2002 Ecoboost swapped Ranger build thread

[walthagl]

Intro
First off you have to consider what you are starting with. Any ranger that has a 2.3 duratec (2001 1/2+) and is 2wd and 5 speed (mazda m5od-r1 tranny) will be a perfect candidate for this swap. I am not familiar with the auto transmission and same goes for the 4x4. You would have to do your own research for that if thats what you have.

Where are you getting your 2.0/2.3 ecoboost motor?

ebay has a fair share of them and one can easily be had for under $1000. Mine was from a 2013 escape. anything 2012+ with an eb will work. Also take into consideration if your motor comes with a wiring harness and all the sensors. (below I will have part numbers for the motor harness and sensors that are in the intake and intercooler)

Sensors and misc parts you will need
(keep in mind part numbers may differ from vehicle to vehicle, but majority of plugs and electronics should be nearly identical. I.E. a map sensor on a focus st and a map sensor on an escape have a completely different part number, but they are interchangeable and function the same)

Main motor harness: CU5T-12C508

MAF/IAT sensor: CV2A 9F479 AA

Intercooler (MAP?) sensor: should come with whatever intercooler you order

Exhuast v-band clamp (this part varies between different vehicles and years, but if your turbo doesnt have bolt holes and uses a v-band clamp this will be the one, its a very odd size) : CV6Z-5A231-C

Aside from those, everything else should come with your controls pack

Cooling
Radiator

The stock 2.3 duratec radiator will not flow enough to keep the ecoboost cool. You will want to get a radiator from a 4.0 ranger that flows much more. It is a direct fit and your coolant overflow from the 2.3 radiator will no longer be needed.

Intercooler

I went with the stock intercooler that ecoboosts come with. Ebay is your best friend!

(when looking for an intercooler try to find one with the map sensor in it included, I'm writing this at 2 am and do not feel like going to pop my hood to get the part number for that sensor)

PCM and engine orientation kit
Ford 2.0 ecoboost controls pack part number: m-6007-20t
https://goo.gl/KBBgb8

2.0 eco Engine orientation kit: M-6006-20 https://goo.gl/DGcwoS

Motor Fitment
oh, you thought it would bolt right up? wrong, kinda... and heres why

Firewall modification (sawzalls are your best friend)

Your first struggle will be the cam driven vacuum pump and fuel pump on the pack of the motor. These are why the firewall needs to be cut and reshaped. The area you have to cut into is right in the ducting for the heater core, so unless you love carbon monoxide poisoning I would highly suggest you make sure you reseal your cut out sections in the firewall. My truck at the moment doesn't have heat. all the ducting is blocked off. Here are some pics to get an idea for how much had to be chopped up.

I used sheet metal and sprayable insulation foam to reseal after the cutting. I would suggest not welding in this area unless you want to catch you whole cab on fire and have a bad day.

Motor mounts

The stock 2.3 duratec driver side motor mount bolts right up and fits fine. The passenger side is a different story.

You will want to bolt your motor to the transmission and bolt up the driver side motor mount to be able to mock up the passenger side mount. Here is some pics of the passenger side mount and the spacers we made for both sides to lift the motor up by around an inch

(oil pan clearance issues!)

basically for the mount you're going to want to unbolt the factory frame mount and make a triangle around it, make a new plate shifted forward on the frame, and drill out holes to bolt it up. You will have to weld for this if that is not already obvious. Then the little 1 inch motor lift spacers just simply slide under the mount to raids the motor.

After all the mounts are made and what not You should be able to fully bolt in the motor and figure out your alternator next

Power steering
delete it.

Alternator setup
This one is fairly simple. I ordered a 70 amp denso 1 wire alternator for $100 off ebay and began mocking it up. Heres what the brackets and alternator look like once in place. Keep in mind you will need to get a new 4 spline pulley for this alternator. The serpentine belt should be 1325mm in length and 4 spline. Go to an auto shop and ask them for that, they should be able to help you. Alternator pics!

