3.8L SC motor and 5spd trans in 4 bangor 90'ish ranger.. questions

Hi guys! new here so nice to meet you.. Long story short, I own a Thunderbird SC and talked my dad into doing an SC swap in his ranger (he's constantly complaining about it's lack of power). Anyhow, I came across a FS add and I can pick up the complete motor, trans with flywheel, IC tubes and intercooler, wiring harness and computer for 450 bucks.. That didn't seem like too bad of a deal. My dad is gung-ho (SP?) about doing this.. But I can't help but worry.. here are my questions..

Where can I get the mounts to do this particular swap?

is there a write up of someone swaping the SC motor specifically?

since it's the factory tranny to the 3.8L motor, I know tht will bolt up, but will the driveshaft fit between the motor and rear end? Or am I up for a surprise when this thing bolts in and I either have too long of a drive shaft or too short?

Will the stock ranger fuel pump work for this swap or do I need to change it as well?

I know I'm asking alot of questions, but I know there are some differences between an SC motor and just the basic 3.8L motors. I know all the issues about the head gaskets and all that junk, I own a thunderbird sc, but I just am not familiar with what all needs to be done to make this motor work in a ranger without driving the cost up too high to make it worth it. any input would be great guys, thanks!

Doug frm Washington.

All I can say is... when in doubt... GO OVERKILL. Drop a 225lph pump in the fuel tank and work with it. It'll be cheap insurance. Since most of the guys doing the V8 swap tend to use Fox Mustang 'vert mounts (same as 94-95), try using the V6 mounts froma 94-04 Mustang. I know that the K members between the V6 cars and the 302 V8 cars are the same and the 3.8L V6 and the Windsor V8s are 90 degree blocks, so that should save some fab work and time there. Whatever you do... TAKE PICS and keep the post updated.

P.S.- You might want to check into swapping the 5 speed from the SC (I think the T birds use ZF or Getrag trans) for a T5. First the T5 swap will save a lotof fab work and fitment issues, since there is a company that makes brackets to convert the T5 to hydraulic clutch, taking almost all the headaches away. Second, the V6 Mustangs use T5 transmissions which means there are plenty of clutch upgrades. And third, T5s are cheap to find and rebuild. I think I would much rather fix or upgrade the T5 over the Getrag or ZF any day.

I believe the SC came with an upgraded fuel pump. And the engine/tranny combo shouldnt have too many fitment issues, but I believe the tailshaft on the t-5 is longer than the m50d isnt it?>

Yup....... and you'll need a shifter linkage swap kit similar to doing a V8 swap and probablly have to relocate the cross member back a few inches or make a bracket..

The SC came with a m5od-r2. I would use that trans. The factory Ranger clutch line will hook right up.
The shifter is at the very back of the trans. To solve that problem, I would get the top plate/shifter assembly from 97+ f150 trans. That would move the shifter into a much better location.


89-93 SC had a 108 LPH fuel pump. The 94/95 has a 128 LPH fuel pump. There is no reason to put a 255 LPH pump in unless you plan on building some serious HP.

snoranger said:

The SC came with a m5od-r2. I would use that trans. The factory Ranger clutch line will hook right up.
The shifter is at the very back of the trans. To solve that problem, I would get the top plate/shifter assembly from 97+ f150 trans. That would move the shifter into a much better location.


89-93 SC had a 108 LPH fuel pump. The 94/95 has a 128 LPH fuel pump. There is no reason to put a 255 LPH pump in unless you plan on building some serious HP.

Click to expand...

The Super Coupes have T-5's not a M5OD-R2!

Explorin94 said:

The Super Coupes have T-5's not a M5OD-R2!

Click to expand...

Guess again. You can feel free to come over my house and see a 2nd owner '89 SC with 64k miles, and the ORIGINAL M5OD-R2.

OR look here:

http://www.albeedigital.com/supercoupe/spex.html


Or here:
http://www.supercoupeperformance.com/

Go ahead and check out that second link. Bill would be one of the foremost experts in the world on SCs. I dont think his sight would be showing the M5R2 as the stock trans if it werent true.

that be a fun ranger with a nice 3.8 with more boost

snoranger said:

Guess again. You can feel free to come over my house and see a 2nd owner '89 SC with 64k miles, and the ORIGINAL M5OD-R2.

OR look here:

http://www.albeedigital.com/supercoupe/spex.html


Or here:
http://www.supercoupeperformance.com/

Go ahead and check out that second link. Bill would be one of the foremost experts in the world on SCs. I dont think his sight would be showing the M5R2 as the stock trans if it werent true.

Click to expand...

Yup it had the Mazda trans. I traded my 1990 SC 5spd for my Ranger, but a SC swap has crossed my mind also. It was a nice car, pretty quick too

DriverSideImpact said:

Yup it had the Mazda trans. I traded my 1990 SC 5spd for my Ranger, but a SC swap has crossed my mind also. It was a nice car, pretty quick too

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You want to buy another one?

how is this swap going for you man any pics of it

snoranger said:

You want to buy another one?

Click to expand...

Pics? (sorry thread jacking)

Hey guys... been a long while. I will getthis thread updated with pics. For now I'm updating via my cell phone. Anyrate. Swap is done, we are trying to figure out wheel/tire combos as I convinced my dad to lower the truck during the swap cause I knew that this thing would be fas and that cornering and basically handling would become an issue.. and I was right.. so a quick rundown. We ended up shipping the motor to coymiller (huge tunning and motor parts source for sc's) and bought a stg 1 kit. Basically its an off the shelf setup for 350 hp and 425 trq. But as that was getting done I came across a sweet deal on another 03 cobra supercharger, (550 BUCKS) so I grabbed that up. we installed an 04 cobra 6spd tranny, and my dad went ahead and swapped in an 8.8 rear end from an auto 5.0. We had to fab up new mounts for the tranny,and modified v6 mustang mounts for the motor. I'd say the hardest part was installing the six speed tranny and playing with that. We ended up a good week on playing with fitment and getting everything to feel like an oem fitment. (I'll include lots of info in the write up). Anyways, 255 lph fuel pump for those wondering. We swapped over a good amount of the sc wiring harness along with the computer. Currently looking at ways to update the gauge cluster with either sc cluster or a cobra cluster. As far as gofast, its really really fast! We ebayed a godspeed front mount ic and installed custom piping, we have a lot of boltons that were spare or left overs from my sc's. Has intake, tb, headers, full exhaust with h pipe and borla mufflers, an m112 with 10% blower pulley and just a few other boltons, as well as a coy miller motor. We haven't dyno'd the truck but I'm guessing its gotta be real real close to 400hp and 475 trq.. the gittup is insane when you have traction. We had some 255's on the back and the truck spun completely through third, and he was forced to let off after that. I'll just say that it goes faster then any ranger should. I caught an 01 camaro ss the other day in the truck, he saw the front mount, and still revved on me. I was doing 65, I grabbed third and gave him a salute. He jumped a car length on me and held that till I shifted to 4rth, then I ran him over, baaaad.. I shut down at 125 and I had 6 or 7 cars on him and was still pullin. (In mexico ofcourse) anyrate, as soon as I get back to my home computer I'll do a full write up and post pics of everything. I have 200 plus pics. Should have the writeup done within a few days. Later gents!

man cant wait to see the pics an vids of this truck