My own review of doing a 5.0L swap in a Ranger....

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Well....

It's finally done. Took a bit of time and a bit of work, but it's done....

And now I'm sad over it all.....























I WANT ONE!!!!!! (I did the swap for my dad in his Ranger).

We took the drivetrain from a 99 Mercury Mountaineer and swapped the whole thing (engine, trans, awd t-case) into a 2000 Ranger supercab 4x4 that had a 4.0l that the crank snapped on. We ended up putting the engine and trans in together without removing the fan or rad support (I'm not sure that I would recommend that method - it ended up requiring three strong guys, a skid steer loader, a couple big pry bars (in the 3-4' range), and a large shoehorn).

We had to use the transmission mount from the Explorer/mountaineer, the power steering pressure line from an Exp, had to drill one hole in the engine mount plate on the 5.0, and had to splice two wires. The rest was pretty much all plug and play. I did take the power steering cooler off and flip it over so that it cleared everything ok.

Then we got the computer flashed, had a local muffler shop bend up some stainless pipe from the cat back, and put a dual in - dual out Magnaflow muffler on it. It sounds VERY nice! And it's a blast to drive, I almost wish Ford would have put the 5.0 in the Ranger from the factory, it certainly looks like it belongs under the hood there. Sooo much fun to drive too, I got to take it out today for a little bit, you're barely touching the gas to just roll along at speed and when you get on the throttle, away you go! I got on it a little hard going up a hill (in my F-150 if I get going around 55 at the bottom in 5th, halfway up I'm in 4th and doing about 48 mph), in the Ranger I was doing around 45 when I stepped on it halfway up the hill and was doing 60 in no time.

 

[chrwilkins30]

Wheres the pics!!

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Wheres the pics!!

I'm working on it, it's dark when I leave for work and it's dark when I get home the past couple days, plus my camera will not connect to my computer anymore and I'm not sure what the prob is. But I'll try to get some on here today or tomorrow.

 

[straycat]

Dude, wher's the photos??? Dude.....Dude, wher's the photos???

 

[Tractorman]

Was the computer reflash for the Theft lock or whatever it is called?

 

[holyford86]

Was the computer reflash for the Theft lock or whatever it is called?

Yes it was, he wasn't able to get the key or pats module out of the mountaineer so it had to be done.

 

[countryboy]

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Teaser for now....

 

[straycat]

Hope those mud flaps are gone...those things are fugly and real ground catchers...and what is that leaking out all under the truck??? Looks real bad, Dude.....

 

[adsm08]

Hope those mud flaps are gone...those things are fugly and real ground catchers...and what is that leaking out all under the truck??? Looks real bad, Dude.....

Well, that was rude. But at least you actually managed to make a post that didn't use the word "bro".

 

[holyford86]

Hope those mud flaps are gone...those things are fugly and real ground catchers...and what is that leaking out all under the truck??? Looks real bad, Dude.....

The truck was also built to be worked, not be pretty.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Hope those mud flaps are gone...those things are fugly and real ground catchers...and what is that leaking out all under the truck??? Looks real bad, Dude.....

Mud flaps are still there and are going to remain there. It's not going to be used for off-roading, it's eventually going to be used to tow a small 5th wheel camper.

And all that staining of the limestone in the driveway? It's partly from the 89 F-350 that was sitting in that spot before the Ranger which blew a hydro line for the dump body. The rest of that came from standing the engine and transmission on end (without draining the transmission first) when we put the 302 in (I was lazy and didn't want to mess with the bellhousing and t/c bolts). I spread some more limestone so it doesn't look so bad now.

Well, that was rude. But at least you actually managed to make a post that didn't use the word "bro".

The truck was also built to be worked, not be pretty.

Exactly!!

 

[holyford86]

when do we get to see some video of this thing in action?

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

when do we get to see some video of this thing in action?

Ya know, I was thinking about that very thing last night.... (except it was dark and rainy).

I'll get some vid when I can, might be a lil while though so ya'll will have to make do with pics for the moment. I've been thinking of doing a couple vid clips and stitching them together into a short YouTube like vid, provided I can figure out what I did with my video editing program I had (it never made it back on my comp after the last reformat and I'm not sure where it is).

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

when do we get to see some video of this thing in action?

Video? We can't even get engine pics... it could have a four cylinder for all we know.