99 Ranger V8 swap and manual to auto conversion

[don4331]

So he can use the mountaineer GEM with no problems? Use the mountaineer GEM with a manual lever transfer case?

The Mountaineer GEM works with a manual lever transfer case. If you want electric shifting, you need Ranger GEM (and the Ranger GEM needs all the correct options - Power windows, power locks, 4x4, and a/c)

Does the Mountaineer even have low range lights on the dash? (I wouldn't worry about the lights with a manual transfer case, but I'm old).

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

The V8 Explorer/Mountaineer was either 2wd or an AWD t-case with no options for shifting or low range.

Both times I’ve done the swap I’ve opted to just use the AWD case as-is. Dad’s went together fine. Mine I had to shorten the rear driveshaft, but that also could be a product of lowering significantly and/or using the Explorer rear axle. Dad doesn’t off-road and I wanted a lowered street ripper. If I need a 4x4 truck, I have my F-150 and Choptop for now. More 4x4 trucks to come when I can get to them. The AWD works pretty awesome under all conditions. Currently I have 31’s on it because it’s what I had, but they don’t work well on a significantly lowered truck. They rub, a lot. Fine on stock height though. I did upgrade to all of the Explorer suspension goodies (front sway bar, rear sway bar, rear traction bars and I stuffed extra clutch disks into the rear. It grips and goes, and the only way it will spin tires is in a 4-wheel drift.

Torque Monster and OBX versions of the TMs are all that will work unless you can find some old Ford Racing headers for the Explorers (they’ve been out of production for many years). Everything else doesn’t work. Factory exhaust manifolds on the Explorer/Mountaineer are horribly restrictive.

 

[scotts90ranger]

Yes the Explorer setups have the lights, there's apparently a way to wire them up but I haven't bothered on my '00, assuming I'm driving I know what is going on, when the wife is driving she knows how to get it in and out of low range but wouldn't know if it was in 4hi and would probably complain about the steering... although with it's current welded rear diff it's bad anyway

 

[stretchstick]

I can't begin to express how grateful I am for all the incredibly informational responses.

My Ranger is pretty basic (manual windows, no power door locks, etc.). So it sounds like I am in need of sourcing up a GEM from a Ranger that has the power package? If this is correct, does anyone know of the part number I will be after?

A manual shift doesn't really fit into my final build desire. I would like to keep it appearing as original as possible.

 

[stretchstick]

Picked up the transmission today. Here it is, all rebuilt and cleaned up with a new converter and the 1354 adapter installed.

They said the 1354 should be just fine back there. I am retaining the original adapter and output shaft just in case.

Also dropped off the intakes and valve covers at the machine shop. He has the paint code and is going to paint them to match the truck.

Not much going on here, but exciting to me! Probably going to be a while before any updates in this department.

 

[stretchstick]

Some more wiring questions...

Circled is the bulkhead on the drivers side that connects the dash harness to the door, everything overhead, and the rear of the vehicle. There seems to be a lot more going on here than necessary. What is the best way to weed out what is not needed? For instance, from what I understand, the rear harness for the Ranger is under the cab on the frame. So this section of the Mountaineer harness would be redundant.

However, there are some functions of the Mountaineer that I would like to retain (power seats, power door locks, possibly power mirrors, but I don't want the power windows). The Ranger is manual everything and does not currently have any of these power functions.

And circled here is where the dash harness feeds through the firewall. It doesn't appear to meet the engine harness directly, but connects to another harness for everything else in the engine bay, including the fuse/relay box. This Mountaineer fuse box differs from the one in the Ranger, so I assume this 'third' harness will need to be swapped over as well?

Off topic, we've been having night time intruders stalking the neighborhood looking for unlocked cars. They help themselves to whatever they may find of value and move on to the next automobile. They could care less about being discreet, as they have been on video from several neighbors security cameras. Well, when I went out the other day the drivers door on the Mountaineer was open. Can't imagine what they thought when they saw the condition of the interior!

Thanks again for all of the great info!

David

 

[RonD]

Power mirrors are a self contained system you can easily wire yourself

Pull drivers door power mirror with wiring and switch
Pull passenger door power mirror

Below is a 1999 power mirror setup
Literally 12volt and ground wire to switch, and 3 wires to Passenger door mirror

You can try to separate the 3 wires out of dash harness, but........its 3 wires, I would just run 3 new wires

 

[stretchstick]

Sorry, I've been kinda dormant lately. Between work and Family functions, it's been a challenge to find my way to projects.

Anyway, the engine is built, just waiting to be painted. I can pick it up in the next week. Got the Mountaineer 8.8 cleaned up and ready. Painted the 4r70w and stashed aside.

Looks like the Mountaineer parking brake cables will work. I had some left over from an old Bronco project, but it turns out both of them are for the passenger side. RockAuto has been my friend lately.


I've still been concerned about how the electric transfer case is going to function with the Mountaineer cab harness. Spent some time down at the pull n pay and yanked another Ranger dash/cab harness to dissect and compare. Also grabbed a GEM from a 99 Ranger with 4x4, power windows/door locks and a/c.

