hey AD

[434fireboy52]

I want to swap out my 88 ranger 2.9 but now I'm second guessing it after reading some of the forums on here. Should I swap for a 4.0 or 3.8s? Should I find something super charged? If I use a 4.0 what what year would be the best to use? Ranger or Exploder? Is there a certain year that will be easier? I'm a good mech. but suck at electrical stuff! What should I do inorder to get the best out come with the least headache.

 

[AllanD]

The attractions to a 4.0 are:
1) it bolts to the same mounts
2)It uses the same bellhousing pattern, thus theoretically the same trans,
though in practice there are "issues" with most of the transmissions.
3)It uses the same exhaust (2.9 Y-pipes bolt right up to the 4.0 manifolds)

Basically the 4.0 is DESIGNED to fit where a 2.8/2.9 has been.

The 3.8RWD is designed to fit in chassis designed for the 5.0

The 3.8SC engine looks attractive because of it's power and torque,
but the fact that it BARELY fits in the much larger MN12 T'bird chassis'
engine bay and doesn't really do anything you can't get a 5.0
(or more easily a 5.8) to do WITHOUT the complexity and bulk of the SC system.

and either a 5.0 or 5.8 CAN be worked on in the chassis.

a 4.0 swap regardless of year of the donor, provided you stick to '90-94,
is an almost entirely "electrical" exercise.

Yes there are details, like radiator and heater hoses, throttle cable and fuel lines,
but other than those relatively minor issues and the physical problems
with taking one engine out and putting another in (which with a 4.0 for a 2.9 isn't materially different from replacing a 2,9 with a 2.9) the job is making the wiring work.

And that wiring isn't so much of an issue that is related to swapping out
your '88 2.9 and swapping in a 90-94 4.0 as it is replacing the '86-88 wirining
with '90-92 or '93-94 wiring.

That is the problem with the fuel lines, because the '89-up 2.9's use the
later style fuel lines. (entirely related to the change from the dual pump
system used up to '88 and the single pump system used '89-on)

so the question of "what year" is actually more related to
"what donor can you get COMPLETE and RUNNING?"

Though I will say that a '90-92 4.0 will be an incrementally easier swap
than a '93-94 engine would.

'95-up would be a complete horror show.
why you ask? EEC-V.

AD

 

[434fireboy52]

If I get a 90-92 donor would it be possible to swap the dash and gauges thus making it an unplug and plug in swap?

 

[swamprat]

If I get a 90-92 donor would it be possible to swap the dash and gauges thus making it an unplug and plug in swap?

You could do that. Sounds like a lot of work to me. You would get a better looking dash out of it with more gauges. The best thing to do is find a running donor vehicle, 90-92. Those are the best years. If your truck is auto find an auto, vice versa for 5 sp. That will help in the wiring also, minor stuff. The fuel lines are easy to fix. If you get a 92 truck check the build date. My 92 explorer donor had 93 wiring in it. My books I had were for a 92 and the wiring diagrams were a little different. Had me confused for a couple of days.

 

[AllanD]

Yes, don't make the mistake of confusing build date with model year.

The door sticker relates build date and the next model year vehicles are made as early as late august of the preceeding year.

What's even worse is mid-year introductions like the explorer...
1991 explorers were made as early as MARCH of 1990 but ALL were "1991 model year"

Not that it matters no significant changes wrere made until the end of the 1992 model year... the chages going into 1993 were significant, more complicated wiring, ABS, etc....

an explorer dash will NOT make the conversion easier, but rather more complicated because the explorer while cosmetically similar to the ranger uses VERY DIFFERENT routing for it's more complicated wiring.

so if you REALLY want to do a dash-swap re-wire, you really need to find
a 1990-1992 Ranger to get the dash out of.

Be aware that when you swap to the later dash you must also swap to the matching pedal support and steering column AND intermediate steering shaft from the
later vehicle as well as the inside the truck HVAC ducting

I did not want to do that myself for two reasons...
One I was already "wired" for dual tanks and wasn't sure how to accomplish that with the later dash.
The second reason was that I have one of the rare Motorsport 140mph speedometers in my 1987 and didn't want to lose it as I would have with a dash swap.

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