98 ranger 5.0 swap

Most guys opt for the yota steering box as its backwards (pitman arm faces the rear of the truck) and gives a nice steering shaft angle.

 

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IMHO, it's way too small for large tire applications. You can still get perfect steering geometry with the Ford steering boxes. They're beefy AND easy to tap for ram assist.....Ask me how I know lol.


Great build btw, keep up the good work!!

 

I agree, Just pointing it out since a custom steering shaft has to be made there are alot of threads around on how to use the yota box

Thanks, Hope to do this next weekend

 

Just writing out the parts list so I can double check it

Motor/trans/transfer case
explorer front drive shaft
explorer high pressure power steering line
explorer motor mounts (3.0 guys just need driver side, Idk bout 2.3 or 4.0)
explorer radiator/hoses/shroud
motor wiring harness/trans wiring harness
explorer frame to motor fuel line
explorer throttle cable
as much of the explorer exhaust as you can get
Explorer computer
explorer battery harness/starter (get a spare ranger harness if you can cause these need to be blended together)

Now if you an idiot like myself and are going from manual to auto the parts list grows but that can be covered later if need be. I am sure I am missing something. Today after school im going to get a new neutral safety switch and an 11 pin harness, throttle and shift cable. After that im good to swap minus exhaust which im gonna have to buy new

Edit: http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/5_0_swap_in_newer_ranger.html this is the write up I am sourcing my info from. Its a good little write up and he gets more indepth in the changes per year of explorer and ranger

 

SVT did that writeup I beleive. He's the best person to talk to when doing this swap.

 

Actually his name is Bob. Goes by the handle rwenzing on alot of the forums. He did the swap/write up originally. God only knows who has re-written it.

Got my trans harness/throttle and shifter cables/ and neutral safety switch today. Damn near died though. Working under the mountianeer minding my own business some teenage moron kicked the chock block I was using to hold it (its on a small hill and being that I was messing with the transmission shifter arm I chocked the wheel). The thing started rolling and about 6 feet later into a van. Needless to say I got skinned up a bit and a bump on the head from the front diff. That kid is now banned from the junk yard and the owner said I can press charges if I want. I am not going to cause I really dont wanna drag it out. But Ive seen him at a few parties before so if I see him again we are going to have a little conversation

 

The internet's a great lil tool aint it? There's quite a few people (like bob and SVT) that can do this swap in their sleep and arent afraid to share thier secrets.

 

Yeah. People who dont know this stuff really kinda look at me funny when I say its a full bolt in swap. I just need to swap a few wires around. Depending on what I can do for high flow cats I may be swapping this weekend. I dont really wanna swap then not be able to start it

 

Took the day off school cause Im far enough ahead I can do that. So I went and got new plugs/exhaust manifold gaskets, wires, and some assorted bits for the swap. Also got my fuel rails swapped over. I was looking around on my intake and saw two open vacuum ports that I cant remember where they go. I think one can be accounted for with the vacuum stuff on the drivers side wheel well. The other is small and I cant for the life of me remember where it runs. Suppose I aight to go look at another 5.0 explorer at the junk yard and see what it connects to.

I called a few upper class junk yards (the kind that strip the vehicles themselves). They didnt have crap for me as far as exhaust. I found a few people parting out 5.0 explorers but they either sent the cats off for scrap/sold them/or wanted a gagillion dollars for them since there are 4 of them. So I bit the bullet and ordered new forward cats for each side. Yeah I could have custom stuff made but I am rather into the idea of factory stuff. Puts all my O2 sensors where they need to be as well as I know it fits right. So depending on the UPS guy this swap is still possible this weekend.

 

My head is hurting so bad right now reading all this. I understand it then all of the sudden its foreign to me. Ill stick to the engines I have for now... Great write up!

