LS Swapped Ranger

[Curious Hound]

It can be done "on the cheap" if you can do it yourself. Junk yard engine without rebuild and transmission, Ebay turbo, turbo piping, intercooler, engine mounts, drive shaft, aftermarket ecu, instrument clusters and miscellaneous, I would expect around $2500 - $3000 doing it yourself. If you can find someone interested in doing it for you, I would guess at least twice that much.

But those are wild, semi-educated ballpark guesses.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

It can be done "on the cheap" if you can do it yourself. Junk yard engine without rebuild and transmission, Ebay turbo, turbo piping, intercooler, engine mounts, drive shaft, aftermarket ecu, instrument clusters and miscellaneous, I would expect around $2500 - $3000 doing it yourself. If you can find someone interested in doing it for you, I would guess at least twice that much.

But those are wild, semi-educated ballpark guesses.

I could see it easily going double that DIY.

Engine ($250 used 302), trans ($250 C5 automatic), carb, radiator, used 302, mounts, headers/exhaust, alternator, water pump, pulleys, belt etc I always figured I had an easy two grand in my initial swap.

Engine, trans and exhaust I was at $1k.

And that is a cave pig simple carburated 302 swap 10 years ago.

Took me a month of evenings and weekends to do it in a fully furnished shop too.

 

[Officer860]

It can be done "on the cheap" if you can do it yourself. Junk yard engine without rebuild and transmission, Ebay turbo, turbo piping, intercooler, engine mounts, drive shaft, aftermarket ecu, instrument clusters and miscellaneous, I would expect around $2500 - $3000 doing it yourself. If you can find someone interested in doing it for you, I would guess at least twice that much.

But those are wild, semi-educated ballpark guesses.

I appreciate the response. I’ve been thinking of just going all out on it and doing a rebuild on a 5.3 and getting precision turbo or maybe even just a procharger set up. I just haven’t jumped on it yet. What suspension did you go with?

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I appreciate the response. I’ve been thinking of just going all out on it and doing a rebuild on a 5.3 and getting precision turbo or maybe even just a procharger set up. I just haven’t jumped on it yet. What suspension did you go with?

If there is a suspension for a turbocharged 5.3 street truck... It isn't @ericbphoto's...

 

[Curious Hound]

I appreciate the response. I’ve been thinking of just going all out on it and doing a rebuild on a 5.3 and getting precision turbo or maybe even just a procharger set up. I just haven’t jumped on it yet. What suspension did you go with?

I'm running a Skyjacker 6" lift kit for suspension. My engine is still a stock 3.0l v6. I'm slowly building a supercharged 3.0l to put in it, which I expect might cost about the same as what I guesstimate for an LS swap - and that's with me doing almost all the work.

I have several co-workers who are Chevy fans and do LS swaps, turbos, etc. That is where I got my guesstimated price from. I know what they have to do. We talk about it all the time at work. I hear what they pay for parts. I would guess that an LS swap could be cheaper than building a 302 or 5.0l to put in ( unless you get an entire Explorer donor vehicle cheap) simply because there is a bigger aftermarket for the Chevy stuff, so it's cheaper and more readily available. It all depends on what you want, what you can do for yourself and what you want to spend.

 

[n2xlr8n]

I had to make my own steering shaft out of 3/4'' round bar and some universals from Speedway Motors. Added a hiem joint to hold the shaft away from the headers.

I couldn't tell from the pics- manual steering?

Great write-up, thank you.

 

[dvdswan]

I have a couple of things to add.

The stock LS2 serpentine setup from a corvette is 1-9/16" closer to the block than the stock LM7 serpentine setup. The LS2 camaro serpentine setup is about halfway between the 2 of them.

If you want AC, there is a kit that moves the compressor to the the top of the serp. setup and uses a Sandeen compressor.

 

[n2xlr8n]

Just a FYI for Gen I owners:

Not criticizing OP- his truck is really nice.

Some may already know this; I didn't. This plan doesn't work like the above example on a 1990.

The Dirty dingo 1978 240/260 Z mounts are too tall, requiring a lot of tweaking- it would have been less time-consuming to build my own.

If you're using dream beams, the stock truck oil pan barely clears the rear beam. I'm using a Holley 302-1 pan, because I need the clearance, I plan on beating this truck like a rented mule, and it hooks pretty hard.

The headers work- I used Flowtech up and forward SS shorties.

YMMV,

 

[600$04Ranger]

Thanks for all the pics! That's some attention to detail. Looks like a fun project and probably a blast to drive such a light truck with that much power. How/why did you decide the forward sweeping headers?

 

[Landry]

so I have a 2006 5.3l and I want to swap it into a ranger, could you happen to give me a full list of what all I need. I am only 19 and i am doing it by my self. If you have instagram you can find me at Ofs_Landry plz and thank you

 

[Curious Hound]

so I have a 2006 5.3l and I want to swap it into a ranger, could you happen to give me a full list of what all I need. I am only 19 and i am doing it by my self. If you have instagram you can find me at Ofs_Landry plz and thank you

Landry. The originator of this thread hasn’t posted since 2021. He may not be watching.

You’re going to need Everything with a capital E. Engine, transmission, new drive shaft, wiring harness,ECU, custom engine mounts, lots of tools, lots of patience and good problem solving ability. It’s a custom job all the way around. That’s a large engine and a small engine bay. But it’s been done.

 

[skyhighsami]

It certainly doesn't look like it but is there any room to turbo a LS and run the exhaust in front of the right rear wheels? Or for a Centrifugal supercharger setup with an intercooled Holley HI Ram to keep the charge pipe short.