Why so little about the 4.6L V8?

[fixizin]

Just wondering... that mill seems to get quite a lot of accolades, and has some serious followers... and it came in the Exploder for many years... but no love from the Ranger community? Is it lame in the torque dept. er whut?

Found one in the U-pick yard, 2006, clean looking... hmmm...

 

[Roert42]

Very. Wide.

 

[Dirtman]

Its too friggin big. Putting one in a ranger would require ALOT of cutting, fabricating, and cursing. HVAC box would have to go, steering system moved and redesigned, custom motor mounts, possibly some firewall work, brake booster may need to go, exhaust would be a nightmare...

By the time it was used in the explorer, the explorer was no longer based on the ranger. Two wildly different animals.

 

[adsm08]

The 4.6 was in the 02-10 Explorers. 01 was the last year that the Explorer truly shared anything significant with the Ranger platform wise.

The 4.6, at it's widest point, is almost as wide as the Ranger's frame, and thus very hard to fit. Stock for stock it has better power to weight ratio than the 302, but the aftermarket can fix that.

The 4.6 is also a pain to work on, much worse if you don't have enough room, which Rangers don't really give you.

 

[Junglejoe]

A 4.6 or 5.4 in a ranger is way to much work and just not practical. Its been done.. but for a.daily driver, Its not worth the headach.

 

[Dirtman]

There's a feller on here who put a 3.5 EcoBoost in his ranger. The amount of work he had to do was absolutely insane. He has a build thread but I can't find it. I know one of the more complicated things he had to do was essentially make the steering system from scratch because the engine was in the way of the stock system. The 4.6 is even bigger than the 3.5. From what I can find its about 2 inches wider and obviously alot longer.

 

[pjtoledo]

did you see this thread?
it's from a TV show 10-11 years ago.





It has begun! (Official Trucks! TV 4.6L Mazda B-Series / Ford Ranger build) | The Ranger Station ead?

 

[fixizin]

Thanks for all the replies. Pure Bulk be its demise. Is that because of overhead cams?

OTOH, can't beat the 302/5.0 for sheer quantity of available blocks and aftermarket upgrades...

 

[adsm08]

Thanks for all the replies. Pure Bulk be its demise. Is that because of overhead cams?

Pretty much. OHC engines are wide.

 

[Shran]

Someone has done it... I wouldn't bother, I'd do an LS swap or even a Hemi swap before I did anything with a modular V8. They're fine engines in their own weird way but just too complex and wide for the average guy.

There was a dude on here that was doing a V10 swap in his Ranger years ago... Not sure if it ever was finished or not. I also saw a V10 swapped Early Bronco, that was kinda cool.

 

[Dirtman]

If you're gonna do the work required for a 4.6 swap, you should just swap a 427 sohc.

 

[adsm08]

The V10 swap was completed. I also saw a video once of a B2 running a 5.4 2v.

It's not that it can't be done, there are just better options out there.

 

[fixizin]

Lawdy, a V-10 (Viper mill?) in a Ranger... that thar is endless Bragging Rights, plus endless Lulz, in one package!

I'm assuming full-time AWD, just to keep the power on the ground... most of the time...

 

[Dirtman]

I SAID 427! ALL OTHER SWAPS ARE NOW DEEMED BLAH!

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

I just saw two threads by the same person: mkat. One was his 4.6 turbo build start. He has a video of it running.

My Turbo 4.6 Build

Some background for the truck. https://www.therangerstation.com/forums/index.php?threads/my-2000-ranger-build.157591/ https://www.therangerstation.com/forums/index.php?threads/my-4-6-swap.165807/ And the Turbo Build Specs of the build. -Currently on the stock 3v computer. Tuning was...

www.therangerstation.com