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RangerFabWorks
The O.G blackwidow67
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TRS 20th Anniversary
V8 Engine Swap
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2009
- Messages
- 5,291
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- Age
- 34
- Vehicle Year
- 1990
- Transmission
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UPDATED ENGINE SWAP MATERIAL, FOR URS TRULY, DOORGUNNER.
REMEMBER, ITS JUST PLAIN STUPI(E)D
REMEMBER, ITS JUST PLAIN STUPI(E)D
Sub Thread...2.9L to SBC Engine Swap
He-e-e-ere w-e-e-e-e g-o-o-o-o-o-o !....(I'm gonna keep all the swap pics in this reply/where's that camera?)
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To the go-rajjjjj
I found the engine......time to take the Ranger apart up to the firewall....
back to the go-rajjjj....hood(s) are off
back to the go-rajjjj.....gots to remove bumper since it's braces go THRU the fenders!
it's off........
back to the go-rajjjjj...........passenger's fender is off (no sense in dropping an engine on it!)
back to the go-rajjjjj......driver's side fender is off.....
back to the go-rajjjjj.......all firewall -to-engine wiring & stuff disconnected...
back to the go-rajjjj.....grill & radiator removed...
2.9L on the hoist.......
almost out of the chassis.....
it's hanging by........the coil wire!.....
it's all da way out!......
now for a good corner to put in in until I can bolt it to the test stand...
That's it for today....(unless I caint sleep tonite.....WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaa)
Tuesday.......firewall is de-wired.....
firewall with heat/noise blanket........(pic is foggy)
Time for lunch--then back to go-rajjjj.....
Slight Change of plans....I'm gonna install heat/noise blanket under the cab too while it's easy to get to.....
Back to the go-rajjj.......I used up one of those spare hours, but the transmission/cat underside of the cab is covered with heat /noise deflective stuff....
annnnnd.....You younger guys need to take notice of the details when doing a V-8 swap.....see if you can spot the improvement...
Did you see what I'm talking about???.....Notice how I took the time to make sure all the rust/dirt/grease/racoon hide/etc. were all covered equally with the black gloss paint to give an even shine on the chassis...I learnt that on another thread! .Waaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahahahaa...
Back to the go-ra.......OOPs....I gotta shut down for the day....gotta go with a friend to a Bible readin'.........!!!!!!!
Back from the Bible reading bout 11pm......snack time!....getting ready to unbolt sbc from test stand & lift it with atv hoist...
Is this engine really supposed to fit where the 2.9l was?????????????......Gimme a tube of grease!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh well....the hoist lacked 2" of raising the sbc high enough to get it off the test stand......so.....let the air outta the test stand tires...then pry thr test stand out from under the sbc....2 hrs. later (2:30 Wed. morning)......it's almost in place.....
O.K.......3"s btwn the dist. and the firewall.....that's gooooood.....the engine can go back 3 more inches...(when I lower the engine on the motor mounts....I oughta get an inch clearance between the dist. & the firewall)
However.......ZERO inches at transmission mount.......(no problem....where's my de-riveter/chop saw????)
Wednesday morning...I think....
Oooops......gotta deliver my Father I. L. 's atv to his house......(that's 3 hrs. round trip.....)
I removed the xmsn x-member & cut the lenght down to 30"...(15" < center > 15 ")
There.....add a flex-transmission mount the right thickness (to be determined) to hold the xmsn to the x-member & wait to drill the frame mounting holes after installing the motor mounts......I'll remove the OEM rivets & frame brackets later.....
OOOOPs......Stupied me......when I bolted the new xmsn mount to the fatter sbc/xmsnnnnnn....the oem crossmember became too high at the hump (shoulda seen that & bought a Ranger xmsn mount---it's half as thick as the Chevy mount!!!)......when I flipped the x-member up-side down...it was too low...I shoulda remembered what I read in other engine swap threads..bit twice!
So, I cut a piece of 2" heavy duty angle iron to 30" length/notched the ends to fit inside the frame rails/grinded a flat spot on the ridge of the angle-iron/drilled a center hole thru it for the xmsn flex-mount center stud/bolted everything together for a temporary x-member...
