Digger's 88 Ranger Swap Thread

[doorgunner]

ratttttttts!!!!

 

[Diggerauditor]

Ok I had to use a auto trans plate instead of the Manual. I only lost a bolt at the edge down below but the inspection plate will take up the slack. Yeah I know but I got tired of waiting for a Man Trans plate.

Here is the Eng and Trans together rdy to go in.



Here I am trying to get this thing in, in one piece.




So there's not enough room from the firewall to the front of the eng compartment to fit so we had to disassemble them and put them in one at a time. They went in okay with the help of a jack supporting the trans. I used the trans mount and support from the old tranny is a guide on how to configure the motor mounts.

I centered the eng as best as I could and lvled it with washers under the motor mounts. After I had tightened up everything I noticed the trans looks funny under the truck, mb an illusion I don't know. I may have to move the trans to the right about 1/2" if the driveshaft makes contact with the gas tank side. There looks to be only about 1/4" of room between the two.

Here's some picks after we got the engine in and tightened.



This is the space I have for the radiator.



I took the radiator out of a 93 Exploder with a 4.0, a/c, and auto which gives HD cooling radiator. Here is what they look like side by side and on end.




As you can see from the first pic, the surface area is roughly the same, but if you look at them on end, wow is there a diff. The HD cooling rad looks to be atleast twice the thickness of the stock 2.9.

Next comes the power steering hoses, going to have to make them. Need to find out what the sizes are for the fitting on the steering box. The pressure hose seems to be smaller than the return hose fitting. Does anyone know what size they are by chance?

I was going to hook up the speedo cable but the sensor hole has an insert that I can't remove. Does anyone know how to remedy this. I know that they went to a sensor in trans and rear end back in 2000. Can I still use the speedo cable or do I have to go a diff way. Any help would be appreciated, no luck on the search function...

 

[RangerSVT]

I gearbox end uses a 3/8 inverted male flare fitting. You should be able to use a power steering hose from a 96 f150, as I was told by another member its a bolt in swap. The return is a 5/16 low pressure line with a barbed fitting on the return side of the reservior, and a 5/16 inverted flare fitting on the gearbox/cooler....

SVT

 

[Diggerauditor]

Actually I called Ford and got the specs for the fittings before you answered. Ford said the pressure side is 5/16 inverted flare and the return is 3/8. But they didnt give me the OD of the fitting. I figured my original return line would work since its just a return line. The pressure side fitting is a 1/2 line with 5/16 inverted flare so I'm prob going have to rig something up and make my own line. The orig line is too short and is turned a lil the wrong way and the hose for the 97 Exploder set up goes into a Rack steering. Going to have to figure something out. Any ideas?

Going to drop the new dizzy in and wire up the started and Ignition system today...boring stuff...

 

[RangerSVT]

I took the stock ex pressure line, cut off the rack fitting and installed a 3/8 flare nut and just double flared the tubing. You can also have a hydraulic hose shop crimp on a 90* 3/8 fittting like I did on SVT. Pics are in the first post of the build...


SVT

 

[Diggerauditor]

Never thought of that...duh. Guess I've been over thinking it.

Got my Dizzy in. Starter wired up. Had to change Battery ground cable....man was that in bad shape, 187,000 miles on it so guess it was due. Wired up the 4G Alt. One good thing after extracting the complete wiring harness was that after I installed the Battery and got things wired up, I had power to the coil wire.

I have to get a oil filter relocation kit now, the Ford blue adapter you see in the pics wont clear the Steering box. I thought it would but I forgot the 97 Exploder had a Rack instead of a box.

 

[RangerSVT]

You will also need to get the block adapter for the oil filter. What you have now is a female thread, you need a male thread. Check out my first post in SVT thread, its covered in detail there...


SVT

 

[Diggerauditor]

I used the nice aluminum oil pan and once I got underneath realized that I only have about 1/2" clearance between the I beams and the Pan. I was going to put 4" lift brackets on it anyway, do you think that will relieve the issue of clearance.

