Classiccarmartin
New Member
- Joined
- Feb 9, 2019
- Messages
- 18
- Reaction score
- 13
- Points
- 3
- Location
- Seattle
- Vehicle Year
- 1991
- Make / Model
- Ford
- Engine Size
- 3.0 V6 (for now)
- Transmission
- Manual
- 2WD / 4WD
- 2WD
This will be a project I'll be doing a little bit later into spring and summer, but I thought I would start a thread now as the donor vehicle arrived on Sunday.
I have a 1991 Ranger XLT extended cab with a 3.0 V6 and a 5-speed. It has 145,000 miles on it and honestly runs fine. It's just that the factory 140 horsepower (or whatever that's down to now) isn't really enough to satisfy.
I've always liked supercharged engines (bought and fixed up a couple of XJR Jags in recent years) and found a suitable donor vehicle on Craigslist that will give up its engine and a few other parts too. It's a 1990 Thunderbird Supercoupe.
The seller was kind enough to make a deal that included delivery, so now I have it outside the house, probably annoying the neighbors!
There's a flat battery and a small coolant leak to deal with, then I'll drive it to the hotrod shop where I work and remove the engine.
Unfortunately this Thunderbird is an automatic model, but I have also recently purchased a T5 transmission with the correct 3.8 bellhousing. This will be rebuilt and installed in the Ranger behind the Supercoupe engine.
I'm going to try and document the conversion as thoroughly as possible, so that others may find useful information when contemplating or performing similar transplants themselves. It will be a while before I actually start on the truck though, as I have an MGB to fix and a decking to construct behind the house first!
Any comments (preferably positive or constructive) are most welcome.
I have a 1991 Ranger XLT extended cab with a 3.0 V6 and a 5-speed. It has 145,000 miles on it and honestly runs fine. It's just that the factory 140 horsepower (or whatever that's down to now) isn't really enough to satisfy.
I've always liked supercharged engines (bought and fixed up a couple of XJR Jags in recent years) and found a suitable donor vehicle on Craigslist that will give up its engine and a few other parts too. It's a 1990 Thunderbird Supercoupe.
The seller was kind enough to make a deal that included delivery, so now I have it outside the house, probably annoying the neighbors!
There's a flat battery and a small coolant leak to deal with, then I'll drive it to the hotrod shop where I work and remove the engine.
Unfortunately this Thunderbird is an automatic model, but I have also recently purchased a T5 transmission with the correct 3.8 bellhousing. This will be rebuilt and installed in the Ranger behind the Supercoupe engine.
I'm going to try and document the conversion as thoroughly as possible, so that others may find useful information when contemplating or performing similar transplants themselves. It will be a while before I actually start on the truck though, as I have an MGB to fix and a decking to construct behind the house first!
Any comments (preferably positive or constructive) are most welcome.