New project 1992 Ranger Fireball

[Elutheros]

Picked up this mess with a blown head gasket yesterday. Thought I could make it the 3 miles to home, but it spilled its guts at the top of the hill AND then caught on fire! Lucky for me a guy across the street saw us and had a fire extinguisher to rescue this thing.

Fortunately the paint only bubbled on the hood--I think it will still be okay.

I kinda like the beefy bumpers--ghetto job on the fender lips is not so good.
http://www.therangerstation.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=3228&pictureid=12748

So here's the plan: I've got a 1989 EFI 5.0 available, Explorer exhaust manifolds, motor mounts that should work. The heater box already got melted into shape by the fire. Going to search for a full size Auto trans and T/C. and get to work. My goal is to have her roadworthy by September. Yes, that's slow, but I'm not in a hurry--yet.

 

[Hagan]

That's crazy! Good thing he had a fire extinguisher. How much did you pay for it?

 

[Elutheros]

Picked it up for $1200, but that included a brand new set of BF Goodrich All Terrain 33x105x15 tires which sell for $675.00. Felt like it was a good deal since I'm going to toss the 4.0 anyway.

 

[dangerranger83]

What made it catch fire, other then gasoline?

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[Elutheros]

Oil leaking onto hot exhaust manifold on the passenger side ignited. The fire was limited to the passenger side of the engine, so the fuel lines did not contribute to it. It would have probably been a lot worse if a fuel line had ruptured.

 

[Elutheros]

slow progress on the fireball

Spent 5 hours removing the old motor today:

Smokerd it pretty good:

Got a bunch of wiring harness to repair or replace: (pic taken through left fender well)

I've got some hours of cleanup ahead and I have to go pull the 5.0 out of the '89 Grand Marquis. Still on the fence about a trans/T/C.. Hoping I'll find a good deal on a M5OD2 with T/C. Gonna make a junkyard run this week and see what's available.

 

[Moore40]

Any updates on this fireball?

 

[Shoddy Cologne]

Glad that didn't happen to my old 2.9 that had bad head gaskets when i drove it foot to the floor at 15 miles an hour in attempt to make it to my shop! it's like that motor wanted to come out for the 5.0 sincwe it melted the heater box into shape

 

[Elutheros]

I've been doing some tedious, but necessary preparation work---which only produces boring pictures. Power washed the engine compartment and still trying to get all the mud from the PO's mud adventure out of the frame. Spent a couple of hours last Saturday stripping all the accessories off of the 89 Marquis 5.0 a friend is giving me. The engine was rebuilt back in 2000 and then had about 30k miles put on it before the trans died. He parked it. It turns over by hand okay and is really pretty clean considering. Bolts are relatively easy to remove. Only issues are some wires chewed by varmints.

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Have to remove one more mount bolt, disconnect the trans, exhaust, fuel lines, label the wires, remove the starter and yank the motor. Planning a trip to the junkyard to see what full size trannys are available this weekend.

 

[Elutheros]

Is this progress?

Got the harness out of the donor vehicle and bought the Harwood manual. Decided to clean up the mess of a wiring harness under the hood of the Ranger damaged by the fire. Is this what progress looks like? I'm pretty intimidated by the wiring and chose to delve into it first since it was already smoked. After hearing some of the sad stories of slots too long for motor mounts I've decided to use the fabricated steel plates on the 4.0 mounts since they are already there.
Now that I have all the pretty colors exposed I can start to figure out what has to be spliced to make this burn---rubber I mean.

 

[dangerranger83]

The trick to using the mustang mounts and cutting the slots is to cut a little at a time and test fit.

But yes the 4.0 mounts seem to be the way to go but also they allow the engine to sit higher. I'm not running a body lift and don't want to so having my engine sit lower was my goal.

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[Elutheros]

Scored at the JY today!

Spent 6 hours stripping stuff off of a Mountaineer this afternoon. Scored a set of GT40P heads, cast exhaust manifolds, intake, FEAD and a double core radiator from a 94 Explorer. All that for $225.00 and $40 in core charges. Didn't find a decent trans or T/C, but I'm sure I'll eventually find what I need.

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[Elutheros]

Finally got the engine out and moved to my garage for the build process. Amazingly clean for sitting the last 12 years. Now I need to find someone to check out my GT40P heads so I can swap them. Also have a line on a E303 cam I'd like to get.

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[dangerranger83]

One thing I would be careful with valve to piston clearance.with that cam and head combo. Those engines don't have the valve reliefs in the pistons, they are dished cast pistons.

The engines are 155hp and 288lbft of torque. A simple mustang cam swap will bump you up to 200hp. I have the same engine and did the mustang cam swap.

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[Elutheros]

dangeranger83 thanks for that tip. Do you know the specific designation for the mustang cam you used?