Dweano's V8 Project Attempt

[Dweano]

Hey guys. I have been ignoring my Ranger for the past while (crap tranny's making me park it, swap another crap tranny in, park it). Anyways. Now I recently did something rash....I bought a 96 Explorer with a V8 and 166k KM's (100k miles) so now I am going to attempt to swap it into my truck and enjoy it with a real powertrain. I probably won't start the whole process for awhile, but I figure I will gather as much advice as I can first before I dive in (my $800 suggests that I have already dove in)

Since this is the under construction forum I might as well do some shameless showing off

When I got it:



skip ahead a bit





skip ahead more..what is this?!









So as a disclaimer, I am not completely mechanically inept. but I do feel like maybe I have gotten in over my head with this:

Whoop Whoop! It was in a front end crash so the Rad is gone, fan is bent. But other stuff looks to be in good shape. Tranny fluid is nice and not burnt and such so, we will see I guess

I blew a 4R55E and then swapped in a 5R55E (which the guy assured me was fine) but it has a weak sprag clutch so it takes 2-3 seconds to engage in gear, and also flares up between shifts. Lame. Also the 4.0L even with headers and a BBK throttle body seems sluggish. So I said enough is enough. I listed my truck for sale, but then a deal came up for a low km v8 explorer that has the same year as my truck, near unheard of in this small province. So I said what the heck, bought it, that brings us up to now. You now know the story of Dweano and his Ranger.

I will update this as I make progress but my newbness is showing and I have questions:

1: AWD is dumb, can I just unlock my (manual) hubs and it'll work in 2WD?

2. What will work for driveshafts? I have a one piece driveshaft in my truck already, I believe I read that I can swap a flange of something and it will work

3. The Explorer has AC and the Ranger does not. Which is easier, making Ranger AC or just deleting AC?

4. Motor mounts...I do not wanna spend more money, I can Frankenstein some between the Explorer and Ranger ones right?

I am still reading various resources and build threads so I am sure I will answer some of these questions myself

 

[-Nathan-]

Hey bud good to see youre still alive. Take a look at my Rangebe V2.0 build, it will answer some of your questions.

 

[Mudstomper99]

Man I really like that front end conversion! I think I want to gather parts for mine now!

 

[Dweano]

Hey bud good to see youre still alive. Take a look at my Rangebe V2.0 build, it will answer some of your questions.

Still alive! Haha. Just been ignoring trucks for awhile because of other pressing life concerns, but with a good ish deal on a complete parts vehicle, I said why not! I will check out your build and likely PM you in a month or two for help

Man I really like that front end conversion! I think I want to gather parts for mine now!

It looks real good! I got a 2001 Edge, swapped the front ends around, the sold the Edge and got enough money back to pay for the cost of painting and I think $150 extra. Whoop Whoop. Add some 2005+ (i think) flares and 2001 mirrors and it looks real sharp!

Also for the record I hope to do this in my bosses shop, but that won't be open until after harvest, so that is why I delay, I may rip the stuff outta the Explorer tho and see how that goes though

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Take lots of reference pics before you start tearing apart.
Good luck,

Richard

 

[Dweano]

More pics:

My beauty 31 Spline Explorer 8.8:

Awesome Explorer Seats and OHC!

Ok more seriously:

Fan is bent, may need to put in some E-fans, also the upper radiator hose hole (technical term) is wide open, got a bit of junk in there, will have to fix that

And what the crap is all this, I am already confused outta my mind

Oh ok...there is relays attached to this wiring mess, hmm...

Can maybe use these to replace the missing ones on my toolbox?

Weird curly dipstick says the engine still has oil!

 

[country0001]

I was confused and a lil overwhelmed when I did my 4.0 swap, but there is plenty of reference material on this type of swap. Its all good.

 

[Dweano]

After talking to some people and reading I finally figured out only the engine harness needs to be swapped over. And two other harness's. Not that whole mess of things! What a relief, this will be easier than I thought

 

[Dweano]

Got a bit of progress done. Drove the Ranger to my old bosses place and his nice shop. And just dropped alot of cash at summit for headers and what not. Now we will see how much it costs I get nailed for living in Canada

 

[RangerSVT]

That upper rad hose attachment is actually your thermostat housing. No big deal if stuff is in it, didn't get in the motor. Go to your local auto parts store and get a 180* thermostat and swap it out, but after you get the motor in the truck...

SVT

 

[Dweano]

Well home for thanksgiving and got alot of progress done: Here is my very helpful father with his very helpful tractor:

Starting to pull and manouver and see if anything is still attached:

SWEEEET VICTORY!!!

This is my first time removing an engine outta anything and by far the most ambition project I have taken on. Just getting to this stage feels good. Only bad thing is the tranny connector got a bit smushed but it should be ok

 

[Dweano]

Shouldn't this:

http://www.summitracing.com/dom/parts/aaf-all92003/overview/

screw into this

http://www.summitracing.com/dom/parts/trd-1413/overview/

Mine is super hard...almost like the threads are wrong...

 

[RangerSVT]

You need to thread 92003 into the block first. Then screw 1413 onto the 92003. But yeah, they should thread easily...

SVT

 

[Dweano]

Yeah I just figured I would test screw them to make sure. And it is tight...unnaturally tight. I will reinvestigate

 

[Ranger Kip]

That explorer is pretty much stripped, wow... goodluck, I cant wait to see more