Bagged and Z'd // 5.0L M50D-R2


I gave that setup to a friend who bought my old 2 door explorer sport, and although still not super current hardware I am switching it up to a 7" android tablet and Alpine CDA-117. There are much newer decks out there (although the selection of new high end single din's is getting smaller every year).

Although still a dated deck I picked up a new old stock Alpine CDA-117 because the output quality is very high and it has basic phone bluetooth use (I don't really care any other phone intergration fetures since the truck has it's own Android tablet for youtube, netflix, music, and GPS).

But I mainly chose this headunit because it allows Time Correction is compatible with the PXA-H100 IMPRINT Audio Processor and KTX-H100 Tuning Kit which is a setup I had a in a previous car and the soundstage was phenomenal so I am sticking with it as well as I already have those two parts since I kept them when I sold the car.

I was happy with the look of my old stereo bezel with the radio on bottom and screen where the ac vents were so I am starting over from scratch and just remaking essentially the same thing again. Here is making the mold for the tablet:

Bagged and Z'd  //  5.0L  M50D-R2


Bagged and Z'd  //  5.0L  M50D-R2


Bagged and Z'd  //  5.0L  M50D-R2


Bagged and Z'd  //  5.0L  M50D-R2


Bagged and Z'd  //  5.0L  M50D-R2
 
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Because I already had the stereo built to fit the stock rear cab floor and that it's a down firing enclosure I didn't want to raise the driveshaft tunnel to clear the driveshaft angle which is an big issue for a supercab when going lower with a ranger, as well as the carrier bearing crossmember hangs lower than the frame, like the transmission member does. So you need to tunnel the cab floor, notch and gusset the rear cab crossmember, and make a new center carrier bearing crossmember.

I opted to just have a custom driveshaft made, I put the carrier bearing location on the shaft 18" further to the rear. So the 2-peice splits directly at the end of the cab, all the travel is under the bedfloor. It's all Spicer 1350 solid body joints and Spicer 6.5" longtravel slip joint so that it can move alot with the 15" of rear lift the truck gets. And 18" put the carrier bearing right under the rear cab frame crossmember, so it simply bolts to that, and no additional fabrication or modifications needed.

A plug and play solution to an age old problem. :)


Bagged and Z'd  //  5.0L  M50D-R2


Bagged and Z'd  //  5.0L  M50D-R2


Bagged and Z'd  //  5.0L  M50D-R2


Bagged and Z'd  //  5.0L  M50D-R2
 
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So here is where the frame is 'De-Humped', the idea is to cut off the 1" that dips lower than the main frame and replate the bottom. I did it a different way I just sectioned 1" out of the frame side and then flattened the stock frame up to close the gap and welded. No fabrication needed literally just cut and weld basically for free and the rear of the truck is 1" lower.


Bagged and Z'd  //  5.0L  M50D-R2


Bagged and Z'd  //  5.0L  M50D-R2


Bagged and Z'd  //  5.0L  M50D-R2
 
Next was to start the Z, first weld the front frame sides together so they don't spread once it's cut loose, make marks along your cut line to match up the drop, and then slice the frame. I went 2.5"

So here is how the frame sits once you've de-humped and cut the Z, which still needs to be plated obviosly..

Bagged and Z'd  //  5.0L  M50D-R2


Bagged and Z'd  //  5.0L  M50D-R2
 
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I picked up a running 2000 Mountaineer w/ 89,000 for $700 and robbed everything off it to do the 5.0 swap.

I pulled the Motor, Engine Harness, Chassis Harness, Engine ECU, GEM Module, PATS Module, Gauge Cluster, Overhead console wiring, Ignition Switch, Keys/Fobs, and Door Locks. Then Sold the shell on craigslist 2 days later for $400, so I ended up with a 100% complete 5.0 swap for $300. :)

Bagged and Z'd  //  5.0L  M50D-R2


Bagged and Z'd  //  5.0L  M50D-R2


Bagged and Z'd  //  5.0L  M50D-R2
 
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Now here is test fitting the motor on the frame, I used a 2003 F150 M50D-R2 5-speed transmission, the early 90's version of this trans has the shifter further towards the dash, the 99+ version has the shifter in the proper place to match the Ranger stock location.

I was able to get one from a junkyard for $125 with 60,000 miles. Kinda funny that at $425 total the coveted Manual 5.0L swap turned out to probably be the cheapest part of the build.

Bagged and Z'd  //  5.0L  M50D-R2


Bagged and Z'd  //  5.0L  M50D-R2


Bagged and Z'd  //  5.0L  M50D-R2


Bagged and Z'd  //  5.0L  M50D-R2
 
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The trucks previous air system was removed (5 gallon, 2 viair comps, MAC 3/8 manifold) and being replaced with a 12 gallon, SMC 1/2" valves, and York 210 EDC. As well as the old APC mechanical Gauges being swapped out for Glowshift Stepper Motor digital gauges.

