SBC Ranger

[andyb]

I already have a built 350 and soon (hopefully) to be gettin another 3rd gen ranger, so what would i have to do to make it work. Chevy trans vs. Ford trans. Driveshaft? 8.8 vs.7.5?
(And please no chevy hatin the only reason im considerin it is b/c i already have
a 350)

 

[KELLY88]

Since it's a Chevy motor a Chevy trans would probably be your best bet. Got a lot better chance of matching them together. Probably need a custom drive shaft built. For the axle, what do you plan on using this truck for? An 8.8 would work well for a street truck but if you plan on making a trail rig you would either have to re-gear the 8.8 or upgrade to a Ford 9"

 

[mhughes165]

its very doable, but if ur going to be goin this route, i would suggest a chebbie solid axle up front, u can modify one to work with radius arms and whatnot, personally, if i were gonna be doin this both axles in the truck would be chebbie, a chebbie 60 up front and a 14blt in the rear

NOW

if ur doin 2wd, i would got with a 350, a turbo 350 and the 8.8 rear end, u will just have to modify the rear driveshaft to work with the chebbie output....but its basically the same as installing a 302....and u can probably get s10 coversion headers which might work in the ranger aswell

 

[andyb]

Sorry it didn't specify, it would be a 2wd. Yeah i was thinkin 8.8. Well ive already got a turbo 350 so thats good. How much, on a rough estimate, would a custom drive shaft cost?

 

[mhughes165]

Sorry it didn't specify, it would be a 2wd. Yeah i was thinkin 8.8. Well ive already got a turbo 350 so thats good. How much, on a rough estimate, would a custom drive shaft cost?

u may only have to get ur current shaft shortened and a new end put on it, in that case, about 100 or so

 

[Psychopete]

Sorry it didn't specify, it would be a 2wd. Yeah i was thinkin 8.8. Well ive already got a turbo 350 so thats good. How much, on a rough estimate, would a custom drive shaft cost?

I had a TH350 on my 327ci and I hated it (in an '85 Grand Prix). For street, it really sucked not having O/D. On the other hand, I wasn't really too big into the stock 700R4s either. A manual would be freaking awesome.

Just IMO..

Pete

 

[mhughes165]

I had a TH350 on my 327ci and I hated it (in an '85 Grand Prix). For street, it really sucked not having O/D. On the other hand, I wasn't really too big into the stock 700R4s either. A manual would be freaking awesome.

Just IMO..

Pete

the manual would be a bit more difficult in this scenario though, as and camaro transmission, or car manual will have the shifter be WAYYY back, and with a bench or 60/40 split it wouldnt really work well, if u could find a manual trans from a 2wd 1500 chebbie, that would probably be a good combination, just will have to massage the trans tunnel some

 

[golosov]

droping in the 350 is easy the th350 is good choice no electronics to worry about. universal mounts and universal trans crossmember are cheap can get them from P.A.W. i know they have the conversion for fullsized ford think its available for rangers also. main problems are going to be cooling and suspension. I can asure you a 4.0's radiator isn't going to work. I once used a factory chevy astro van radiator in a 91 ranger, wasn't a hard swap. Remember with aluminum heads and intake your chevy will still be almost 35 pounds heavier than a 302. make that over 50 pounds if cast heads. you won't need headers factory 84 camaro exhaust manifolds will mis everything. hood fit is gooing to be difficult the motor cant set low enough to get under hood. make sure your oilpan will fit around crossmember to get the motor down as far as possible and consider a 2" cowl hood to make it all fit. your exhaust will also be another story. cheapest way i can think of: check scrap yards for 90's astro van awd. It uses a Y pipe from manifolds to resinator. take this piece cut of prechamber to give you duals that run side by side. ad in an crossover and then use factory prebent 4.0 pipes from those back. it will take 2 24" pieces of tubing to run from your down pipes to where the stock cats would be from there run the stock back side by side you can ofset mufflers to fit them in place. good luck and its not as extreme as it sounds.