Here's the temp. x-member in place....now that the xmsn is where it needs to be...I can whittle on the oem x-member later on until it fits correctly....then put it in place of the angle-iron once the truk is driveable...
The engine needs to slide back 1 more inch to get the dist. 1" from the firewall.....
Now I understand why a 1/4" thick flat adapter plate needs to be made to "move" the passenger's motor mount 3" forward on the engine crossmember.....
My mistake!!!.....Adapter plate needs to be 7" x 7" instead of 6" x 6".....
The driver's side motor mount is about 5/8" rearward on the crossmember.....close enough for me....but I will need to trim about 3/8" off the top front corner of the motor mount next to the steering rag-joint for clearance.....
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There are several ways to adapt the passengers side motor mount to the engine crossmember...I'm gonna try this one...(4am-yawn)
**Adapter plate needs to be 7" by 7" to keep bolt holes from being too close to the edge of the plate****
Thursday a.m.......I think.....
Adapter plate with m.mount bolted in place......now I'll bolt the mount to the engine...level everything & center the tailshaft of the xmsn with the OEM driveshaft.....then use a long drill to drill from the underside of the engine x-member using the original bolt holes as a guide to drill thru the adapter plate....(machinist talk>>>drill = bit )
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The assembly is bolted to the engine & being lowered onto the engine x-member.....
Passenger side m.mount/adapter plate in place & c-clamped.....
Mounting holes have been drilled thru adapter plate wwith a 14" long drill(bit) using OEM x-member motor mount holes as guides for the 2 new holes in the adapter plate/bolts have been put in & wrenched tight....
Drivers side m. mount notched to clear steering rag joint at steering box...(I probably couls have used the OEM Ranger motor mounts by making adapter plates for both sides)
Drivers side m. mount sitting in place....It was drilled & bolted in like the passengers side....but I lost the pic....duhhhh...
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Gotta go to town....be back in a couple hrs. with xmsn flex-mount.......
I spent most of the day in town....(shoulda been finished yesterday cept for all the honey-do's)
Soooo....the engine got the easy side done first....too tired to do the steering side first....
Try it again Friday morning......(oh....gotta cut the power steering pump aloose & move it up about 3 or 4 inches & re-weld it to clear the steering box......no biggy.....where's my V.A. dru......errr...ahhh...medication?????????????
Friday!!!...Alright.......let's do the easiest thing first til the meds wear off....the drivers side Block-Hugger Header needs 1/2" clearance at the engine x-member & at the top of the frame rail......probably 30 minutes of trimming metal.....(oooops....and a bolt in the top of the engine flex-mount...it's easy to see where I trimmed the top of the mount earlier to clear the steering rag joint...I should have moved the bolt holes lower in the clam-shell...then I wouldn't need to trim the top of the flex-mount....ahhhh...V.A. drugs)
I ended up removing the top right corner of the clamshell to give the front tube of the header 3/4" clearance & removed 1/2" off the top of the framerail to give 1" clearance at the 2 middle tubes.....
Now I don't need 5 hands & a pry-bar...the header drops into place!!!
Back to the go-rajjjjj......Time to move the pwer steering pump up a few inches.....
Good news...I only have to move it up 2"...if I cut out the piece of bracket painted white....I can reposition the pump to clear the adjusting nut/screw on the steering housing....
Annnnd....since the '36 Ranger grill is 2 feet narrower (RangerSportHonduras hates when I say that!) I will also be able to get the large steering-pump pulley inside the left-side engine cowl......
1 hour later......accessory bracket is removed & cuts are made........
Back to the go-rajjjj...... slap it all back together......sitck the pump in place.....& if it all fits........more picks in an hour....
It fits!.....here's a couple pics of the complteted modification....
back to the go-rajjj.....fan is on....serpentine is on.....radiator is on....gallon of gas is connected to carb....guess what's gettin cranked up first thang in the morning........
