Stangman92's '94 4x4 build

Ive been hanging around for a while, figured id start a build thread. First a little background info. My first truck was an '01 Ram 2500 4x4 with the 5.9l and automatic trans, it belonged to my dad, i just drove it through high school. After realizing that those transmissions SUCK, i knew my first real car had to have a manual trans. This is where i managed to talk my parents into letting me bring home a '92 Foxbody mustang. Quickly i realized i couldnt drive it in the winter time, lol. So i drove the Ram during the first several winters. Then one summer day by brother brings over a Petersons 4x4 magazine with a lifted SAS Ranger right on the cover, less than a week later i had this Ranger.

First thing i did was go through the whole truck, remove the purple window tint, crappy seat covers, etc. Then i got it into my head that it needed to be higher, lol. My brother drives an '01 Jeep Wrangler which is lifted on 33's. So i got a 3" body lift after seeing the cab mounts had rusted. Eventually my brother gave me his old BFG KM2 mud terrains. I drove and on them for a little while.

So enough of the stock pics, lol. I bought this truck specifically to drive the winters and go offroading. Went to the Cliffs Insane Terrain in Marsaills IL, not far from me, sucked up water through a cold air intake. The engine stalled while wheeling, i eventually got it running again and drove it home with a horrible engine knock. My first though was that it was the rockers..... Less than a week after the hydrolock my engine blew a rod out the side of the block in a pizza joint parking lot while i was on a date.

Went to the junkyard, found a nice 4.0, stipped it completly down, cleaned and inspected everything, painted it all up real nice with Ford Blue POR15. Redid the silly cold air intake so that it was almost completly surrounded, everyone who saw it said it was a great idea. And went back to wheeling it for a few months. Some where along the lines i added the manual hubs and a spacer lift. Next major offroading trip i went again with my brother, his Jeep, and another buddy, who also had a Wrangler. We went camping over a long weekend to The Badlands in Attica IN. Had a blast at first, then i hydrolocked again, this time all 6 cylinders, got the engine going again and quickly developed that famous rod knock again!!!!! Managed to somehow get it all 180 miles home, though it sounded like a big rig diesel. This time i said im getting a 5.0 V8 before i drive it again. But time constraints, winter approaching, and finances said another 4.0 was a better idea. But i did change out that dumb cold air for a sealed box with a snorkel.






And here i am hydrolocked again, dead in the water, lol.

After that i just drove around for a while on the 31" bfg km2's, body lift, 2" lift, and a kickass snorkle. It looked pretty damn nice, and i knew i couldnt lock the motor again. I wasnt confident in the original brakes, so i upgraded the front to the dual pison '95 ranger setup. Then i did the Explorer axle swap to get rear disc brakes too, and had to upgrade to the '95 ranger master cylinder. I figured since i had it out might was well put 4.56 gears in it.




With the Explorer axle in mind i shopped around for TTB 4.56 gears, and said F- that, TTB is expensive! Plus the frequent alignments got to me, even though i did them all myself in the driveway. So i started with the SAS. Bought a bare Dana 44 housing.



Had to narrow it down. It was from a '79 F150. I didnt want FW, so i narrowed it the 6".



Stuffed it full of 4.56 gears, an Aussie locker, stock replacement shafts, and 297x joints with full snap rings.



Build the radius arms using oem ends and 2" .250 wall dom. With MetalCloak Duraflex Joints, which are really sweet!

This brings us to earlier this summer, time to get it all under the truck. Tear down and build up began after i got new BFG KM2's this time in 35" fashion.





built a crossmember to join the radius arms to the frame used 1.5" x 6" 3/16 wall tube and cutup RuffStuff link brackets. Welds look kinda ugly, but its plenty strong. LMAO



Got it all located under the truck with 1.5" .250 wall dom links and 6.5" Rough country Xj springs.



Got all the links made up and installed.



Rolled out the garage.



Now it needed some attention on the rear end, more lift! lol

I decided that since the front was mostly custom, why not do the same for the back, Yep Chevy 63" spings, didnt quite center the rear tire like id hoped they would, After this pic i shimed up the rear a little more. I had to shim them up a little (No stacked blocks) So that it sits exactly level when measured by the fenderwells.



And Screwing off again.....

This brings us up to September of this year, and it was approaching time to put the Stang away for winter. Having just finshed a top end kit on it, Ported Trickflow heads, ported the intake manifold, custom cam, and longtube headers, i knew if miss that 5.0 power. So i started to look at a 5.0 explorer swap into the Ranger. Started anoter parts collection. Got an engine out of a '97 Explorer, an M5OD-R2 from a '98 f-150, and a BW1356 from a late '80's Bronco. Gotta paint all the stuff before it goes in, why not right?



Had some of the POR15 left over from the 2nd engine i had, so i decided to use it again since the stuff is Freakin awesome!



And the final color of choise; Ford Corperate Blue of corse!

Now im all up to date.... and posted it all in 1 night!!!!!!!

Now im working on headers since i have Gt40p heads, i looked at the original Explorer manifolds, even after porting i wasnt happy with them.... Ill see what i can come up with. Currently i have a set of ported Explorer manifolds and Hedman 88400 headers for sale in the classifieds.

Looking good!

nice job! can you post more pics and info one yout SASswap? i like seeing everyones ideas before starting mine

merch said:

nice job! can you post more pics and info one yout SASswap? i like seeing everyones ideas before starting mine

Click to expand...

