worth the time to v8 a 2wd ranger?

[Boggin]

im sure most of you remember my 1988 2wd ranger

its a 2.9, 5spd, but i think the slave is gone in the trans. the cab is in good shape, but the bed is gone to the scrap yard. its a solid truck, and i want to put a v8 in a first gen ranger, so i thought about doing it with this truck. the engine is already all unhooked (planned to take off the cab for another project) so i only got to unbolt the motor mounts and transmission and pull it out.

if i do the swap it will be a carb for sure. so this is where i am lost, wondering how hard it will be to convert the efi truck to run a carb engine. i know where there is a 83 f150 and im pretty sure it has a 302, so i figured if i took all the wiring harness and computer out of the ranger, and take everything from the f150 and swap into the ranger, it should work right?

also im wondering if its worth my while to do all this work, and still only be 2wd. i dont want to lower it, but i dont see much point to lift it. id like to keep it stock height maybe level it out a bit, and eventually go prerunner style. is it any more work to swap a v8 into a 4wd than a 4wd, or vice versa?
all input is helpful so fire away

 

[Boggin]

also id like to know the parts that are a MUST to buy, i know ill need the oil filter relocation kit, and i will make the motor mounts from the 2.9 ones like it shows in the tech library, and i think the f150 oil pan will work right? and what about the 83 f150 stock exhaust manifolds? i know the 70s manifolds will work, not sure if the early 80s are the same.

 

[Boggin]

had a line on a 71 LTD with a 302 i couldve gotten for free but the car is now gone.
any specific model/years of 302 i should look for?
thanks

 

[Mac]

Most of the old ones are probably going to need rebuilding. Stay away from the '73-76', lot of little changes in them cause them to be way down on power. Don't know your needs or power levels.
Dave

 

[Boggin]

Most of the old ones are probably going to need rebuilding. Stay away from the '73-76', lot of little changes in them cause them to be way down on power. Don't know your needs or power levels.
Dave

just doing this for a fun project and a summer time cruiser. power is nice but i wont be racing or anything. thanks for the tip on 73-76s, and i dont want to tear into the engine too deep. take it apart, get the heads brought to a machine shop and get them checked out for warping or cracks, get the ports polished up. maybe front and rear mains, dont want to dig into the crank and pistons. change oil pan, valley pan, head, and valve cover gaskets. and give it a nice coat of paint and a nice looking air cleaner and some valve covers to finish it off.

 

[Bennybooster]

The cardinal rule for pre runners is suspension first engine later, cause you will end up running out of suspension quick with a v8

 

[hoosier1104]

I put a 96 Expo w/ 98 4R70W trans in my 05 that is 2wd. I do not regret doing it at all. Last Saturday I was on my way to get a free desk that I refinished that week, that is another thread for another day, and jumped all over a mid 90's Camaro RS. Got it by like 3 car length.

Just do it and NEVER look back. I am going to finish mine up on the 11th of June.

 

[Boggin]

yeah, i thought about it for a bit and decided i dont care that its 2wd. im still gonna do it anyways.

the cab is pretty much off the truck now, all the wiring harness is unhooked and body mounts are steering is all unhooked. so i think today when im done school im gonna go over and bring her in the garage and hook the chain hoist on her and lift her up off the frame and paint the frame and underneath the body

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

When it is all said and done I have heard it is harder to convert an EFI vehicle to carbed than to just put another EFI in it.

For engines the later the better.

I would forget the prerunner stuff (pointless here) and just make it a street machine.

 

[Sighman]

I did what you're looking to do and its not a bad way to go. Be aware that depending on your location there can be problems with emissions. For myself I left all the computer stuff in there and just cut the living crap out of the wires under the hood. I had all new gauges so that wasn't to much of a problem. This way everything else works just fine, heater fan, lights, door locks, radio, etc. For my 302 I only needed a couple wires, coil, electric choke, Alternator and Tach. I kept the fuel system the same but put an inline pressure regulator. I did have to mess a little with the indicator lights in the dash such as hi-beam light, hand brake light, etc but with a handy test probe this wasn't that hard. The rest of the swap went just like everyone else's. I didn't do anything to the front suspension as the 302 only weighed about 150 LBs more and i went with headers and aluminum manifold, I do not feel a difference and the body height only dropped 1/4 inch.

Here's what it look like

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I didn't have to do a thing with my lights or gauges.

Mark everything you can find under the hood before you start, and don't touch anything you don't have to. I didn't even unplug the alternator, just set it on the fenderwell and switched the pulley (micro V belt) and reinstalled it when I was ready.

 

[Boggin]

I did what you're looking to do and its not a bad way to go. Be aware that depending on your location there can be problems with emissions. For myself I left all the computer stuff in there and just cut the living crap out of the wires under the hood. I had all new gauges so that wasn't to much of a problem. This way everything else works just fine, heater fan, lights, door locks, radio, etc. For my 302 I only needed a couple wires, coil, electric choke, Alternator and Tach. I kept the fuel system the same but put an inline pressure regulator. I did have to mess a little with the indicator lights in the dash such as hi-beam light, hand brake light, etc but with a handy test probe this wasn't that hard. The rest of the swap went just like everyone else's. I didn't do anything to the front suspension as the 302 only weighed about 150 LBs more and i went with headers and aluminum manifold, I do not feel a difference and the body height only dropped 1/4 inch.

Here's what it look like

awesome! thanks alot man. heres a question

can i strip every wire from under the hood involving the engine harness (minus headlights and horn) and just run a wire for the coil, and use stock alternator wiring? (manual choke and i have no tach) if so does that mean i can remove the computers and leave everything out besides for the coil and alt wires? if so where can i use as a power source for the coil?
thanks again, nice to know someone who done the same swap as me

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

awesome! thanks alot man. heres a question

can i strip every wire from under the hood involving the engine harness (minus headlights and horn) and just run a wire for the coil, and use stock alternator wiring? (manual choke and i have no tach) if so does that mean i can remove the computers and leave everything out besides for the coil and alt wires? if so where can i use as a power source for the coil?
thanks again, nice to know someone who done the same swap as me

My 2.8 coil looked the same as the 2.9 coil in my parts truck, I just used it and left it wired as it was to the truck and altered it as needed to run Duraspark.

 

[Boggin]

so my stock coil will work with the one from the 302 correct?

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

so my stock coil will work with the one from the 302 correct?

It should, mine did (for a 2.8 though)

This is how I have mine wired, works great. I left the stock wiring to the coil in place and just spliced in where I needed whatever kind of power I needed.