ranger 4.0 to aerostar 4.0 is it possible?

[crazyjack]

Im 17 and dont have to many years of experience under my belt and i could use some help. I have a 91 ford ranger with a 4.0 in it that im picking up from the previous owner with problems. The engine overheats and theres water in the oil. I understand that head gasket is blown and that needs to be changed but why did it overheat in the first place? My best guess is the water pump so im going to be replacing that. I know I need to check the cylinder compression because if it overheats to much then I will need to change the piston rings and mabe the barring... I have a 4.0 that came out of a aerostar and if the piston rings are shot would it be easier or possible to swap the engine with the aerostar? Ive heared they dont fit but I dont see why they wouldnt.. anything helps I love learning new tricks and secrets from all you mechanical veterans please help!

 

[David88]

The motor sits sideways in the Aerostar right? It's a minivan? If I'm thinking of the right vehicle, it's because the motor sits sideways. They were designed to be compact and drive a FWD transmission. It won't have the motor mounts to mount sideways or a bolt pattern to match up to the Ranger Transmission.

The motor mounts go on what we normally consider the front and rear of the engine rather than the left and right sides. If there are bolt holes on the sides, who knows. You might get to be the first to do the swap and add to the Library.

 

[shane96ranger]

The motor sits sideways in the Aerostar right?

No, they have a rear axle.


What year is the Aerostar. It should work OK, might need to mess with some sensors and such though.

 

[David88]

Aerostar is the big one that comes in AWD? Or is it the Windstar... one of those contraptions has a sideways motor.

 

[armadillon]

Just google Aerostar engine bay. Not that hard.

 

[Snoranger]

Aerostar is the big one that comes in AWD? Or is it the Windstar... one of those contraptions has a sideways motor.

Aerostar ≈ Ranger.

Windstar ≈ Taurus.

 

[shane96ranger]

Aerostar is the big one that comes in AWD? Or is it the Windstar... one of those contraptions has a sideways motor.

Yes there was an AWD version of the Aerostar as well as push button 4WD. Also believe there was even a manual transfer case version.

The Windstar is indeed a FWD.

 

[robertc1024]

Uh - I think you mean horizontally mounted.

Unless, of course you put a boxer engine in from a 911 Turbo or something.

 

[kryptonitecb]

If the engine has overheated to much or has a bad head gasket the heads could be warped, amongst a long list of problems. The easiest way to do it is find a ranger or explorer with a good 4.0 from a junkyard, a reman would work also, and swap engines. For the money you'll spend on fixing the bad 4.0 you could get a new one. Plus no guarantee that you will get all the problems fixed by replacing a head gasket.

Short answer, bad head gaskets are good sign of other problems.

Sent from the road while ignoring traffic

 

[saskbill]

If you have the engine out of the aerostar, that (and 4L to 4L) is a really good start


Now for the details.

You are potentially looking at putting this engine into a 91 Ranger. Manual or automatic?

What year was the Aero? Manual or auto? Miles? Running good? No oil in the antifreeze or vice versa.

This is probably doable. Whether or not its a good idea depends on some of these details. As long as you have the other Ranger engine, you can swap some parts off it onto the Aero engine if needed (eg: flywheel/flexplate, engine electrical). If you're doing this, consider changing out the stuff that's easy to do with the engine out (water pump, oil pump, spark plugs and wires, valve cover gaskets, oil pan gasket) unless they're obviously in good shape.

 

[crazyjack]

The engine in the ranger is a manual. If the rings are good ill have the heads checked and if theres no warp then ill use the heads and same engine.. I want to put a 4.6 in it when i get the engine running. The school im at has a you fix it you own it progam and i need to fix it before i put the 4.6 in it so im not worried to much about some of the other problems the engine might have other than if it holds compression.

 

[David88]

The engine in the ranger is a manual. If the rings are good ill have the heads checked and if theres no warp then ill use the heads and same engine.. I want to put a 4.6 in it when i get the engine running. The school im at has a you fix it you own it progam and i need to fix it before i put the 4.6 in it so im not worried to much about some of the other problems the engine might have other than if it holds compression.

You sure about the 4.6? The 4.6 V8 Is bigger length, width, and height wise compares to a 5.0. I think it's even bigger than the 351. Going to give you a lot of clearance problems. I am planning a V8 swap myself so I've been doing a lot of reading up on it.

Just know what you're getting into before you buy parts.

 

[Snoranger]

A 4.6l will fit in a 1st gen. Its a tight fit, but it will go in.
Judging by this comment:

Im 17 and dont have to many years of experience under my belt and i could use some help.

I would suggest you get a little more experience before you go attempting a 4.6l swap. You may want to start out with a simple 5.0l swap, just to get used to engine swaps. The 5.0l in a ranger is an easy swap, its a good one to "get your feet wet" with. Its a well documented swap that tons of people on here can help you with over the WWW.

The 4.6l swap is rather uncommon, if you run into troubles there wont be many people who have done it and are able to help.

 

[shane96ranger]

Uh - I think you mean horizontally mounted.

Unless, of course you put a boxer engine in from a 911 Turbo or something.

Oops a daisy, I had just been talking Subaru's with a guy at work when I typed that. Thank you Robert for seeing the error in my choice of words.

 

[crazyjack]

Ive done a 5.0 into a drag ranger that we moved back 5 inches to get more waight on the back axle and ive done more engine swaps than i can count so im not to worried about the task.. i want to go with a 5.0 later on but i have a 4.6 in the shop so might as well put that in till i can properly afford a 5.0. and when it comes to making motor mounts ive done that before also with the first 5.0 i swapped but this time im building a tubular frame around the engine and cutting the frame down.. i want to prerun it