My motor swap

[83bagged]

ok well i own a 1983 ranger reg cab with an automatic tranny and 2.3 carb motor.
ive checked the tech sheet and i think my tranny is a c5, but it doesnt matter anymore.

ok well i wanted the 2.3 turbo, but i couldnt find one close enough to me.

BUT I FOUND A 302 AND A C4 AUTOMATIC for sale. $600 and it only needs a distributor. he said it runs fine.

ok now i was wondering what all im looking at doing and what i should look out for and stuff?

now my truck is bagged, so fabbing up a new tranny member isnt a problem really. but what about mounts? headers? firewall? what radiator should i run? i know i will run an electric fan, im just not sure where i wire it to, i dont want it run to a toggles switch like race cars lol


thanks in advance

 

[Sevensecondsuv]

Just search for answers to many of these questions. The mounts, headers, firewall, heater box, radiator, etc have all been covered 100s of times. Typically you'd use an electronic fan controller to turn the electric fan on and off as needed.

 

[83bagged]

yea i spent alot of time last night reading through posts on here and alot of other boards.

i will probably buy the how to build ford v8 book and the book on this swap to help me out

 

[83bagged]

ok im going v8 for sure now. ive been reading for the past few days on the 2.3 turbos, thats alot of stuff to worry about.

ok ill be using a C4 transmission, now what about my driveshaft and rearend? will they work with this tranny? its an automatic if itd help any. i would french a radiator into my core and squeeze an electric fane in there. i think itll be sweet

 

[monstertruck]

I once put a 302 c-4 in a 1984 long bed myself. I found that the aerostar van has an aluminum driveshaft and it was the perfect length, picked it up for like $30 at junkyard.

 

[red85]

Driveshaft mods are unnecessary with your swap. I have the same setup in my 85 and the only change it required was to change the output yoke on the dshaft to a C4 part. BTW you likely have a C3 in there now.

 

[Mutant Pony]

If you have a c5, the driveshaft and crossmember will work fine.
You can buy a swap kit that will make things much easier. Kinda pricey though.
You can use mostly fox body mustang parts. Convertable mounts, oilpan, pickup tube, radiator, serpentine belt drive and mounts as well as the clutch fan.
The core support needs to be modified to fit the radiator. The heater housing needs to be modified to clear the right cylinder head.
You need to run a remote oil filter. There are two different ones. You want the one that the lines come out the side.
Did you look in the "Technical Library"? It is at the top of this page right under the TRS logo.

 

[83bagged]

yes ive read in the tech library and a ton of threads here rangerpowersports and just random stuff on google. doesnt look like it should be to hard. so if it is a c3 ill need the c4 output yoke, i should be able to find one. but if its a c5 it whould be ok?
i will probably be going to pick up a motor and tranny the day after christmas. he said it has a few performace parts and has just been rebuilt. only 10K on the rebuild and the tranny has a shift kit already. so that should keep me busy for a good while, and then ill have to pull my motor and tranny


thanks guys

 

[red85]

The C4 and C5 are very closely related. The C5 bellhousing is about an inch deeper than the c4. The real difference lies in the valvebodies. Alot of guys have used C5's with C4 valve bodies in their V8 swaps. I use a C5 with a C4 bell and valvebody in my setup and it works flawlessly. The output yokes are identical. I hope to see lots of pics soon. Make sure you check the fluids and bearing clearances closely before you spend a tonne of time and money on your project!

 

[83bagged]

The C4 and C5 are very closely related. The C5 bellhousing is about an inch deeper than the c4. The real difference lies in the valvebodies. Alot of guys have used C5's with C4 valve bodies in their V8 swaps. I use a C5 with a C4 bell and valvebody in my setup and it works flawlessly. The output yokes are identical. I hope to see lots of pics soon. Make sure you check the fluids and bearing clearances closely before you spend a tonne of time and money on your project!

thanks sorry i havent checked this lately. but ive been trying to get a list of parts ill need.

i know i need a new carb, oil pan, and radiator

parts im thinking about getting
1. weiand stealth intake
2. holley street avenger 6710 carb. too big? maybe a 570?
3. mustang fox body dual sump pan
4. bigger radiator frenched in my core support and id like a electric puller fan
5. new water pump 1970's model?
6. mustang tri-y headers?
7. and a hotter MSD coil
8. and a holley red fuel pump

now heres some pics

c4 tranny with a transgo shift kit (automatic)

some kind of weiand intake (i need a short rise stealth so i can clear my stock hood with a 3" body drop)

now he said that it was rebuilt and only has 10,000 miles on it. it sat up for 9 months in his shop. keith black pistons. dont know what size, oversize or forged? he said it has a cam also. no idea on the size, i think comp cam. has a weiand intake, 351 heads, and some kind of edelbrock carb. im going to use the 351 heads for now, i will upgrade later of course.

(inside of heads)

do these heads look ok?

and this isnt the same motor i talked about at the beggining of this thread. this one was 500 and closer. and seemed to be in better shape

one question: what type of distributor are yall running? hei? idk what that is? but some say hei and others say no. they say duraspark or something?

 

[baddad457]

The HEI looks retarded on a Ford. Damned thing's bigger than the carb and aircleaner.I'm running a points distributor (reman from Advance Auto $55) fitted with a Crane XR-1, fired with a Mallory Promaster EFI/points coil. It's fitted with the stock small to large cap adapter( Advance has these too) large EFI post type cap and Ford racing 9mm wires. This setup is reliable to 7500 rpms.

 

[83bagged]

The HEI looks retarded on a Ford. Damned thing's bigger than the carb and aircleaner.I'm running a points distributor (reman from Advance Auto $55) fitted with a Crane XR-1, fired with a Mallory Promaster EFI/points coil. It's fitted with the stock small to large cap adapter( Advance has these too) large EFI post type cap and Ford racing 9mm wires. This setup is reliable to 7500 rpms.

well idk what kind of dist. is on it now, but i do know that its points, but you solved my distributor part. thank you.
wait are you on rps also? theres a guy there D.Hearne from op. LA also, he has a ranger with a v8, and seems very knowledgeable

now for all the other parts... this whole v8 swap is just intimidating me, im not sure on like 60% on this stuff. im worried about getting it all right and working

 

[baddad457]

Yea, that's me too on RPS. The distributor on the motor you've got in the pics is a Duraspark. Good stuff. Little harder to wire in, but it's a keeper.

 

[83bagged]

Yea, that's me too on RPS. The distributor on the motor you've got in the pics is a Duraspark. Good stuff. Little harder to wire in, but it's a keeper.

lol d.hearne right? ok so i should just keep this dist.?

ok now i want to order a good bit of parts for the motor and the swap.

my headers, mounts, carb, radiator, oil pan, water pump, and electric fan. i will get the one wire chrom alt from jegs in about a week and ill pick up a power steering pump from a parts house soon. what should i do about my hoses though? (power steering)

and also should i run a serpentine belt system? not Vbelt? the serpentine looks better, but idk if i have to get all new pulleys yet.

 

[83bagged]

ok now what about changing the valve bodies on the c4 and c4s???

i have a c5 im pretty sure, and id like to not have to shorten it at all. the c4 has a shift kit? so could i just use the complete c4 with it and be fine? or would i have to swap whatever you said?

and id like to reuse the stock floor shifter also