I have three rangers, having rebuilt one, and considering the ecoboost swap in one other.
Will the ac system firewall area be a problem? If so, will swap engine in one without ac.
that depends.
these trucks and chassis and firewalls vary greatly. i would offset the turbo with an adapter which is a pia but worth it as well... this is the best way to keep some fead options open.
if you have a 2wd ranger edge your golden. no cutting save for the shifter...via opening the hole up or remoting or reforming a shifter will be things to consider...
....you may want to go to a longer mazda trans ect...but keeping ac and custom mounting a powertrain is cake compared to what this rig had to do. its light enough that moving the engine forward a few inches is a non issue...drive shaft being longer sux though. but plenty of room for cooling even at 4 inches forward...
offsetting the engine helps too..depending on chassis...
if you have a 2wd tib truck...it is easy to do and keep ac as long as it is 95 or newer with the 15 inch ac box....
the earlier 95 down rangers had bigger boxes that will need massaging to work. if it has the pcm under the hood you have the smaller good ac box.
so oddly enough
...the only chassis this duratech engine came in....
is also the hardest one to put the ecoboost version of the duratech in
you cant make that shit up...
the 4x4 sla with a 4 inch lift will allow it to fit fine as well and keep ac. but i would consider firewall mods with those unless your good with a 3 in body lift and some minor massaging just to make it easy......
which i prefer a body lift to make fixing the now doomed transmissions on the regular a breeze. especially if you use the 5r55e with a turbo fixing itmight be what happens at oil change intervals if you use that boost part of things...
ttb chassis with some cutting on the k member and light firewall work along a body lift will be workable..but firewall mods are a good option as well.
the good thing about the later rangers like this one the op has here...it only takes an hour or two to pull the dash out of them...they are the easiest systems to work with...so hot forming the inside hvac and cutting/modding the firewall with mild patience are easily done.
this truck was so busy blazing the trail it charged right past creature comfort and just got er did....
two thumbs up and a snap in a circle for those blazing berries...
from there refinement begins... i hope to see it some time...
it pointed out all of the areas i just mentioned...
so like i said....your actual setup will dictate path forward. because rangers are not all the same.