engine swap

[sdranger93]

hello, folks, I have a 93 2wd ranger, it has the unfortunate distinction of having been born with the 8 plug 2.3 litre catastrophe ford calls a motor, and I am planning on replacing it with a built 3.8 sc, everyone ive talked to tells me to skip it and go for a 5.0 from a foxbody gt, that v8 from the factory was around 285 horse, the sc 3.8 was only bout 50 horse short of that, with minor mods, can almost match it, and a 5.0 in a ranger has been done to death, in fact, I had an 86 I put one in, so my question is, do any of you know of any usually overlooked details on this type of swap that I should pay special attention to? I.E. sensors, switches, etc., I am going to try to do this smoothly, when I did the v8 swap on the 86, it took me a month to work out the little bugs and glitches, I really don't want to do the swap, then have to tear it back apart repeatedly to chase down probs I could have taken care of during installation, any advice/help would be greatly appreciated

 

[RonD]

What are the dimensions of the 3.8l super charged?
Wouldn't bother with N/A, 3.8l only had 8.2 compression originally so begged for boost

351 V8 is a very tight fit width and height wise vs 302
351w length 27-1/2 Inches, height 23-3/4 Inches, width 21 Inches

Length won't be an issue width and height would be what to look at, couldn't find any 3.8l dimensions on a quick search.
i.e. Steering column and exhaust manifold clearances

The wiring shouldn't be an issue if you stick with EEC-IV('94 or earlier T-bird) and harness, use MAF(for "built part")

'93 ranger has mechanical speedo/odo cable, so should adapt to most transmissions(assuming).
Other gauges are pretty standard and don't interface with computer, so no real issues there.
I think '93 oil pressure gauge can be changed to a "real" pressure gauge by adding a wire on the back of the gauge(by-pass resistor) and then use a PS60 sender on the engine.
You would have to add a boost gauge.

 

[sdranger93]

RonD, thanks for the insight, I am going to be using the ranger for drift/autocross/daily driver purposes, so I definitely want the v8 power, just not the weight, and I think the sc 3.8 after its been given a good going through, will fit the bill, i'll make sure to post pics when I start the build

 

[RonD]

Well the 3.8l's 350-400lbs weight is very light for the potential power

 

[adsm08]

The 3.8 is a horrible platform for a truck, or a car, go cart, golf cart, or lawnmower. It might not be bad for running a generator.

The 3.8 warps heads. All the freaking time. If you are set on using it you might want to consider getting good at replacing the head gaskets.

Also, the supercharger barely makes up for it's parasitic drag on the engine. I think the final net gain was less than 15 hp.

Also, HP is a worthless number. Torque is the number you really care about.

The 4.2 would be a much better candidate, overall better power numbers, no issues with the heads. The biggest thing with the 4.2 is that they are hard to come by. This is mostly because they don't break often, but the ones that do tend to do it pretty spectacularly.

 

[sdranger93]

adsm08, I appreciate your insight, and I am well aware of issues this motor has been known for, but on the other hand, im also aware of the potential it has if done right, that 15 hp gain is a factory setup, this motor will have nothing factory about besides the valve covers when its done, in regards to your comment about hp being a worthless number, without horsepower, you don't have torque, it takes one to create the other, and as far as the 4.2, from my experiences with it, its almost as gutless as the 8 plug 2.3 im getting rid of