wd 2.9l 153,000 miles for $560. Then i came across this gem, a 94 ford explorer with the 4.0l engine everthing there except the tranny (i didnt care cuz it was an auto) and the tcase, for FREE. The guy was movving to phoenix in an hour and i just wanted to buy the bucket seats then i told him id haul it all away for free. Amazingly he said yes, i didnt think he would. So now i start the 4.0 swap. Hopefully with the SAS but money only allows so much so i may just swap under the 35 and 8.8 axels for now and do a SAS later.

 

[kiehn18]

Im not 100% sure if i should swap dashes; opinions? Its all getting painted black no matter what i do

 

[SenorNoob]

NO dash swap. PLZ!

K, Bye. Thanx.

 

[kiehn18]

Why do you say no?

 

[ronclark]

I would not do a dash swap myself, and painting interior is a real pain, from what i have seen it can flake off

 

[kiehn18]

I would not do a dash swap myself, and painting interior is a real pain, from what i have seen it can flake off

Clean it with soup, water and a scotch bright pad then use a good degreaser, use a really good primer and paint. Make sure to scuff up all the material really good with the scotch bright pad and youll be good to go.... or use a vinyl spray, but i dont know how well that stuff works

 

[adsm08]

Tell me more about this soup that you use for cleaning.

Most of the die-hard gen 1 guys prefer the gen 1 dash over the gen 2, myself included.

The dash swap was considered the best way to make the wiring work for a long time, but with a bunch of stubborn people like 4.0B2 and myself we are starting to find good ways to get the 4.0 running in the 88 and older trucks without swapping out the dash.

I'm not sure how Ben did it, he said he just spliced a few wires under the hood. I repinned and insalled an 89 dash harness in my 87 dash, but I wanted the big white cannon plug to make unplugging the engine bay from the dash easier.

 

[kiehn18]

Soup soap whats the difference? Haha and yea, i just havnt decided which one i like more.

 

[jhammel85]

I vote for 1st gen (and thanks for being stubborn, guys)

 

[kiehn18]

Ill have to look at the wiring involved..

 

[kiehn18]

Has anyone run the fm145 tranny behind the 4.0? If so how did it do? I know its not recommended but its all i have for now.

 

[kiehn18]

Got the ranger mostly taken apart today. Tomorrow is just pul the engine right out and a few more little things. And then start on the explorer!

 

[kiehn18]

Got some more work in today! Got the motor out and the dash out and tomorrow will be getting the rest of interior and front clip off. Sorry guys i decided to swap dashes.. I could never get ahold of someone to help repin or splice for the 4.0.

Anyways, Dash removal can be hard the first time, You need to take the plastic pieces in front off first, then youll take off the piece around the gauges. After that you need to locate all the screw on the metal piece and remove them, the dash should lift up a little and then slide out. Then you need to remove the steering wheel and the plastic pieces, there are two screws on the back side of the steering wheel then you can pop the cover off, take the bolt out of the middle and use a steering wheel puller. Then what i did was removed every screw and bolt i could find the touched the dash in any way. There are two that are tricky. One is in the fuse box there is a screw and all you will see are threads(pictured below), you need to get on the back side and take it out, its a phillips. The second one that took me forever to find is above the steering arm. Look under the steering wheel at the dash and there will be 2 retainer bolts on each side of the arm, they need to come out and the you can access the NUT (pictured below). Its easir if you pull out the black heat vents on each side. The middle vent there is a screw under the dash about the middle in the very back tucked up into the dash a little. After that the speedo cable is tricky, you need to lay on the floor look up and pop the white piece that sticks out towards the cluster and it should slide off. Take the cluster out and radio out. I just shoved the ac and heat selections threw the dash cuz i didnt wanna unhook the cables. Follow the wiring and pop all the rivits and pull it out from the dash. You will need to remove the blinker and windshield wiper selecter things but i did not u just cut the dash since m not using it. after that it should just slide right out.

Hopefully ill have more to post tomorrow! Pictures below!

 

[jhammel85]

You've been busy! Nice write up by the way..

 

[kiehn18]

Not very motivational when nobody comments with tips or ideas or anything..