I dont know what to title this part.
So, your new ecoboost motor is bolted up and in the truck. Awesome! Now its time to rip open that 2.0 ecoboost controls pack and read the 18 page document they include for setting everything up. They tell you the majority of everything you need to know, but I'll touch on one topic - the fuel system. Ford states that this motor requires 55 psi of fuel and a return line back to the tank with a regulator. In our case you really dont need a regulator or return line. The stock ranger fuel pump has a regulator right in the tank that is right around 60 psi. Run a plastic 5/16 (I think) fuel line from the little nub that comes up right under the intake manifold to the high pressure fuel pump on the motor and make sure to have an inline fuel pressure gauge. From what I've experienced so far, the stock pump is enough. But if it does end up not flowing enough at some point I will make a mention here about it that you need a new pump.

The rest of the swap
everything else you have to do for this swap is fairly simple, and I would encourage you to be unique with your build. For example my beautiful front mount intercooler that replaces the grille.

I hope this post has encouraged you to do this swap. It's fast as hell, makes turbo noises, and hurts other peoples egos very badly. Mustang owners will envy you and the sound of it will break necks. If you have any questions feel free to DM me on reddit (u/c4_on_the_floor), but I highly encourage you to comment on this thread so information can be shared through the community. I most likely missed a few little bits of info on this swap. Its 2:30 am right now so I'm almost positive I did. Enjoy spending all your hard earned money on making a ranger as fast as a mustang. Its worth it, trust me.

A rough cost estimate: $4000
A little vid of this thing making some boost and ripping
(sorry about the shaky footage!)
There was also a nasty boost leak when I filmed this, since then its been fixed (or atleast I hope!)

2019 update

This truck is still my daily and a few things have changed since I did my motor swap and wrote this thread.
First off, the alternator. The little 70 amp 1 wire denso alternator I used went out within about 5-6 months and I needed something reliable. My idea was to but the stock duratec alternator back on, but there wasn't really room on either side of the motor. So I decided to make a bracket in front of the motor and run it backwards. It works just fine and puts out 14.5 volts at idle so I'm happy with that. Might look a bit sketchy but this is how ive been running it for months.

View attachment 29067View attachment 29068

Aside from the alternator I haven't had any engine related issues. One issue I mentioned in this thread a few times before was just fixed today. The "clutch disengagement" issue, basically sometimes made a hard wall between gears for a split second randomly. No clue what caused this 100%, but when I pulled the trans today I found that the little snap ring on the input shaft that holds the throwout bearing in place wasn't sitting in its groove. That as well as the shims I put behind the slave cylinder were removed. I used to run a ClutchXperts stage 4 ranger clutch which was unsprung and a 6 puck disc. I changed out to their stage 2 organic sprung disc today and it shifts like brand new now. If you do this swap I would recommend at the very least running a ClutchXperts stage 2 clutch as its rated for just under 300 hp and torque. Its also a very affordable clutch in my opinion.

View attachment 29069View attachment 29070View attachment 29072

Aside from those 2 issues being fixed I recently ran into another odd issue. Randomly out of no where My truck stalled out with half a tank of gas left a few days ago. pulled a fuel line off and it didn't have fuel pressure. Added 1 gallon of gas and it started right up. I'm guessing something in the fuel sending unit/pump fell apart and is causing it to not make pressure when at or under half a tank. That or the pump itself is just slowly starting to fail. I ordered a whole new sending unit and will be doing that later on this week. That about all I've got to add to this thread since my initial post almost a year ago. Hope every one has a happy 4th of July! Also I will be updating my Bradley GT build thread some time soon.
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Where are you getting your 2.0/2.3 ecoboost motor?

 

[bobbywalter]

Where are you getting your 2.0/2.3 ecoboost motor?

At home in Detroit.....Holbrooke, fox ,big Mike's I can run a 2.0 out of an edge for 8-1600 depending on miles.

From my u pull yards 2-600 depending on what is available. From my main yard 600 gets me the trans too.

From there tuning.

 

[rdass623]

i am considering swapping in a 2.3 ecoboost engine into my 98 2wd ranger. first question is has anyone tried using the mustang engine and transmission combination. the 6 speed may be a little longer allowing you to mount the engine farther forward (saving climate controls). as i was looking at the pictures of the installation, it seemed like there was a huge amount of space between the radiator and the engine which was not used. so, a forward mounting should be something to consider rather than extensive firewall modification. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[97Ranger3.0]

I’ve read through all the info in this thread and I saw that the controls pack is no longer available. However I was also looking into the engine orientation kit and I think it might be unavailable now as well. Any site that I found selling it says it’s not in stock or unavailable.