OOOOPs....since I mis-placed the smog pump...so I added an idler pulley in place of it (until I pick up another pump) to get the right tension on the nearly new serpentine belt instead of buying a shorter belt...
It runnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnns!......It runnnnnnnnnnnnnns!....No drips....No smoke....No driveshaft!????.....tomorrow...exhaust hook-up/modifications!!!!!!!....might even do the driveshaft hybridization with a Chevy yoke on the xmsn end///Ford U-Joint on the tail end (did too much road-runnin for Precious today to git anything accomplished/maybe she won't find this)......
REDTI: The first video downloaded for an hour!!!but wouldn't play.........I tried again in the dark & got some good flame shots outta the headers, but the computer sayyyyyyyed it wasn't compatable with the camera
Sunday...
I'm just laying back todaay.....I bought a pressure regulator (but everybody was sold out of "return style" reg's)....I bought a few brass fittings and made a return port with a internal pressure reducer (the cone-shaped piece) that will fit inside the return line to the tank.
The left side of the Reg. is the carb side....The top right fitting is for the OEM '89Ranger electric fuel pump line...the cone fitting is for the tank-return line...
The tank plumbing is done to & from the carb......pressure guage.......inline clear fuel filter.....regulator.....
The real purrddy regulator didn't work....at all...will exchange tomorroew...I took the regulaotor back/they didn't have the return style in stock....so I drilled thru the cone shaped brass plug and pressurized the fuel system...a .040 drill(bit) wasn't large enough/it still had 50 lbs. of pressure...
It took 2 more times with larger drills each time to get the pressure to 8psi at the guage(carb fitting).....We don't need no stinking $100 regulator!!!!!1
Here's an updated picture of the fuel lines with the pressure regulator removed & the return lined installed with the drilled out cone inside the return line....huh????
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The wiring gave me 3 headaches at one time......so I'm going to do the driveshaft....cutting the rivets off to remove the d-shaft support brace....
The tail-end is unbolted from the rear end & the assembly is lowered.....
Looks like I've got to lengthen the sbc shaft about 15".....
I used a radiator clamp as a guide to cut the driveshafts (I measured from the fixed u-joint eyes & tightened the hoseclamp in place to make the cut....
I measured how much OEM ranger shaft i needed and added 6" to that length (the 6" extra will slide into the larger sbc shaft until I have 65" total from the SBC xmsn end u-joint to the OEM Ranger add-on tail-section u-joint....
Since the hybrid shaft isn't a tight fit where the two pieces slide together, I'll wrap some metal sheet around the Ranger shaft section to get a tap-in fit.....then twist the Ranger shaft section to line up the fixed u-joint eyes with those on the sbc shaft.....
Then I'll set the drive shaft on v-blocks and use a dial indicator to keep the shaft true/straight as I tack-weld the 2 pieces together ........then test fit the hybrid on the truck.....then set it back on the v-blocks & slowly weld it solid....
Innnnnnnnstalled!!!!!!!!!!
Ready for a good xmsn cable laffffffff......the B&M shift lever is in first & the shift lever arm on the sbc xmsn is in Park!!...guh-huk'guh-huk!
will fix tomorraaa.....or the next day....
edit;
I sawed off most of the OEM chevy xmsn shift-arm and welded a universal shift arm to the part of the oem arm that slides onto the xmsn shift shaft...huhhh?
then I modified a universal bracket to hold the shift cable in the right spot on the side of the xmsn....
then I floor-mounted the B&M Unimatic shifter/put it in the Park position/ran the cable to the xmsn shift bracket & bolted it on/adjusted the linkage to engage all gears on the auto/xmsn....
I managed to get the throttle & kick-down cables right in only a day & 1/2...NAPA & Advance have some replacement Ball End Studs(the little shaft with the -ball-on-the-end that the carb cables snap onto)...ahhh...V.A. drugs.....what would I do witout em??????
