My 91 Ranger the stRanger

[Grunizzle]

ripped out the interior, cleaned, scrubbed and wiped it down with mek. Then I put my first coat of monsta liner, tinted quartz grey down

I only drive it on the weekends now. Kinda nice to save the tires. Planning a winter rebuild right now. I am debating a v8 swap or just rebuild the 4.0
Not sure what tranny t case I would go with behind a v8. Also planning on a 9 inch rear end, and a traction bar. Other than that I wheel it and park it ha

 

[SeanWilson]

How did that Monstaliner work out for you?
i was thinking about buying that for the rocker panels around my truck.
did you like the product and how it went on and ect.?

 

[Grunizzle]

The kit was very nice, good instructions, labels and high quality stuff. It was easy to put on, just the surface prep takes a long time if you do it right. But you just now the catalyst into the big can, (or a 2 gallon bucket if using tinted monstaliner) and get to rolling. After the 1st coat dries do your second coat. Dry times vary but the instructions describe all of that

 

[knapp95]

nice truck!

 

[deathbypsi]

My $.02

Go 5.0

We all know any trans that bolts to the 4.0 is a problem waiting to happen.

A v8 opens up your options for a much stronger drivetrain. If you go 5.0 and a C4 you can keep your current doubler setup.C4's are cheap to build and pretty much bulletproof behind a mild v8.

If you go AOD you cant use your doubler due to output spline count differences but it opens up your options to much bigger and stronger t-cases.AOD's are a bit more to build and some of those other t-cases are a tight fit for our narrow frames.

 

[Grunizzle]

Yes that is all true. I am leaning toward a 5.0 swap as well. I really would like to have a manual though also, mostly just because my auto ranger is boring to drive. I like the idea of a full manual valve body, but that kind if defeats the purpose of an auto

 

[deathbypsi]

I have never looked into it myself but years ago I ran into a local guy who had a 88 Bronco2 that he swapped a 302/t5 into. I just remember him saying something about using trans parts off a s10/s15 Chevy.

Mite be worth lookin into.

 

[RANGERROD]

T5 is junk I blew 3 up in my jeep on the street with a straight 6. Granted not the exact same t5 but definitely the same family. I've got a manual valve body in my ranger and I love it it's fun to shift like a stick but easy to wheel like an auto. Just wish I had overdrive and more power. 5.3 you know you want too!

 

[Grunizzle]

T5 is junk I blew 3 up in my jeep on the street with a straight 6. Granted not the exact same t5 but definitely the same family. I've got a manual valve body in my ranger and I love it it's fun to shift like a stick but easy to wheel like an auto. Just wish I had overdrive and more power. 5.3 you know you want too!

Yeah after talking with you I considered it, but what can I say, I bleed blue lol. What valve body and shifter did you use?

My boss at work used to build 302 race engines so I have been bouncing a lot of ideas off him and an 5.0 bored a littled over, new pistions, rv cam and intake is kinda where I am leaning now.

 

[bobbywalter]

its easy to adapt the r2 manual or aod to use your rbv doubler...600 or less usually.


http://www.advanceadapters.com/categories/adapter-kits/191/0/0/0/3/0/0/0/

if you use the aod kit it could keep the t cases where they are now which is a huge bonus


i would use this one and buy shafts again if you want a stick....


50-4502
Ford full-size truck 4wd 5 speed manual transmissions (31 spline) to the Ford BorgWarner 1350 transfer case, adapter kit
$487.83


but really i would go 5.3 and get the 700 adapter for my doubler.......win with driveshafts, power and mpg....big win on overall costs as well all things being equal.

 

[bobbywalter]

I have never looked into it myself but years ago I ran into a local guy who had a 88 Bronco2 that he swapped a 302/t5 into. I just remember him saying something about using trans parts off a s10/s15 Chevy.

Mite be worth lookin into.

may have been one of my builds.


i used a few eagle transmissions as well.

any healthy 302 kills them.

 

[deathbypsi]

may have been one of my builds.

Well it was orange and ran around Toledo Ohio.

I ran my current efi 5.0/c4 combo in my old 90 Bronco2 for a couple years before I parted it out and started my truggy.
My motor is a stock rebuild using all 87-88 mustang parts. Stock cam advanced,roller rockers,ported heads,headers,pulleys,65mm throttlebody and a speed density ecm. On 35's and 3.73 gears this thing had tons of power and I drove it 80 miles round trip to work everyday and got 18mpg on the e-way. If I had to guess I would say it makes an easy 240-250hp and well over 300ft/lb.

 

[RANGERROD]

Truth^^^
I running art Carr reverse manual valve body. Grab the 4l60e too and the whole package will out run a pepped up 5.0. 5.0 is old technology.

 

[Grunizzle]

Yes the 5.0 is old technology, but I'm not trying to reinvent the wheel or anything with this swap.

As of now the plan is:
Mild 5.0 rebuild
Headman headers
Making my own motor mounts
New FI wiring harness
3 inch exhaust

Rebuilt c4 tranny with an AA c4 to atlas
Atlas t case; Unsure of the ratio I want yet
Reverse manual valve body

I have a line on a rebuilt c4 right now, but this swap isn't going to happen overnight. Hopefully by post christmas season I will be doing the install.

The reason I am going with an atlas this time instead if just adapting to my current doubler, is I want to use the concept of KISS. Keep it simple stupid. I want less items in the drive train, and I don't want to worry about parts failing when I am out in the middle of nowhere. Not that my current setup has, but piece of mind is wonderful thing sometimes. I will lose some final crawl ratio, but I'm hoping an auto will help remedy that somewhat.

Also after the rebuild, I am going to give the truck a much needed repainting

 

[bobbywalter]

5.3 swaps probably vastly outnumber sbf swaps now for off road rigs as a collective..as in the last 5 years activities surpassed the previous 30 years.


your not reinventing the wheel.....your pussying out going with a 5.3. its the easy button for efficient power.


i would have to say going 302 is the hard way to get power these days.


nothing wrong either way i guess.... for awhile it was perplexing to me why anyone would use a ford powertrain when they were starting from scratch and had no parts but were just planning....

but really its more natural to go with a 302 for rbv's after i thought about it long enough the last few years.


but when your having to buy a trans, t case and engine and mount them custom anyway why not go with an easy low mile engine with a cam swap gets a 400 hp factory variant that only cost 350 bux to have its harness reworked and a custom calibration tune setup for you, so the wiring is cake....


all obd2 to make things real easy on down the road....


hey... call me crazy, but all things being equal i see that as an easy way out any guy can do on their own in a parking lot...and rented cherry picker. the major issue for me is oilpans. the cast steel manifold you can modify yourself as well in some cases.