Big change of plans...

[shane96ranger]

Ahhh, I missed that. Thanks Rick.



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[JoshT]

Well I gotta pull the engine back out to fix my oil pan some other odds and ends and I'm heavily considering switching my efi out for a carb setup. Has anyone else done this to an explorer engine ? I want to get a stand-alone computer and keep my trans but I'd put a nose cone and strip out all of my 4x4 equipment. I also figured it'd be much easier to cam and tune and engine successfully if it was carbed. anyone have any advice or parts they used on such a swap? I'm not sure how to go about making sure certain parts would fit the newer 302 and the gt40 heads like a manifold or cam. Any help would be great, Thanks!!

Definitely stick with the EFI if for no other reason than your vehicle has to be inspected. For you to put a carb on that truck you are looking at at least $600 in parts to get it running, then it's another $600 for the transmission controller. That's at least $1200 in parts to convert to carb if you buy everything new. Even if you have everything but the trans controller, that $600 will probably fix your truck with a couple hundred left over.

You already have the system installed and it was working great. More than likely what ever was causing your lean condition, probably a sensor, got worse and is causing the problem. What ever it is I'm confident that these guys can get you fixed up and going.

If you don't mind my asking why do you want to remove all of the 4x4 components?

*EDIT*

I see from your other thread that you are trying to lower the truck. TBH your best/easiest method of reaching that goal is to replace the 4wd truck with a 2wd truck. You can replace the spindles with edge spindles and keep the rest of the T-bar suspension, but that suspension is harder to get low. IIRC to install a 2wd coil spring front end you basically have to replace everything up front including the engine cross member. IMO keep the AWD swap to the live axles and spindles from a newer truck, I think around 04 the 4x4s got bigger brakes and that's what I'd use. Drop it as low as I can without killing the axle shafts, which it looks like you might have done from the other thread. Then I'd shock a lot of people that though they were lining up against a stock 2wd Ranger. In another thread I saw that you mentioned putting 10.5s on back, I assume that you are talking about wheels, I'd like to point out that if you do keep the AWD that you need to keep all wheels & tires the same size. I know that a 9 wide wheel will fit on front, not sure about a 10+. Even with the narrower wheel, and therefore tire, you'll get more traction with the AWD than you would get from 2 wider ones.

Judging from this pic, I think that a shackle flip would make it a little closer to level if you are going for that. IIRC the shackle flip will give you about another 2" in back. It should give it the stance of a leveled or mildly lowered 2wd, which I think would make for a great 5.0L awd sleeper.

*EDIT*

 

[Range98]

I ran a return line and used the fuel pump from the donor, donor had 103000 miles. I will test fuel pressure today after I'm done work

 

[Range98]

Well I had my ranger driveshaft shortened and balanced to put it I for this winter. I installed it about 3 weeks ago and had to take it back out yesterday. Running the awd killed something in my front differential or maybe even a cv joint. It vibrated like crazy and there was a metal on metal grinding sound. So my thinking was to simplify everything and just make he fastest street truck possible because I only kept the awd strictly for the snow anyways. And I'd lose afew hundred pounds to boot. Oh and trust me with my exhaust everyone knows its not a sleeper lol

 

[shane96ranger]

So you have something binding up in the front end? If I am understanding correctly, you need to get that eliminated. I've worked with my Brothers Explorer with a jacked up t-case, and a burnt front diff. It sure bogged down when it had issues. I can see that making it difficult to diagnose anything else.

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[Range98]

Yes sir, I couldn't even drive it anywhere and I work everyday basically so I need to get this truck fixed for good.

 

[RangerSVT]

Any type of drivetrain binding will severely affect fuel economy. Did you swap out the rear axle when you did the V8 swap? If you did, did you make sure and verify the gear ratios are the same?

SVT

 

[Range98]

I kept the ranger rear end. But after I took the front driveshaft out and I freed my hubs the grinding stopped and it drives normal. I think it's my front diff but I'm honestly not sure, the truck also felt noticeably slower in awd then in 2wd.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Ditching the hubs for a live front axle out of a later truck or Explorer would probably be a good idea if you are going to constantly run AWD.

 

[RangerSVT]

Awd does have more parasitic drag, but shouldn't be real noticeable. I would suspect a problem with the front axle...

SVT

 

[JoshT]

It sounds to me like you lowered the front end too much which is causing the CV joints to bind. Crank the t-bars up about an inch and see if that fixes the problem. You may have already damaged the axles too much though. If you are dead set on removing the 4x components deside if you want coils or torsion bars. Torsion needs less work to do, but coils will let you go much lower. I'd still keep the awd if it were mine, just run it a little higher with a little taller tire to fill out the wheel wells.

What gearing does the truck have?

Just a couple other thoughts. Exhaust doesn't much matter on a sleeper these days cause every body installs them on otherwise stock vehicles. What makes a sleeper is that the ranger closely resembles any other ranger out there, it doesn' t scream hey look at me while sitting at a traffic light. An AWD V8 ranger that looks close to a stock 2wd can definitely make for a sleeper regardless of the exhaust. If you want the fastest street truck possible then stop now any go find something else because you will be dissapointed by the ranger. If you want the fastest ranger you can manage, the awd system will help to make it faster because it can put more power to the ground than a 2wd.

The grinding could be your axle shafts rubbing against something. You have the front drive shaft out now right? I noticed that you have locking hubs installed. If you lock them in with the shaft do you head the grinding? Do you hear it with them unlocked? I suspect that your front axles are rubbing due to the lowering.

 

[Range98]

With the driveshaft in, when the hubs are locked or unlocked the grinding was there but as soon as I took my driveshaft out the grinding stopped. I think I'm gonna have to raise it up some and see if that helps.

I wanted to make a mean street ranger loud, fast, and a just a nice truck all around.

 

[JoshT]

OK, but with it out and the hubs locked does it grind. My thoughts are that with awd any time the front drive shaft is installed the axles are spinning, doesn't matter if the hubs are locked. Once you remove it the only time the axles spin is with the hubs locked. If it still grinds I am positive it is from the axle shafts rubbing against something, no grinding then it probably isn't the shafts. Most likely cause is it rubbing against something caused by lowering too much, or by bad CV joints caused by binding as a result of lowering. Either way the solution is to raise it just enough to fix the problem. It's much more likely to be the CV than the differential.

The drive shaft shouldn't cause the issue, it would isn't affected by raising or lowering the truck (unless you use a superlift kit). If it's coming from the driveshaft you have a bad joint or they messed up when modifying it.

I agree with everyone that you need to fix this problem first, it'll probably make other issues easier to find and diagnose.

 

[Range98]

With the driveshaft out, it doesn't grind if the hubs or locked or not. With the driveshaft in, it's grinds if the hubs or locked or not. I can't believe I forgot to mention this but my abs light and red brake light came on shortly after the driveshaft was installed. They are both still on.

 

[JoshT]

That tells me that the problem is not in the front end, its probably the driveshaft. The lights don't sound too good, but I cannot begin to help with abs. I'd suggest trying to pull codes on the system.