3.8 Supercharged V6 Engine Transplant

[Bird76Mojo]

On my 87 Ranger V8 swap, I bought a new fuel pump hanger/sending unit for an EFI model Ranger. Mine was carbed originally so it had a carb style single tube pickup in the tank with no return. I then bought a high flow Mustang fuel pump and made it fit the EFI Ranger hanger. It wasn't hard at all. It all dropped right in to my tank with no fuss. To hook up the fuel lines to the pair of tubes on the hanger/hat I bought QD fittings from Russell and fabbed up AN-6 hoses for the feed and the return. I just had to measure the diameter of the two tubes to be sure I bought the right Russell QD fittings. They're different sizes.

The electrical connection was easy too. I used a new factory Ford electrical connector for the connection at the pick-up on the tank, and just wired that to my Telorvek system with the fuel pump relay/inertia switch, and drilled a hole in the crossmember near the tank for my ground connection.

GB

 

[Classiccarmartin]

On my 87 Ranger V8 swap, I bought a new fuel pump hanger/sending unit for an EFI model Ranger. Mine was carbed originally so it had a carb style single tube pickup in the tank with no return. I then bought a high flow Mustang fuel pump and made it fit the EFI Ranger hanger. It wasn't hard at all. It all dropped right in to my tank with no fuss. To hook up the fuel lines to the pair of tubes on the hanger/hat I bought QD fittings from Russell and fabbed up AN-6 hoses for the feed and the return. I just had to measure the diameter of the two tubes to be sure I bought the right Russell QD fittings. They're different sizes.

Great advice, thank you!
As my Ranger is an EFI model from the factory, I can use the standard in-tank pump. I checked on the websites of a couple of parts suppliers, and the standard flow rates and operating pressures seem to be the same for both the Ranger and the Thunderbird. What will need sorting out is the position of the inlets on the Thunderbird fuel rail (right side entry, from the right, on top of engine) compared to the position of the fuel pipes into the Ranger engine bay (right side exit, from the left, down by the frame rail). Bird76Mojo's AN-line solution would solve this nicely, with a pair of braided or hardline fuel lines to cross over or around the engine bay and enter the fuel rail from the correct side.

Not much progress today. Mostly thinking about issues such as those above, buying storage tubs and an engine stand and planning the removal of all the wiring tomorrow. Feeling pretty tired from the long working days and extra hours trying to dismantle the Thunderbird in just a few days. Hopefully I can get everything removed tomorrow that I will need.

 

[Bird76Mojo]

If you end up going with AN hoses, do your research on which type and size of hose you want. Stay away from the cheap stuff on Ebay and Amazon. Lots of horror stories with that hose..

Once you find a hose size and length you need, find it's part number and start Googling that #, or looking on Ebay. I got my Russell ProFlex (40ft of it) hose for a steal of a deal on Ebay. New in box. I paid around 60% of what Jegs/Summit Racing/Amazon wanted.

As for AN fittings, any Russell brand, Ford specific EFI QD fittings you'll pretty much have to pay full prices for.. The rest of the normal straight , 90 degree, 135 degree fittings for the hose, you can also Google search or Ebay search those part numbers, and find some excellent deals on them. I was finding fittings for half the price Jegs or Summit Racing listed them for.

I also stuck with Russell brand for these after I tried one Jegs brand AN fitting. It was nearly impossible to get on the end of the hose, due to the angle they machine the end of the fitting at. Russell brand I had zero problems assembling my hoses.

Also, I got swivel fittings for at least one end of every hose. That way I didn't have to worry about clocking them just right for installation. It saved me a lot of headaches.



GB

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

I use JIC fittings. They are a tenth of the cost as AN from Summit or Jegs. Just not very colorful, but I don't care about bling.

 

[Bird76Mojo]

I use JIC fittings. They are a tenth of the cost as AN from Summit or Jegs. Just not very colorful, but I don't care about bling.

How would you connect a JIC fitting to ANY Ford QD EFI fitting? Such as at the fuel rails and on the tank pick-up..

I don't believe that can be done.

 

[snoranger]

How would you connect a JIC fitting to ANY Ford QD EFI fitting? Such as at the fuel rails and on the tank pick-up..

I don't believe that can be done.

The same way you would connect AN.
JIC and AN are basically the same and interchangeable.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

JIC and AN are the same other than AN is held to tighter tolerance. JIC is fine unless you are building a shuttle or other mission critical fuel delivery.