After tracking down the route of the transfer case wiring in the Ranger harness, I found there to be (close) to the same wiring imbedded in the Mountaineer harness. There was a dead connector under the drivers seat and another behind the dash where the relay pack would plug in. The only difference is the connector alignment slots on the one behind the dash are opposite the Rangers (just swap connectors?), and the one under the seat is larger than the Rangers.

I'm still at a loss as to where the 4 wires will come from for the transfer case selector knob. I'm relieved to find there to be some wiring there at least.


Spoke to the exhaust shop and found that the wonderful people flocking here from California have drug along their CARB requirements with them, joy.

Was quoted $1200 per cat! I originally had no intentions of keeping the factory exhaust, but if the gumment ever decides to implement emissions testing again, I don't want there to be any issues. Found Magnaflow makes them and can get all four for $1500. Unfortunately, the eta on those is late August. Still unsure of what I'll do from there back. Might just pick up the Magnaflow dual cat back kit and swap out the muffler for a dual in dual out.


Side project -

...my first attempt at a sub box. Fits a 6.5 nicely in the drivers side jump seat cavity. I then transformed the passenger side jump seat into an amp and dsp rack. Just a test fit and mock up for now.

I should get the v8 swap underway in mid July!

 

[stretchstick]

Well, I brought the overhauled 5.0 home last week...

... i found it intriguing, bringing the donor home in the recipient vehicle.

Anyway, I didn't have much time to dedicate to the engine last week due to prior commitments, so I went on ahead and stuffed the Mountaineer 8.8 under there.

Took it for a short test drive just to make sure everything was kosher back there. Sounded good, works great and stops really well, but the parking brake cables are a bit of a hassle. The older cable I had left over from a previous build didn't want to work with the new drivers side cable. A new passenger side cable seemed to do the trick. The 1" wider axle isn't too much.

Over the weekend I got the powertrain out.

The interior and dash gutted.

Stripped the engine bay harness.

Went on ahead and laid in some sound deadener to the interior. I really thought this would have been more fun...

Swapped over the brake pedal for the automatic, along with the brake booster and master cylinder. The ABS module is the same between the two.

Replaced both motor mounts.

Rebuilt the heater and a/c boxes and replaced the heater core and evaporator. I'll install the new dryer just before I'm ready to charge the system to keep condensation to a minimum.

Installed the automatic trans cooler. The holes were already there even though it was a standard, but the air dam for the radiator is not cut to accommodate the cooler.

Relocated the air bag module from under the dash to the passenger side kick panel since I will be using the Mountaineer center console. As with the trans cooler, these holes were already there, just needed some threaded inserts.

Got the engine stabbed in yesterday and the transmission attached.

The crossmemeber no longer lines up with the mount after the new adapter. It proved to be at least an inch short. Hacked and fabbed out something that seems to work. Please be kind, I'm a truck driver by trade, not a welder/fabricator.

Attached the bw1354 and, no, the driveshafts did not fit. The front is 2 inches too short and the rear is, yup, 2 inches too long. They are at the shop now.

The new radiator and condenser fit well. Bought both for the Mountaineer, but they are a perfect fit for the Ranger.

RockAuto has been my friend through all of this!


The wiring...

The Mountaineer engine bay harness only had provisions for 1 turn signal/running light per side opposed to the Rangers 3 per side. My wicked smart neighbor is being kind enough to help me out here and has stripped the wiring for the lights and the pvh solenoid from the Ranger harness and is incorporating said wiring into the Mountaineer harness.

Next, we will tackle getting the pvh solenoid harness run into the cab and sort out the transfer case control wiring. I do think it will be easier to use the existing Ranger body harness, and only add what I would like to keep (i.e., door locks, power seats, side air bags, etc.).

Still a long way to go...

 

[JoshT]

My 2 cent... You should have kept the Ranger engine bay harness and just used the Mountaineer engine and starter harnesses. The V8 engine harness will plug right into the Ranger engine bay harness with only a couple of changes needed to have everything working.

Good luck with it. At this rate you might have a working truck quicker than mine that has already got the swap completed. Hoping my heads show up this week and I can get the engine reassembled.

 

[fastpakr]

Agreed with what JoshT said above, though I'll point out that the plugs for the Ranger/Explorer engine harness were reversed male-female on mine. Easy fix - just cut that connector from the Ranger engine harness and swap it with the opposite gender plug from the Explorer harness. The rest of the engine bay harness can remain entirely untouched on the Ranger.

 

[stretchstick]

It was a toss up as to which harness to keep. With using the dash harness from the Mountaineer, I felt it would be easier to swap in the engine bay harness as well. The fuse/breaker boxes in the engine bay are different and I'm sure there would have been some wires pinned differently in the 3 bulkhead that go through the firewall.

Questioning the small vacuum lines that run from the heater control valve. The Mountaineer line runs to a vacuum canister/ball under the air intake. The one on the Ranger goes to the pvh solenoid... any ideas here?

