swap plate installation

[Junglejoe]

Well.. what I didn't know and didn't see anyone else talk.about it is the driver side motor mount has to come off to get the "spacer" from under the motor mount off. You have to take the whole freaking drivers side suspension apart to get the coil spring out to get to the 19mm nut that holds the motor mount on.. I played it safe and used a coil spring compressor you can get anywhere ,even rent it from autozone.

 

[Craig0320]

Mine was a torsion bar so I didn't have to deal with any of that.

 

[Junglejoe]

Really? Guess this is for non-torsion bar trucks then.. Yours didn't have that spacer?

 

[Craig0320]

Nope. All I had to do was loosen the front chunk and swap the driver side motor mount. The 2000 explorer had the exact same suspension as my truck. Everything was pretty much drop in. Fyi I had the 4.0.

 

[Jbrown1238]

Yep, I had to do the same thing although mine was already apart for the frame off restoration. Everything bolts up nice after that. I would recommend clearancing the top of the power steering rack just a bit. It is going to get a little tight at the oil pan. Mine touches just a little from torque but after 200,000 miles it has not worn through the pan. If you go with the OEM oil pan and the OEM fan shroud you will probably find that there isn't much up and down clearance. It is nice to have some extra to start with.

Here is where mine is very close. The oil pan, the top of the fan shroud, just under the ECM at the EGR, the last tall bolt on the upper intake at the fire wall. I also had to clearance the passenger side engine plate to clear one header tube and the driver side engine plate had to be notched to clear one engine boss.

 

[Junglejoe]

Thanks for the tip J. Your truck is the very reason I decided to build a ranger street truck. I wish I had the time to do like you did with yours..I just don't.
Everything will be OEM as far as the swap,wiring,shroud,fan ect..almost twins to your truck..just not show quality as yours

 

[Junglejoe]

I see now Craig yours is 4x4..makes sense

 

[Jbrown1238]

Thanks for the tip J. Your truck is the very reason I decided to build a ranger street truck. I wish I had the time to do like you did with yours..I just don't.
Everything will be OEM as far as the swap,wiring,shroud,fan ect..almost twins to your truck..just not show quality as yours

Thank you for the kind words. I can't go in to any detail now because the legal part of the equation hasn't been sorted out yet. I will have a sequel to my build thread some time next year. My truck was a total loss back in mid 2017.

 

[Craig0320]

I see now Craig yours is 4x4..makes sense

I'm sorry. I was going on the assumption that you knew 98 4x4's were torsion bars.
Later model 2wd edge rangers were torsion.
96-01 explorers were torsion also.

 

[Junglejoe]

Thank you for the kind words. I can't go in to any detail now because the legal part of the equation hasn't been sorted out yet. I will have a sequel to my build thread some time next year. My truck was a total loss back in mid 2017.

OMG..SERIOUSLY! !? Oh man..I hate to hear that.Your truck was museum quality. If ford had ever built a v8 ranger.. It would have been your truck. There is some VERY NICE drivers coming out of this forum and I think you reinvented the wheel and gave others hope of what can be done to these little trucks.

 

[Junglejoe]

I'm sorry. I was going on the assumption that you knew 98 4x4's were torsion bars.
Later model 2wd edge rangers were torsion.
96-01 explorers were torsion also.

Yes I know the 4x4 and edge are torsion bars.. It just didn't click in my brain yours was 4x4,which by the way.. You also did a perfect installation! Looks factory.

 

[bobbywalter]

OMG..SERIOUSLY! !? Oh man..I hate to hear that.Your truck was museum quality. If ford had ever built a v8 ranger.. It would have been your truck. There is some VERY NICE drivers coming out of this forum and I think you reinvented the wheel and gave others hope of what can be done to these little trucks.

hmm...

ford would never build a v8 ranger as well as brown did.

 

[Craig0320]

Yes I know the 4x4 and edge are torsion bars.. It just didn't click in my brain yours was 4x4,which by the way.. You also did a perfect installation! Looks factory.

Thanks for the compliment brother. That was my goal.