 

[Classiccarmartin]

JIC is fine unless you are building a shuttle or other mission critical fuel delivery.

Well I'm hoping that it's going to be fast, but the plan more involves surprising BMW's and Mustangs than heading into orbit!

Busy day today. The dismantling of the Thunderbird is now completed and I've brought everything home to my garage where the swap will eventually take place. As of this morning, only the wiring harnesses remained in the car, with a few connections at the front to separate and the firewall pass-throughs to er, pass through. Fortunately, the weather was excellent and Josh was also at work to help out.
Removing the wheel arch liners gave access to the horns, lower lights and vacuum tank, all of which were disconnected and the wires pulled into the engine bay. There's a lot of stuff crammed into the back corners of the engine bay on these Thunderbirds and it took quite a lot of prying, pulling, undoing and twisting to get everything unhooked and free. Eventually though, there were just the 2 pass-throughs on the passenger side to pull the harnesses through. One harness went through into the cabin fairly easily, but the one that included the main computer plug was an absolute bastard to get through the hole. Ford could have easily made the hole an inch bigger, but clearly they didn't have me in mind when the Supercoupe was being designed.
Anyway, enough complaining, we were victorious and finally I had everything I needed to turn a Ranger XLT into a SuperRanger!
One final picture of the empty Thunderbird.

And a big pile of spaghetti basking in the spring sunshine.

After a tasty burger and a celebratory pint of cider, I loaded up the truck with all the loose parts and discovered that the forklift truck key was missing. Fortunately, we also have a small electric walk-along forklift, which had just enough battery life to get the engine into the back of my truck. So after endless pictures of a Thunderbird engine bay with less and less parts in it, finally you are rewarded with a picture of a Ranger full of stuff.

I wonder if anyone has ever built a mid-engined Ranger?

All of this is now neatly stacked away in my garage amongst bicycles, racks of shelving and an MGB GT. Once said MGB is back on the road (hopefully within a month) and I've kept the wife happy by building some decking in the back garden, I'll get started on the Ranger

 

[Bird76Mojo]

Hopefully you didn't forget the (hidden) harness running in to the trunk of the T-Bird that also has the fuel pump relay, etc...

At least that's the way the 5.0 T-Birds were built....



GB

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Looking forward to the build.
I haven't seen a mid engine build but have thought of it...A 4x4 with a turbocharged BB460. Actually, I think a former site member, Gwaii, built a mid engine B2. It's been several years since he was on site. He was very prolific with different builds including a 4-wheel steer explorer and a v-12 in a ?MG?. I can't remember exactly what make but it was a small english fastback.

 

[Classiccarmartin]

Hopefully you didn't forget the (hidden) harness running in to the trunk of the T-Bird that also has the fuel pump relay, etc...

Josh and I looked through the factory Ford manual that I have (came with the Thunderbird - a godsend!) and came to the conclusion that this harness wouldn't be necessary as I should have basically the same parts in my 1991 Ranger. Perhaps we were wrong.
Fortunately, Pick-n-pull aren't coming to collect the remains until Wednesday, so I shall extract the harness, relay and fuel cut-off switch before they do.
Thanks for the advice!

Got the engine out of the truck bed this morning with the help of some neighbors. Now it's brightening up my garage with promises of future days of boosted pleasure!

 

[Classiccarmartin]

Well the Thunderbird went off to the junkyard on Wednesday morning. I had taken everything out of it, including the fuel relay wiring section in the trunk - thanks Bird76Mojo! - I even got $70 for the car!

Now the more alert amongst you may have noticed what's on the back of the tow truck:

2.3 4-cylinder with a 5-speed. The wheels and interior were mint and it had very good tires too. The owners gave it to Pick-n-pull because the head gasket had failed. I have heard that the local Lynnwood Pick-n-pull has a shop to repair vehicles that need more basic repairs. Hopefully they deem this Ranger worthy and take the couple of hours necessary to replace the gasket. Would be a shame to junk such a good truck!

 

[decipha]

sad to see the sc go to the yard, just to think my window sticker was 26k for my 91 as compared to 14k for a 91 mustang gt

 

[Ranger850]

Yeah... I would have kept those wheels. Don't see a lot of those in good condition

 

[Ragingbull]

Any updates on your project? Very interesting build you have going.