Back to the go-rajjjjj......(Thursday?....scratch that.......EDIT: Sunday/tomorrow.....that is....)
the drugggggggggggssssss rrrrrrrrrrrrtekinggggg efffffektttttt......zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Monday nite.......the passenger side firewall is de-wired.....be sure to save every piece of wire/connectors....you'll need em.....
the passengers side firewall is Re-wired.......looks like the Tin-Man...guh-huk!!!
the drivers side firewall is de-wired & almost re-wired......
Wednesday......I'm staying away from the wiring today.....so here's whats happening to the headers.....I mocked up the 90 degree bend & welded it into place....now to the parts store for the drivers side bend......there's a good view of the passengers side motor mount adapter plate....
It looks like the starter is in the way, but it's only the camera angle----the down-tube easily bolts in place with 1" clearance from the starter.....
It's a different story on the drivers side header...the header tube overlaps the frame bracket by 1/2" .....the down-tube won't fit unless I modify the the connector pipe that's bolted to the block-hugger header (I could have avoided the prob. by using another type header....but that would have made it too easy...LOL!)
I cut notches in 2 different places....tapped the gaps closed with the ball peen...test-fitted the hybrid...then welded everything up.....
It fits!!!!!!!!!!........
About 3 hrs. and 2 trips to the store.......the passengers side header is connected to the tailpipe...errr....Harley muffler...
Annnnd yes.....that is the new cat that was on the 2.9L engine...don't ask why....it's the v.a. u no watts.......
Now to crawl back to the go-rajjj and start on the drivers side exhaust....
the exhaust is did......here's a couple pics........
cross-over pipe to drivers side header......not easy to see but it's there...
Now...if I hadn't put a 1" gash in the xtra long oil filter while fitting the drivers side exhaust.....I could crank it up & see wut it sounds like!!!!!!!!!!! Maybe tonite after the trik/treeters go home??????
I tried...I tried real hard.....but the ************** camera only recorded about 30 seconds of the V8 running before it got stupied.....
Click on the pic!!!!!!
It's About Time!!!!!...........It's going back together!!!!!!!!!!.........
GGGGGGrrrrrillll first....
Adding another reflective layer of engine/side-panel insulation....
Bolting the passengers fender assembly back on..........
Well.....I tried to get a little done today........forward 2........back 1&1/2............
I decided that the engine side-panel should not be bolted to the fender too...... (it's already bolted to the cab & grill).....
So I separated the 2 pieces......now 4 bolts can be removed from the side-panel to work on anything....starter, header, plugs, head, distributor, carb,.........
Driver's side view......I gotta re-route the power steering hoses now that I raised the p/s pump up a couple inches (to clear the engine panel.......
Passengers side engine panel & fender are lined up & bolted back in place.....
Time to deal with the steering shaft & header.......the front tube is eggg-zakly in the way.....
the other 3 tubes are low enough to clear the shaft....
The front tube is cut & ready to be fitted with a new Jegs tube......
About 2 hours later (yeaaah....i'm slowwww) the new tube is fitted in place & somehow i managed to route it AWAY from the spark plugs....(wouldn't that be a blast.....yanking the header to change the front 2 spark plugs!)
Another hour later.......the new tube is welded in place..from this angle it's easy to see how much the front tube is off-set compared to the rear tube...(the engine side panel fits so close to the headers because of the angle at the '36 grill ..... that S10 headers would burn the paint off the engine panel)
There.....a thick coat of high quality black paint to seal off any pinholes in my welds....................Waaaaaaahahahahahahahah.......
About 3 hours of measuring drilling cutting getting cut welding sawing hammering painting bolting re-cutting more drilling & 5 minutes to admire it (not that it's outstanding work.....im' just amazed that it's done!)......including the fuzzy pic.........
Keep in mind the '36 cab is about a foot narrower across the dash causing me to do a lot of extra mods to keep everything from rubbing on everything else.......Waaaaaaaahahahahhhaha--old man cough--catch breath---Waaaahahahahahahhahaa.....get a little dizzy.......calm myself down........
Dec. 2, 2009 A.D.
Actual photos of stirring weel and break pedel in place without rubbing against each other....(for the 3rd time----Waaaaaa)
The engine is officially finished.........