That being said, what options would you be left with to replace those discontinued parts? Get the complete harness and ECU from the car you got the engine from and modify the wiring where necessary to work in the Ranger? For the orientation kit it does look like there are other companies selling similar kits to convert these engines to be better suited for RWD applications, although any I found were a bit more expensive than the one in this original post.

 

[stmitch]

I’ve read through all the info in this thread and I saw that the controls pack is no longer available. However I was also looking into the engine orientation kit and I think it might be unavailable now as well. Any site that I found selling it says it’s not in stock or unavailable.

That being said, what options would you be left with to replace those discontinued parts? Get the complete harness and ECU from the car you got the engine from and modify the wiring where necessary to work in the Ranger? For the orientation kit it does look like there are other companies selling similar kits to convert these engines to be better suited for RWD applications, although any I found were a bit more expensive than the one in this original post.

At this point, I'd be starting with a 2.3 ecoboost donor from a rwd vehicle like the newer Ranger or Mustang. They're oriented the right way already, so no need for the orientation kit. The control pack is still available if you want it, and there's tons of aftermarket support.

 

[97Ranger3.0]

At this point, I'd be starting with a 2.3 ecoboost donor from a rwd vehicle like the newer Ranger or Mustang. They're oriented the right way already, so no need for the orientation kit. The control pack is still available if you want it, and there's tons of aftermarket support.

Trouble is with that, those engines around here are going for 3-4k (at least the ones listed on car-part.com locally). Versus the 2.0 there are plenty around 1k or so. Also, would the 2.3 fit better in a Ranger and solve the firewall clearance issue versus the 2.0?

I'm wondering if maybe a 2.0 ecoboost pushed closer to the front of the truck would be feasible, maybe with a front sump oil pan? Could either fabricate some sort of linkage to keep the shifter in the stock location or try the miata trans as other people have said.

 

[sgtsandman]

Trouble is with that, those engines around here are going for 3-4k (at least the ones listed on car-part.com locally). Versus the 2.0 there are plenty around 1k or so. Also, would the 2.3 fit better in a Ranger and solve the firewall clearance issue versus the 2.0?

I'm wondering if maybe a 2.0 ecoboost pushed closer to the front of the truck would be feasible, maybe with a front sump oil pan? Could either fabricate some sort of linkage to keep the shifter in the stock location or try the miata trans as other people have said.

From what little I've seen on doing a 2.3 swap, getting it to fit in an older Ranger is a pretty big hurdle but it can be done. Unfortunately, details on what they did to make it fit weren't given that I remember.

The 2.0 isn't that much smaller of an engine. So I imagine fitment will still have the same issues.

From what I understand, it isn't the engine that is the problem. It's the turbo and associated plumbing that is the issue. So it's a width problem and not a length problem.

 

[stmitch]

Trouble is with that, those engines around here are going for 3-4k (at least the ones listed on car-part.com locally). Versus the 2.0 there are plenty around 1k or so. Also, would the 2.3 fit better in a Ranger and solve the firewall clearance issue versus the 2.0?

I'm wondering if maybe a 2.0 ecoboost pushed closer to the front of the truck would be feasible, maybe with a front sump oil pan? Could either fabricate some sort of linkage to keep the shifter in the stock location or try the miata trans as other people have said.

Every picture that I can find of the 2.3L Ecoboost shows cam driven pumps hanging off the back of the cylinder head, just like the 2.0L Ecoboost. So I think you'd have firewall and/or HVAC issues with either one.

If cost is an issue, then what about just doing a Duratec 2.3L with a turbo? You don't get direct injection, but that also means a basic SCT OBD tuner can handle everything you'd need instead of an expensive control pack from Ford.

 

[97Ranger3.0]

Every picture that I can find of the 2.3L Ecoboost shows cam driven pumps hanging off the back of the cylinder head, just like the 2.0L Ecoboost. So I think you'd have firewall and/or HVAC issues with either one.

If cost is an issue, then what about just doing a Duratec 2.3L with a turbo? You don't get direct injection, but that also means a basic SCT OBD tuner can handle everything you'd need instead of an expensive control pack from Ford.

Yeah that's what I figured, and what I could tell as well from pictures. I had also seen a few other people suggest putting a turbo to the stock duratech as well on this same thread. I will have to research that some more.