Sure, The axle started out as a 78-79 F150 axle, i didnt want full width, so i narrowed it down 6" per the tech section. Next i filled it with an Aussie locker and 4.56 gears. The drivers side axleshaft is out of the original 78-79 axle, with a new spicer 297x ujoint and full snap rings. The passenger is a chromoly knockoff from Bronco Graveyard for an early Bronco, it was already ground out for full snap rings, so i also put in a new Spicer joint. All the rest was standard replacement stuff; balljoints, knuckles, spindles, hubs, bearings. After a few test drives i changed the front brake calipers out for the larger Thunderbird calipers and an 1 1/4" master cylinder from a '96 F350 with the funky brake adapter available only from a Ford dealer. See Plumcrazys build for more info on the Thunderbird caliper upgrade. The Radius arms are cut orignals that i bought from a member on here. Then i added 3' long pieces of 2" .250 wall DOM. See BrayD's "Daily Doubler Build" for more into on radius arms, i build mine just like his. For radius arm bushings i used MetalCloaks Duraflex joints. They are a Clevite rubber joint that work and flex like a heim, and worth every penny!!!! The crossmember i build out of 1 1/2"x 6" 3/16" wall steel, about 32" long. I welded 3/16" plate to the sides to make the crossmember to make the crossmember bolt onto the chassis, and easy to remove. I attached it with 8- 9/16 grade 8 bolts. The axle end of the radius arms i used James Duffs 7 degree c bushings. The Trackbar bracket i had a hard time with, but finally settled on James Duffs Ranger SAS bracket for $150. It was costly, but it triangulates the lower drivers side coil bucket bolts to the engine crossmember. It bolts in using the coild bucket bolts, the engine mount bolt, and 2 more bolts that you drill into the engine crossmember. I did have to slighly grind it to fit. Its VERY stong. The coil buckets are original, but where the original shock was i cut and added 1/8" plate to make it a stand alone coild bucket, and used F250 shock towers that i extended 3". Then i used the longest shocks i could find; Rancho's with 15" travel. The steering was Ruffstuff's Gm 1 ton steering kit. The trackbar was also 1 1/2" .250 wall DOM, this time with Ruffstuffs heims.

For the record, using the James Duff trackbar bracket, the original steering pitman arm, Ruffstuffs Gm 1 ton steering kit, the original axle's trackbar mount, and Rough Country 6.5" XJ springs.... The trackbar and draglink were only 1/8" different in length and almost perfectly parallel!!!

With this setup i have yet to come up with a bumpstop, but have an idea once summer comes. I also tested everything for clearance and everything was good to go, i see no areas that SHOULD contact.


I wish i had more pics, but thats a pretty accurate parts and info list. Any other questions please ask. As of today i have about 850 miles on the SAS.

Gt40P headers

As I mentioned earlier I wanted a set of free flowing headers for my swap. So I originally bought cast iron replacement manifolds, and ported them. I was happy with my porting but wanted more. I had a set of Hedman 88400 headers also, which looked great, but the drivers side didn't clear on 2 or 3 spark plugs. Heres the Hedman passenger side







So I thought about using the passenger side 88400 header, and a Mustang gt40p header. But that idea never panned out. Instead I found a set of Gt40p specific headers built for '64-'73 mustangs. They looked great, were for gt40p heads, so I said let's try it.

http://www.sandersonheaders.com/Sanderson-FF3GTS-Small-Block-Ford-GT40-Header-Set-for-64-73-Mustang.html

And here's how they look on the engine







The Sanderson headers are just a little further downward and outward from the engine. Ive been researching countless threads and pictures and i know they will be a little close, But they should still work with flat plate engine mounts.

Drivers side;







This side hugs the block very closely. There's enough room for all spark plugs, a flexible (Lokar) dipstick, and the oil relocation kit. I plan on spacing the drivers side engine mount plate up about an inch or so. This will give me the clearance I need between the header and flat plate.

How am I doing so far? Questions?

Tonights progress; Chased all the threads in the heads and block, talk about time consuming, lol. Then i went ahead and put on a new timing set. Its a Cloyes 3057k set, double roller, and fit nice and tight. The original had about 1/4" to 3/8" slop! Here is is installed and timing cover gasket in place



And with it fully bolted down with yellow zinc grade 8 bolts, also in the pic is the Mustang oil pump pickup tube.



Tomorrow i plan on putting the dual sump Mustang oil pan on.

Spent this weekend disassembling the heads. I decided to put on better valve springs, and since I had it apart I went ahead and did a little porting. Here I have started disassembly



Fully torn down



Pics of untouched, and dirty, ports





My intentions for the intake side were to just do a simple cleanup job through the runner. I also took a little off of the pushrod pinch. Then I took a little off the short side radius and reshaped the guide boss.





The exhaust side needed more work. Here I really spent time on the short side radius, cleaned up the entire port, reshaped the guide boss, and removed the thermactor bump. I'll remove the paint from the exhaust surface at a later date.





After the porting i completely washed both heads down twice, and dryed them, making sure all the crap is out of them. I also cleaned up all the valves, they had a little bit of carbon burned on. Then I lapped them in, they still look great. Now I'm waiting on valve stem seals, and spring shims so I can get the Crane beehive springs installed, part number Crane 44308-1.