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V8 swap W/AC into 96 ranger

93K views 21 replies 4 participants last post by  rangerbill 
#1 · (Edited)
I started this project for a couple of reasons. I wanted to have a factory looking engine bay with factory AC. Why not keep it original you ask?? Why else do a V8 swap, MORE POWER!! I know people have done this swap, but to my research and knowledge, no one has documented it with keeping the AC. What I am doing is using a 96 explorer without PATS as a donor, and it's going into a 96 ranger 4X4 X-cab. I will be using the explorer's motor, trans, and tcase. Later on I will be swapping the tcase out for one with low range capability. For the most part I will focus on the most direct, bolt in swap possible so others wanting a V8 swap can have this as a reference, and a write up for the tech library will also be performed. I won't concentrate too much on removal, just the basics and what will be needed. Some mods can be done prior to the V8 being installed, but I was also working under trail and error as I couldn't find a lot of info on what works for my combo.
I removed the engine, trans, tcase, engine wiring harness, starter-to-battery wiring harness, and alternator-to-solenoid as one unit, but I also removed the donor core support to ease and speed removal. You will need to remove the exhaust from the manifolds, and will take a little maneuvering to remove. If you don't remove the core support (which requires cutting it out), I recommend separating the motor and trans and removing separately. I also removed the starter as it made for more clearance around the suspension mounts. I left all the accessories bolted to the motor, AC compressor, power steering pump, etc. as I plan to use the entire donor's FEAD…



You may notice I removed the trans cooling lines with the motor, since it's secured along the oil pan inside the motor mounts and not on the frame, it was easier. Onto the Ranger, out with the old….


My truck has too much lift for an engine swap, had to let the air out of the tires….For those that remember my truck, it had 37's on it, this swap was done with it sitting on 33's…


Here is the empty Ranger engine bay…

And here are the motors removed and side by side…



In this pic, notice the motor mounts that are attached to the block. This is the stock explorer steel mounts that I ended up using. I used the stock rubber 4.0L mounts and the explorer plates. The locator tabs on the rubber mounts were removed. The passenger side fit without any mods needed, the driver side did need trimming and one hole drilled. Also visible is the factory explorer oil cooler. This will need to be removed as it contacts the gearbox.



Passenger side mounted and in the vehicle…



Next is the oil pan. The explorer has a nice thick aluminum pan that I would have loved to keep, but it contacts the engine cross member. I got a mustang dual sump pan, but I had to buy a new pickup tube (parts store knows them as oil pump pickup screen) as the explorer's tube is too tall to clear the dual sump pan. Also the aluminum pan's bolts are too long and cannot be used. I had to get a bolt kit. I wanted to get an oil pan stud kit to aid in installing the oil pan if I ever had to take it off. When I went to order my bolts, I found out the stud kit was actually cheaper than a bolt kit, and the stud kit was stainless steel, the bolts were standard bolts…


Here I am cleaning the oil pan as it had some surface rust, so I sanded the rust spots to metal and sanded the entire pan for paint, you can also see the difference in heights of the pickup tubes…



Once the engine is in, the exhaust manifolds cleared, I had plenty of room on the driver's side, the passenger side has more room than it looks, but is a closer fit


Another mod needed is to remove the oil filter thread adapter located in the block. This is what the oil filter screws onto to secure it to the block. The explorer block is set up for the oil cooler, which has female threads instead of male threads so the stud can attach the oil cooler to the block. This is easily removed with a 1 ¼ socket. If you use an adapter from another block, you will find it difficult to do as there are no flats for a socket to fit on. I searched around the shop for a nut to fit on, found a castle nut that was the same thread size, cut off the tabs of the nut and threaded it on along with the original adapter onto the oil filter stud from another block I had and using the two jammed together I was able to back out the stud and thread it into the explorer block. You might be able to source a replacement stud from a machine shop or NAPA, but I have not tried, I just used one from a block I already had. Any stud from a Ford engine that uses the FL1A style filter should work. Summit racing has these also.