 

Once im done I am going to submit a solid write up on how this is done for the site. Pretty much a step by step along with what you need as well as what to avoid if you are piecing it together. If I had to do it all over id probably just buy a whole explorer. But the picking and pulling of stuff is good practice in how it all works as well as the homework involved for the changes year to year

 

Well hit a road block. My exhaust is back ordered and wont ship till monday. So its pointless to do the swap without the parts. So again its pushed back a weekend. Looks like I will be doing this swap on my birthday lol

It does give me more time to sit down and figure out what to do with my fuel system. From the way it is 96-98 explorers had a return line and ran at 45psi. The 98 ranger I have is returnless and runs at 65psi. This is an issue (not if I were to use a 99 and up system but then I run into PATS issues). So I can do one of two things. I can use my stock 97 rails and plumb in a return line. The stock rails have a vacuum fuel pressure regulator on the fuel rail. That would just let my pump go at 65psi and the regulator would do the rest. OR track down the needed fuel pressure regulator for in the tank to set my pump at 42psi and not run a return line. I am really wanting to find the in tank stuff and swap it over

 

I used one of the explorer fuel lines along my frame and bought a fuel pump for an explorer and dropped it in my tank. I needed a new one anyways. I just hooked up the other end of the fuel line to one of the emission tubes on the tank. lol Works great! And it was very easy to do.

 

So you are running a return line? the explorer pump runs at the lower pressure correct? what year explorer pump did you use?

 

Yes I took the return line off of the explorer and used it and yes the explorer pump lowers the pressure. I used a pump from a 96 as that was the year my motor was.

 

Weird cause the pump has the same part number as my pump. Kinda like I figured they would cause its the regulator that controls it. But my motor is a late 97 so who knows. Ive been told that the rail pressure regulator will do what its supposed to regardless of the pressure being fed to it

 

swap has started. pics and details to follow tonight.

issue 1: transmission mounts arent the same. Ranger is taller than explorer. No parts stores within 50 miles of me have the mount I need. Junk yard for me tomorrow!

 

Good luck. The smallish 5.0 Ex trans mount is a weak point and chances of finding a decent used one are slim. It might be OK to use an old one to get the project together but I'd get a new one on order.

 

I ordered one already but I am going to snag a jy one tomorrow just for the purpose of having it all together. I also want to see if I cant find a truck with the bed off, grab its sending unit (has to be 97 and older) so I can have a return fitting on my sending unit for the return line. Its more hassle but I feel its the cleanest route to take.

Here is todays progress. I got home from school around 3pm and spent till 5 cleaning up the garage. Nothing worse than tripping over everything when you are trying to focus on the mess in front of you. So once it was clean I pulled the ranger in and went to town. Didnt take me long to get the motor/trans/tcase out seeing as how Ive done it many a time and didnt have a single bolt fight me



With the motor out here is step 1 for me, High pressure power steering line. You have to use the explorer one. So away I go tearing into that.


(Note: Its actually the bottom right of the 4 ports, but you take the top two off to get to it)

Once thats done you roll onto step two, explorer drivers side motor mount. What a joy that is. Here is the difference



To do this without having either a super special tool, triple jointed wrenches and finger, as well as a lucky streak you have to lower the front diff. Not to bad 3 bolts and it rests on the t bars rather nicely. To help anyone out that doesnt have skeleton fingers like myself its 18mm. I found the best attack is breaker bar, followed by 3/8ths drive and just a few clicks at a time. This took the longest but once its done you are ready to drop the motor in (I did a few more things but that can be discussed later when I get into the 97 motor in a 98 truck)

Moment of truth



It takes some wiggling, some cursing, and alot of trial and error to run this thing in there. Best approach I could come up with was angle the front of the motor towards the battery tray and kind of shoehorn it on in. Not the best method im sure but it worked with minimal damage and dropped right into the mounts like it should.



Had I not already know it all fits Id be a little worried lol. Its a tight fit in the little ranger engine bay. I hooked up my vacuum lines, tightened up the motor mounts, put the computer in, radiator and shroud, And hooked up a few wires. Still alot of work to go but now its just the time consuming stuff like wiring that will kill me

 

very nice very nice. Once this is done you should make a seperate write up and give us videos of this thing.