Also, how centered is your engine in the compartment. Since my truck is 2WD I used the same Trans crossmember on how far the engine went back. I had to drill a few more holes than you did so I was wondering.

 

[RangerSVT]

It's pretty well centered, but I have almost 3 full inches the engine can move towards the firewall. The engine was placed using the stock motor mount plates from the donor vehicle as I was trying to show others that a near bolt in swap was possible without using too many custom parts. I will be making a set of motor mount plates so I can adjust my engine further back in the engine bay to give me more radiator clearance.

SVT

 

[Diggerauditor]

Sorry I've been unable to continue the on going saga of the swap here lately. Last I left off I was doing the wiring. I got the starter wired as well as the HEI dist and coil. I wired the fuel pump to a toggle switch to turn it on and off as needed, didn't want it running whenever the key was on and I was chasing wires. I plumbed the fuel pump.



I mounted it to the original mounting bracket, seemed the easiest place since the fuel line was right there. I used a 3-7 lb pump since it's carb'd and doesn't need anymore.

Here is the pump plumbed into place. I even used the original pump wiring. I ran a small piece of fuel line from the filter before the orig pump and the gold filter that came with the new pump. It's pretty much the same kind as the old style Ford filters that screwed into the carb for all us ol' schoolers. Then I just ran a new hose up the the top where the carb is.



I was hoping to start it up but the oil relocation kit adapter that I ordered was not machined with enough threads so it wouldn't go down all the way to the filter flange. I called up Trans-Dapt and they were cool, I sent them pics of what I found and they are shipping a new one out right away. Man I hope I can get this done before the snow hits.

 

[Diggerauditor]

Sorry I haven't continued the swap until now. Had a few issues recently. Hit some black ice and rolled my 00 Exploder and been dealing with all that.


Continued to work on it but hadn't posted the pics. I set up the remote oil filter and adapter, after a few issues with the Trans-Dapt adapter, they had to send me a new one. They didn't mill the threads deep enough so It wouldn't screw down all the way. I talked to Dave at Trans-Dapt and told him the situation and sent him a few pics and they sent me a new one right out. I had to attach the hoses in the forward position and then mounted the filter to the Charcoal canister mount, next to the radiator.


The next thing a worked on was the PS Unit hoses. I took my hoses down to a place that makes hoses and told them what I wanted and they looked at me like i had three heads. After talking to them for 45min, I decided to just order the fittings and make the hose myself. I ordered the fittings from summit and made the hose myself in about 20min. Really!! Not only do they look good but they will probably outlive the engine.


The next issue is the Radiator fitment. The upper hose inlet is too close to the alt pulley and interferes. I tried trimming the hose but no go. I may have to go with a smaller radiator for the clearance.


Here is the engine as it sets right now. It does start right up and runs nicely, loud as heck with no exhaust yet.


I'll keep the pics coming...

 

[Silvertooth]

thanks for taking the time to post pics of your project,its looking good. Merry Christmas

 

[Diggerauditor]

As you can see in my previous post, my radiator inlet is too close to the alt pulley. I put the hose on it and it hits the pulley. I either need some other way to mount a hose or a thinner radiator.

I got a thinner Rad but the inlet is at 90deg where the 4.0 thicker one has a 45deg inlet, which seems to be better. Anyone have any other ideas to combat my problem w/o cutting up the front core support. Any help would be appreciated.

All this work and it comes down to the stupid radiator lol...

 

[doorgunner]

What if.........you sawed 1/2 inch or more off of the radiator outlet to give yourself some extra clearance...then you bought a short radiator hose preformed elbow (or even 2 elbows)to get it to clear the alt pulley by attaching it onto the radiator outlet & turning it to clear the pulley...then you joined a flexible universal radiator hose from the engine block to the preformed elbow with a metal tube shoved into both sections of radiator hoses using radiator worm clamps to hold everything together....it took me 2 hours of trial & error to get my rad. hose to clear everything...but it's been working great.

 

[dangerranger83]

Looks good.

Didn't look like it from the pictures but did you mount the fuel pump at a 45 degree angle?

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