Finally a Ranger owner

[Lefty]

Welcome!


There really isn't a single swap that's 'very straight forward' from a mechanical standpoint unfortunately.. Compounding the difficulty could/would be local regulations.


Swapping a 4.0 into that truck would be an incredible amount of work AND monetary investment just to gain 50hp. Not worth it.

4x4 and 4x2 frames are also different IIRC.. so fabrication would be required to fit the factory 4x4 bits.. a solid axle swap has the chance of being easier to do in your case.. but still.. not cheap, not easy, fabrication skills & tools required.

Uncle Gumps suggestion of driving this one until you find another one might not be the most exciting.. or the one you wanted to hear.. but it is certainly the most realistic.

I came to ford's from subarus... and its the same story with them..

"I want to wrx swap my impreza, help with parts list?"

"Sell impreza, buy wrx"

I came to the Ranger by way of an thrashed out Isuzu. I never really liked it, but I needed the cheapest truck possible to negotiate the salty streets of Boston. That damned thing was rusty to begin with, but the drivetrain just never gave up, so I drove it for 24 years until I could afford a nicer Ranger.

 

[Blmpkn]

I came to the Ranger by way of an thrashed out Isuzu. I never really liked it, but I needed the cheapest truck possible to negotiate the salty streets of Boston. That damned thing was rusty to begin with, but the drivetrain just never gave up, so I drove it for 24 years until I could afford a nicer Ranger.

Was your Isuzu an actual Isuzu or one of the re-bodied s10's? I do like the pre-s10 Isuzu trucks quite a bit.

 

[Lefty]

Was your Isuzu an actual Isuzu or one of the re-bodied s10's? I do like the pre-s10 Isuzu trucks quite a bit.

This was an actual Isuzu, 4 cylinders and a 5 speed stick. A friend bought it for me at an auto auction for $1,500. The tailgate had rusted out. I threw it away. I cleaned off the rust as best i could and repainted it with a couple cans of primer. I made the bumper. That winch was very helpful. So was the roll bar actually, very helpful for securing loads. It was from a Jeep,

The whole thing was an eye sore. The frame eventually rusted out. Maybe this explains why I repainted my Ranger both top and bottom.

 

[Blmpkn]

This was an actual Isuzu, 4 cylinders and a 5 speed stick. A friend bought it for me at an auto auction for $1,500. The tailgate had rusted out. I threw it away. I cleaned off the rust as best i could and repainted it with a couple cans of primer. I made the bumper. That winch was very helpful. So was the roll bar actually, very helpful for securing loads. It was from a Jeep,

The whole thing was an eye sore. The frame eventually rusted out. Maybe this explains why I repainted my Ranger both top and bottom.

Ah.. I love the tailgate net! So incredibly '90s lol. I should see If I can find one for my stepside

 

[Angry Possum]

Hi Everyone, I have just recently joined the ranger clan with a 2006 Ford Ranger Sport, it's got 200,000K on it with a v6 3L vulcan engine and going strong.

I've joined the community thread as i'm looking to tinker with this car and was hoping the community at large would be a great help.

Some of the things i'm looking to do (in no particular order)

- Swap the existing 3L vulcan engine to something more MPG friendly like a 2.3L Ecoboost although I am open to suggestions from the community, I'd be interested in something that is very straight forward to complete.
- Convert from Automatic to Manual
- Convert from 2WD to 4WD

if anyone else has completed any of these on this generation of Rangers I'd love to hear what your experience was and what you would do differently. I will end up making this my daily driver when these projects are complete.

Thanks in advance!

Happy Ranger Acquisition Day

 

[Angry Possum]

The Truck I have is clean no rust and well maintained I'm confident it will go for a while, i'm okay with enduring some pain to get this truck where I want it. Has anyone converted this specific truck from a 3L to a 4L before and if so how did they go about it?

My dad always said, If it's not broke don't fix it, you could have some headaches down the road, especially if your inexperienced doing these modifications. Just sayin... Less is more!

 

[Lefty]

This was an actual Isuzu, 4 cylinders and a 5 speed stick. Way back when the bodies were differenA friend bought it for me at an auto auction for $1,500. The tailgate had rusted out. I threw it away. I cleaned off the rust as best i could and repainted it with a couple cans of primer. I made the bumper. That winch was very helpful. So was the roll bar actually, very helpful for securing loads. It was from a Jeep,

The whole thing was an eye sore. The frame eventually rusted out. Maybe this explains why I repainted my Ranger both top and bottom.

Ah.. I love the tailgate net! So incredibly '90s lol. I should see If I can find one for my stepside

I thought about removing the tailgate from my Ranger, but went ahead and painted it with the rest of the truck. It looked so highly reflectant that I kept it. I'm glad I did. Newer pickups are so very different. Each looks like an an origami puzzle. The Spartan simplicity of the older Rangers may be dated but it is still a classic look.