 

[Bob Hatcher]

Very nicely done so far - I am doing something similar but different to my 2000 RWD Ranger - after my grandson blew the 3.0, I inherited the track and picked up an old school 302 with a Holley 4 barrel carb and changing from the automatic over to a World Class T5 out of an 86 5.0 Mustang

 

[stretchstick]

It's been a while, been busy with family, work and life in general. Aside from a couple of vacuum lines, looming up the fuse block and installing the a/c dryer, the engine is done.The Mountaineer engine bay harness fit well with just adding the 3 wires for the PVH and an extra set of marker lights.

The undercarriage came out well, this is an older picture, prior to exhaust...

Still working through the dash and cab harnesses. These are not nearly as compatible as I expected. For starters, the door power in the Ranger splits out of a relay behind the dash and sends off to the doors from there. In the SUV, it leaves the drivers side dash and hits a relay box all the way in the left rear quarter panel, then comes back to each door.

So. Many. Wires...

So the door lock relay has to be wired into the dash, and all the passenger door wiring has to be rerouted. The drivers door connector in the SUV is huge, so some wires will need to be pulled from the Ranger.

Have to add in the PVH wires from the engine bay to the BCM.


It's been noted that I should have let the Ranger wiring alone and move on. That wasn't my plan or ultimate goal. The challenge was to get as much of the SUV amenities to function in the Ranger. Using the Mountaineer harness seemed to be the best way to do so.


Anyway, the overhead console and lighted visors went in well. There are several write ups out there on this. Since I'm using 90% of the Mountaineer wiring, all I really needed to do was mount the physical pieces, then plug and play from there.

The interior is coming along. Got the seats to the shop for a face lift (ahem... $$$!!!, cough.) and picked them up the other day. The seat wiring had to be shortened up. As with the door power, they were routed all the way to the rear left quarter panel.

That's the old, bare Mountaineer dash set in place just so I could align the center console.

Found out the Ranger never had external air bag sensors. It was an interesting chore getting the front and side sensors in place. Had to custom build some brackets to house the side impact sensors in the b pillars. The fronts just needed some holes drilled, but the bumper had to come off to do so.

Again, probably more work than it's worth, but that's all part of the challenge. If I was going to wheel this truck, I definitely would have skipped this.


I posted some questions at the beginning of this thread that never recieved any answers. I can now share some of my findings -

There are no firewall or heater box clearance issues whatsoever, at least using a 99 donor for a 99 recipient. And this truck does NOT have a body lift.

The 5.0 oil pan clears everything without issue.

All air conditioning hoses from the 5.0 fit spot on, and there are aftermarket hoses readily available. A note here, there is a sensor on the manifold that bolts to the compressor on the Ranger hose. This sensor is up next to the battery, just behind the radiator on the SUV hose. If using the Ranger harness, I assume this section of wiring would need to be extended.

The air intake hose and box fit the Ranger. The boxes are essentially the same, but the intake section of the SUV is slightly larger. The mounting plate of the two are different. The SUV plate accommodates a relay box, the Ranger does not. The SUV plate can be used, but needs to be slid back a bit to angle up on the fender well. Drill a couple of holes and fill them with nut rivets.

All radiator and heater hoses for the 5.0 fit fine. The 5.0 radiator is twice as thick as the Rangers, but fits like it was made to. The a/c condenser is completely different between the two vehicles. The SUV uses plastic brackets that mount the a/c condenser to the radiator. The Ranger condenser bolts to a bracket, mounted to the core support. This bracket can be removed and the plastic pieces from the SUV can be used in place of the Rangers. I'm not sure if the Ranger condenser would line up with the SUV a/c hoses.

Since I am going from manual to auto trans, I added in the tranny cooler. Even though the truck was a manual, the mounting holes were there for the stock cooler. However, the radiator air dam for a manual equipped truck is not formed for the cooler. Instead of cutting the dam, I just sourced one up from Pull N Pay for next to nothing.

The 4r70w transmission lines fit perfectly.

The battery tray... This was a chore, anything but bolt on. The Ranger tray was a bear to get out of there (I despise spot weld cutters). The SUV tray took some creative fabricating to get it installed. All in all, I'm glad I took the time to do this. Unfortunately, I don't have any great pics of this. It can barely be seen in the above picture of the engine bay.

The Magnaflow catalytic converter sets fit well, with some effort. Since they were welded together as sets (left two and right two), it took some finesse and the transmission crossmember had to be removed. But they fit, and it's now 50 state emissions legal.

The brake booster... not sure if the '5.0 specific' booster was neccessary or not, but it found its way into the Ranger.

Hoping to at least get it started this week, not sure I'll have it all buttoned up though. If not, I won't get back to it until November.

 

[JoshT]

Still working through the dash and cab harnesses. These are not nearly as compatible as I expected.

And that's why I said in my last post that you should have kept the Ranger harness and connected the Explorer engine harness to it. I wasn't just talking about the Ranger engine bay harness, but the whole Ranger chassis harness engine bay included.

I'd looked into the V8 swap using the entire Explorer harness before, the little bit gained isn't worth the work added. If you want to add things like the EATC or power seats, even power windows or door locks, it's much easier to graft those into the original Ranger harness separately or install as standalone systems.

Keep plugging away at it, you'll get there