 

[HoleshotKFX400]

I think that this should be a fairly easy swap. To address the hood clearance issue... i dont know how tall the chevy is compaired to a 302 but mine has about 3-4 inches from the top of my big A$$ aircleaner to the hood. I would go with a 8.8 for your swap... I got my l/s 3:73 for 45 bucks pulled from the local junkyard. As for the driveshaft... depending on what tranny you use, go to the junk yard find a driveshaft with the input shaft (i think thats what there called... the thing on the driveshaft that slides into the tranny) that you need to fit your tranny. Cut off that end leaving like a foot of driveshaft attached then take that and your stock ranger driveshaft to your machine shop and just tell them you want that put on the end inplace of the stock ranger one. I just got mine shortened and new universals put in ( could have done it myself ) for $58.50. As for transmisions you could go with a th-350, 700r4 for o/d, or you could use a late 80 early 90 camaro tranny couldnt you... i believe those came with t-5's just like the mustangs did. Shifter doesnt sit that far back... For the tranny crossmember your going to have to move it... just grind through the rivits holding the mounts onto the frame, then move them to the new location drill new holes and use grade 8 bolts... atleast thats what i did. For a radiator you can just order a universal griffin from summit for like $180 bucks 24' wide by 16' high... they work great, my truck runs at 150F. Suspention wont be a problem, if its a 2wd truck you wont mind the 1" or so drop in the front. One more thing, make sure you fold over the lip where the firewall meets the trans tunnel

 

[mhughes165]

I think that this should be a fairly easy swap. To address the hood clearance issue... i dont know how tall the chevy is compaired to a 302 but mine has about 3-4 inches from the top of my big A$$ aircleaner to the hood. I would go with a 8.8 for your swap... I got my l/s 3:73 for 45 bucks pulled from the local junkyard. As for the driveshaft... depending on what tranny you use, go to the junk yard find a driveshaft with the input shaft (i think thats what there called... the thing on the driveshaft that slides into the tranny) that you need to fit your tranny. Cut off that end leaving like a foot of driveshaft attached then take that and your stock ranger driveshaft to your machine shop and just tell them you want that put on the end inplace of the stock ranger one. I just got mine shortened and new universals put in ( could have done it myself ) for $58.50. As for transmisions you could go with a th-350, 700r4 for o/d, or you could use a late 80 early 90 camaro tranny couldnt you... i believe those came with t-5's just like the mustangs did. Shifter doesnt sit that far back... For the tranny crossmember your going to have to move it... just grind through the rivits holding the mounts onto the frame, then move them to the new location drill new holes and use grade 8 bolts... atleast thats what i did. For a radiator you can just order a universal griffin from summit for like $180 bucks 24' wide by 16' high... they work great, my truck runs at 150F. Suspention wont be a problem, if its a 2wd truck you wont mind the 1" or so drop in the front. One more thing, make sure you fold over the lip where the firewall meets the trans tunnel

actually, the shifter does sit WAY far back, it will interfere with the seats if he has a 60/40 split bench, or a bench seat, if he has buckets with it exposed in the middle then he could put a extension on it, and make a console to shift it like a car, there is about 12" difference in shifter position between a t5 and a truck 5spd......

 

[HoleshotKFX400]

Can you get a mid kit for a t-5 or am i thinking of a different 5 speed... mabey thats the tremec 3550 i forget?

This dude put a t-5 in his... your right it does sit back http://v8-ranger.com/red/shifter/shifter.php

 

[v-8power]

Yeah you can get the mid shift kit for the tremec 3550, it's pretty expensive though if i remember correctly.

 

[mhughes165]

just run a 4.3 s10 5spd behind it, most people are forgetting that the chebbie v6's and v8's use the same bolt patterns

 

[andyb]

I think i'll just run an automatic and save my self some trouble. All im lookin for is 300-400 HP and a good built th-350 should handle that.