 

[bobbywalter]

Curious on the Diesel swap how much effort was that did a quick google search not a lot of details as to how people have done it.

there are a few diesel swap threads on this site in regards to the vw engines. for normalish trucks this seems the best setup to use.




for larger trucks...as in lift and tires...the 4bt or larger engines ... om benz models...ect are pretty good.




my truck has a humvee 6.2 engine currently...these are gm based for the most part for their pickups....and it is actually a detroit diesel.
there are marine, delivery, agricultural, power generation and military applications. those are larger in number with various accessory options..

regardless they are light duty pre GEP redesign. they are a v8 and harder to package


effort is tough to define for a guy like me.

goals and expectations are key. there is not much to it for the older mechanical engines. especially naturally aspirated...this is why details are lacking... you make mounts.....and hook up fuel and coolant systems...charging system....and transmission....which generally are left intact from a running donor so its pretty simple.

you can plan on modifying oil pans or repackaging turbo and cooling systems generally speaking...

if you want it to look factory...expect lots of time and money.

if you want it to save money on fuel....so you can spend more money and time fishing and travelling....it will look like mine. a horriffic trainwreck that will take you where you need to go. some guys take years to do a swap....some guys take days to do a swap...

 

[Bgunner]

Converting to 4wd will decrease you MPG as it makes the vehicle heavier and more parts to rotate before the power even hits the ground. The 3.0's in the 2wd format get better fuel mileage than the 3.0l and 4.0l 4x4 variants so an engine swap may not gain you the fuel mileage you are thinking of.

Swapping from the 2wd to 4wd will require crossmember modification/swap and is much easier to do with the body off the frame, very time consuming when using a friends lift. Most if not all the crossmembers are riveted and the rivets need to be cut or ground off in order to remove the member. This is where the body off helps. It's not impossible to torch them off but you need to have some time under your belt working with a torch.

My opinion is you are starting with the wrong platform as a starting point and to follow through with your aspirations will be very costly in the long run both monetarily and time wise. Starting off with a 4wd model will save much of the headache and be monetarily cost effective.

The transmissions are different from 2wd and 4wd on all the engine options in rangers so to piece meal the truck together with an engine swap and 4x4 conversion will not work well and should be done at the same time. If you stay with OE Ford Ranger engines and transmissions you can use driveshafts from a donor/junkyard but when it comes to a VW/diesel swap you will need to have driveshafts modified for length.

What you are planning is possible but figure a month of down time for the 4x4 and engine swap. This will be quicker with friends helping but being without a vehicle that long can be hard mentally and relies on friends picking you up and getting you to the stores you need to go to. Unless of course this is a second vehicle.

Maybe consider a frame swap to 4x4 and then you are not down your vehicle for so long and have time to work on it on weekends and such? This route would allow for a engine swap and easier access to suspension and crossmembers. You could get a good frame and axles from a junkyard then set your desired engine in it and all that would need to be swapped is cab and bed, of course wiring harness's and ECU.

A donor truck with an already manual trans would help greatly as you need the pedal assembly, clutch master, hoses, ECU, trans wiring ect. and you can pick the parts off of it that you will need for the swap as long as they are in good working order of course.

 

[bobbywalter]

Converting to 4wd will decrease you MPG as it makes the vehicle heavier and more parts to rotate before the power even hits the ground. The 3.0's in the 2wd format get better fuel mileage than the 3.0l and 4.0l 4x4 variants so an engine swap may not gain you the fuel mileage you are thinking of.

Swapping from the 2wd to 4wd will require crossmember modification/swap and is much easier to do with the body off the frame, very time consuming when using a friends lift. Most if not all the crossmembers are riveted and the rivets need to be cut or ground off in order to remove the member. This is where the body off helps. It's not impossible to torch them off but you need to have some time under your belt working with a torch.

My opinion is you are starting with the wrong platform as a starting point and to follow through with your aspirations will be very costly in the long run both monetarily and time wise. Starting off with a 4wd model will save much of the headache and be monetarily cost effective.

The transmissions are different from 2wd and 4wd on all the engine options in rangers so to piece meal the truck together with an engine swap and 4x4 conversion will not work well and should be done at the same time. If you stay with OE Ford Ranger engines and transmissions you can use driveshafts from a donor/junkyard but when it comes to a VW/diesel swap you will need to have driveshafts modified for length.

What you are planning is possible but figure a month of down time for the 4x4 and engine swap. This will be quicker with friends helping but being without a vehicle that long can be hard mentally and relies on friends picking you up and getting you to the stores you need to go to. Unless of course this is a second vehicle.

Maybe consider a frame swap to 4x4 and then you are not down your vehicle for so long and have time to work on it on weekends and such? This route would allow for a engine swap and easier access to suspension and crossmembers. You could get a good frame and axles from a junkyard then set your desired engine in it and all that would need to be swapped is cab and bed, of course wiring harness's and ECU.

A donor truck with an already manual trans would help greatly as you need the pedal assembly, clutch master, hoses, ECU, trans wiring ect. and you can pick the parts off of it that you will need for the swap as long as they are in good working order of course.

sound logic.

definitely if one wants as close to stock chassis for ease of future maintenance.



though certain setups like td conversions, will work with a cologne powertrain as the starting point, allowing the powertrain to stay in place....eliminating driveshaft issues. you are replacing the engine which in theory should be fairly straight forward.


so a 4 cylinder or 3.0 starting point if using one of those systems is not ideal if a diesel vw swap is on the table. luckily they have a 3.0 kit. and these kits let you use the rowdy audi gasoline engines as well.... so there are options.


the cool thing with this platform though, you can swap in a jeep front axle and a cologne transmission and t case setup with that td kit and just have the main issue be the front drive shaft... which is often not an issue.

a leaf setup is cake....box install can be cake... just depends on what your using....and what is available cost effectively.