2.3L ('02-'11) auto to manual swap

[youngmanwithapickuptruck]

i am wondering if it would be plug and play, or if there are a bunch of modifications that would need to be made.
i looked around google for info on this but i could not find it.
i was wondering if i could find a cheap, yr01-11, ~100kmi engine with a dying auto transmission and then swap in a manual transmission.

any tips for finding decent 01-11 rangers? i feel like a lot of old dudes probably have them still. i would love to get an old man maintained truck... especially it if it was brand new around the time they retired and generally stopped using it for work.

 

[stmitch]

01 was the transition year to the Duratec 2.3L. They share nothing with the Lima 2.3l/2.5l that came before (which you have). So some 2001, and all 2002-11 Rangers will have Duratecs. You need an older Lima based 2.3L or 2.5L truck if you're swapping parts.

 

[RonD]

+1 ^^^^

2.3l SOHC Lima engine were used in 1983 thru 1996 Rangers
The 2.5l SOHC was a "stroked" 2.3l Lima engine used in 1998 to mid year 2001 Rangers
These engines have the same block so same transmission bolt patterns

In late 2001 Ford changed Rangers over to the 2.3l DOHC Duratec engine, different block so different bolt pattern and nothing in common with 2.3l/2.5l Lima engines, just both 4 cylinders


As for your dropping MPG, change the two O2 sensors, it will come back, they only last 100kmiles or 12 years which ever comes first, as they get older MPG starts to drop, no codes will be set


Manual transmissions became the "option" in 1998 or so, lol, no longer the "standard" transmission
Pay extra option, or a "no extra charge for automatic" which was the case since the first automatics

Your 2000 2.5l can use a 2.3l/2.5l Lima manual transmission from a 1988 to 2001 Ranger, 2WD
You would also need a 1998-2001 2.5l manual transmission computer
And the clutch pedal setup from same years

Selling your running 2000 Ranger and using that money for a later model Ranger would be a better use of time and money in my opinion

 

[youngmanwithapickuptruck]

errrrrr my truck model year shouldnt have been mentioned. i am just wondering if it is easy to swap a 01-11 from auto to manual

 

[RonD]

A little more complicated past mid-year 2001

You need to start with a 2001-2003 2.3l DOHC Duratec Ranger with automatic
Need a 2.3l DOHC Duratec Manual transmission, they only came in 2WD version, but any year trans 2001-2011
Need a 2001 to 2003 2.3l manual trans computer WITH KEYS for it, it has PATS(needs matching transponder keys)

Clutch pedal set, better to use 2001-2003 but later years may work

In 2004 ALL Rangers went to a Digital Dash/cluster, call HEC, so swapping computer becomes an issue as the computer and cluster are a Matched Pair, have to be re-Paired if either is swapped out
You could get BOTH, cluster and computer, WITH KEYS, from a 2004 to 2011 manual trans Ranger, so they are already Matched

Best advice, wait for a manual Ranger to come along, you can fix or repair most other things, changing auto to manual is not easy on later models

 

[stmitch]

errrrrr my truck model year shouldnt have been mentioned. i am just wondering if it is easy to swap a 01-11 from auto to manual

I did an auto --> manual swap in my 3.0 powered truck, but the process would be the same for a 2.3 Duratec truck.

As long as both trucks have the same engine to start with, you'd need to swap the trans, PCM, and driveshaft. You will need a clutch pedal position sensor in the dash wiring harness if you don't already have one, which may require swapping the dash harness out. You may also want to switch gauge clusters (although this gets harder after 2004).