88 ranger pro touring truck

Never thought of the 2.0 ecoboost. I imagine there pricey to by tho eveb out of a wreaked car. I was thinking either 5.0,2.3t or an rb25det. Yea, yea its an import but there cheap to by and modify, and tons of cheap parts. Since its mostly a race truck not a cruiser something thats easy makes the most sense, but havent fully made up my mind yet, see how long the 2.9 lasts. The next truck i build i wanna do a reg cab short box 4x4 ranger, like 99+, drop in a 5.0 with the awd expo 5.0 t-case, would be a cool awd pro-touring truck

when the 2.0 4 whixxers first started going into the edge and focus etc i figured we would be over run with the little buggers after a year or two....4 years later, and theres not too many rangers....lots of swaps into things with ranger part but not many rangers...

hell i dont think any of the guys on this forum have done one yet....maybe theres a few. i am not big into 4 cyl. dont go in there much. maybe theres 50 of em.


we have one in a 2015 edge and its a pretty impressive mill. i have a few guys bugging me about them that know i am moving home, those are mostly for the 6 cyl. though there was discussion with one that i did a 351 efi for in a cobra kit years ago that has a bucket project. i ran the 2.0 past him and he seemed interested at first, but is stuck on the 6 cyl now.


the 2.0 is pretty cheap to buy used and very available after 5 years out there. but you have to catch them right and be specific.... with a few shops for a turn key setup, it left me at the 3000 dollar mark with 50k ish miles.. engines only were 1800-2500 ish when i was first looking into pricing...but that was engine only...glad i did not base a build off of that before it was clear!!!

so, if you already have a duratech truck, the trans etc is supposed to work, you pull the balance shaft off the boost engine and use the ranger oil pan....not sure if the transverse block has the ability to use the ranger mounts or not, the ones i seen were in lo-cost type cars with cutom mounting and chassis... but it was said to be a focus engine with a ranger transmission. ..pretty sure its why ford put the wiring kit out for those focus setups first....

unless i understood those guys wrong, they ran the ranger flywheel out to trans with ranger starter. so i just figured it was a no brainer for ranger guys....that was two years ago.. but there was an issue with clearance with the starter...but seems i remember it was easily resolved.

i mean...i am sure you will have to mod the firewall if you want to balance it out and leave the drivetrain in place in a ranger...these engines are a fat headed lil guy, and layed out kinda weird...

i am stuck on a diesel for my b2....but maybe a boost 2.0 would be fun...i just dont see it pulling better then 16-18 mpg farting around town....probably do 25 or so highway based on the edge.

the stock inductions and fuel systems are said not to work with that ford wiring swap kit, calls to frpp or whatevr its called now dont yield much for any of the eco stuff.


so....i know the focus guys blow 300 hp and push mid 300s in tq with sensible dollar amounts in upgrades to these, which to me meanns using all of the wiring from a focus might not be so bad....especially if you had all that cool nav and sync shit my kids like so much. build a custom dash and interior...

same with any of them i guess.

The Ecoboost 4cylinder engines are just direct injected turbocharged Duratec/MZR engines. The block is nearly identical, it just has provisions for direct injection. That's why the Ranger trans, starter, etc is used in longitudinal applications. You can probably also use Miata stuff for the same reasons (because 6 spd trans with a much nicer shifter).

If you already have a duratec powered truck, you could probably get significantly better performance/$ by just turbocharging the duratec vs swapping it for an ecoboost. It would require a custom turbo manifold or remote turbo setup but you could skip the complex electronics associated with the Ecoboost and their VVT/Direct injection setups. It's cheaper and easier to add fuel and adjust timing to the stock Ranger Duratec PCM than it is to try and modify a PCM from an Ecoboost vehicle to work in a Ranger, or buy Ford Racing's expensive control kit.

Back on topic I'm glad to hear that the project is still progressing. It will be cool regardless of the powertrain you choose.

I had the same idea as you and did my 83 ranger up pro touring/autox style.
its still not done, but its run and driving truck now.
anyway looking forward to your build.