Bagged and Z'd  //  5.0L  M50D-R2



Here you can see the current APC airbag gauges that will be swapped out with the GlowShift. (I will be changing out the indiglo gauge faces for something different as well)

Bagged and Z'd  //  5.0L  M50D-R2
 
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I removed the Power steering pump and made brackets to mount the York EDC in that location, then welded the PS bracket on the opposite side of the motor underneath the alternator. This allowed the additional accessory to be added and PS pump moved without having to and any more idler pullies to the setup. I also modifed the coilpack bracket to be moved over to the left for clearance of the York fittings and lowered it alot just for looks to slim it down some.

Bagged and Z'd  //  5.0L  M50D-R2


Bagged and Z'd  //  5.0L  M50D-R2


Bagged and Z'd  //  5.0L  M50D-R2
 
When going lower and lower you generally keep cutting the upper bag cup shorter and shorter. This makes it a huge pain the ass to run and hook up the air lines as you start running out of room. Cutting down cups for this truck was going to get to the point where there really isn't much cup left. So I decided to plasma cut out the original coil spring mount pocket and pierce the cup through the frame and just make them part of the truck, which also allowed me to angle the cup to match the bag angle better than the stock coilspring cups angle did.

Bagged and Z'd  //  5.0L  M50D-R2


Bagged and Z'd  //  5.0L  M50D-R2




Here is the a tacked in place. You can see how much this typical size ranger air cup is pushed through. (once the upper arm mounts where cut off and replaced with the raised ones, the bag cup was also cut flush to the frame and frame pocket gusseted, I will hopefully find those pictures soon)

Bagged and Z'd  //  5.0L  M50D-R2
 
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Next is replacing the 2wd spindles with the 4wd version. The centerline of the axle on a 4wd is a 1/2" higher from the lower balljoint than the 2wd version, so it is essentially a 'drop spindle', but there are two more main reason why I wanted to run the 4wd spindle. One reason is the removable brake rotor, as I plan to do a big brake conversion to wilwood or brembo down the road once the truck is closer to being on the road again so ditching the stupid 1-piece rotor/hub combo was a must, and the other reason is wheel fitment. The 4wd rotor setup is slimmer than the 2wd version and puts the wheel mounting face 1/2" more inboard, as well as the center bore bearing snout and cap bullshit of the 2wd is gone so now you have alot more 'car style' wheel choices that don't have to clear it and you can now install the center cap on most aftermarket wheels.

So to wrap that up the benefits are:

1/2" 'drop spindle'
1/2" inboard for more aggressive wheel offset/lip
Allows fitment of 'car style' wheel centerbores and the use of their centercaps
Allows easy custom conversion of big brakes

Bagged and Z'd  //  5.0L  M50D-R2


Bagged and Z'd  //  5.0L  M50D-R2
 
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The two problems to overcome when converting to 4wd spindles is that the 4wd upper balljoint is a larger diameter (lower is identical) and you still need the cv axle bolted through to hold compression on the hub bearings.

So you need to use the 4wd upper balljoints but I am running MMW Jeebus joints on the upper arms, MMW only made 2wd joints at the time, so I sent Taylor a new 4wd ball joint to model and he made a pair of replacement pins to install in my existing Jeebus arms.

Bagged and Z'd  //  5.0L  M50D-R2



And for needing the cv axle to hold the hub together I decided to just lathe off the stub from the end of a stock axle to essentially make a bolt from it. An easy enough solution.

Bagged and Z'd  //  5.0L  M50D-R2


Bagged and Z'd  //  5.0L  M50D-R2
 
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Here is cutting out plates for boxing in the Z

Bagged and Z'd  //  5.0L  M50D-R2


In these pics you can also see the how bag cups are pierced through the frame


Bagged and Z'd  //  5.0L  M50D-R2


Bagged and Z'd  //  5.0L  M50D-R2



I used 2 engine stands to make a quick rotisserie to be able to rotate the frame 360 for cleaning, welding, and painting. (this panorama phone pic makes everything look squeezed or stretched)


Bagged and Z'd  //  5.0L  M50D-R2
 
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These are the OBX gt40p headers, they fit just fine.


Bagged and Z'd  //  5.0L  M50D-R2


Bagged and Z'd  //  5.0L  M50D-R2


Bagged and Z'd  //  5.0L  M50D-R2
 
Some of the basic upgrades the engine swap is getting..

Accufab 2" Throttle Body Spacer with K-Tuned Billet Throttle Body and Billet MAF housing

Bagged and Z'd  //  5.0L  M50D-R2


Bagged and Z'd  //  5.0L  M50D-R2


Bagged and Z'd  //  5.0L  M50D-R2
 
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Are you staying with stock heads? Going with forced induction?

The only reason I ask is because that 80mm throttle body is far too large for a stock engine. It'll definitely remove a lot of throttle response from idle.. Unless you're swapping heads/intake or plan on running a power adder.
 

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