Once this is done, it's time to install the oil filter relocation housing. Be sure to get the correct adapter, like THIS (http://www.summitracing.com/parts/TRD-1413/) one. As I found out, it's best to install this with the engine out of the vehicle, as I had to lift my engine back up, and remove the mount to install the housing. In these pics, the engine is in the truck, but lifted to install the housing…

In these pics, the engine is sitting on the mounts…


I wanted to point the outputs of the housing straight forward, but there was interference, so I had to point them down. This pic is from underneath…

I opted for the dual filter setup. When you buy your kit, plan on where you want your filter to be mounted as you only have 30" of hose, so it has to be within 30" of the housing on the block. I mounted mine to the factory bumper bracket. If you want to mount it elsewhere, you will need to get longer hose, available at your local hydraulic hose shop. Bring the hose with the kit with you, so you can get the right type of hose, this hose is not expensive and won't cost much for what u need. There is room to mount it to the lower core support, but for my application it would be in the way of my winch that I am mounting later. The current mounting location is temporary as I will be building a new bumper, and incorporating a mount into that to further protect the filters…

It is also a good idea to remove the trans cooling lines from the motor and the trans, and discard them, if you choose. You can use the Ranger's original cooling lines, although the trans end will need to be reworked as the lines enter the trans in different locations. I went a different route as I found an aftermarket cooler in the junkyard and had this attached to it. It goes from the transmission all the way to the core support!!


Although not necessary, now is a good time to upgrade the starter wiring circuit. OEM uses 6 gauge wire, and I chose to upgrade wire size to 2 gauge as I had starter problems in the past on other vehicles, so while I had the opportunity I upgraded the circuit. Doing this also reduces the starting time as well as extending the life of the starter by reducing the voltage required to start it. The alternator circuit, on the other hand, does need attention. Keep in mind that I am keeping my AC. If you are not keeping AC, then this step is not necessary. The ranger alternator harness uses an 8 pin plug, with 6 wires used, while the explorer alternator harness uses a 6 pin plug, though only 4 wires are used. The explorer harness lacks the high pressure switch circuit, as this circuit is in a different location in the main headlight harness. This is because the high pressure switch is in different locations of the two vehicles. The ranger switch is on the back of the manifold, and the explorer switch is next to the condenser. More on the AC high pressure switch later….The explorer harness is on the bottom, the ranger on top…

I chose to dissect both alternator harnesses and take the good parts and the parts I needed to make the harness that would work for me. Although not necessary, but if you are keeping AC like me, you can just use the ranger harness. In this pic you can see that the explorer harness on the left is a larger size than the ranger harness on the right at the alternator.

Here you can see the explorer harness on the left and the ranger harness on the right at the solenoid end. The explorer uses 2 fuse links while the ranger uses 1 link. This is because the explorer alternator is a 130 amp and the ranger is 95 amp…

Here are the two alternators side by side. Notice the slight difference in bolt patterns, and the explorer alternator on the right is also slimmer front to back than the ranger alternator on the left. The explorer alternator also has a 1 plug design, the ranger has a 2 plug design, both have the large gauge battery wire, but in different locations. You can also see the 2 wire explorer plug versus the ranger's 3 wire plug…



Here I am removing the third plug from the ranger harness. It is not necessary, but I didn't like it hanging around and I removed it. It's not hard to do, remove the red lock tab, use a pick to unlock the wire, remove the wire from the plug, then reinstall the red lock tab…






Here I am wrapping the new alternator harness in wire loom before taping the loom up. Notice the plug on the ground?? That is the high pressure switch plug for the AC that is in the ranger alternator harness. And here is the finished harness installed with the motor in the truck, looks factory, doesn't it??


After all these mods are done, now its time for the motor to go in it's new home…




I tried to install the motor, trans and tcase all at one time. I found out this was the hard way to do it. I recommend separating the motor and trans and installing the motor, then the trans/tcase from underneath. I had to remove the upper intake plenum to clear the firewall, as well as remove the radius arm brackets (the one that bolts the left side to the right side), mine were damaged and was changing them out anyways, but if you install the powertrain separated, you will not have to do this. Here is the motor in the engine bay…

You may have spotted the oil cooler still attached to the motor, as well as a different set of motor mounts. At this point is when I found out that neither would work and the task of lifting the motor up several times began. I already covered the motor mounts earlier, as well as the oil cooler. The ranger charcoal canister contacts the motor and needs to be relocated…

With the engine in, and the condenser and radiator in, you can see the clearance I have…

So here starts the mods to get more clearance. Here is the bracket that holds the upper condenser after the mod, you can see the S bend in the bracket, it is normally straight…


Here are the radiator drop brackets that come with a 3" body lift, and after I modified them to move the radiator forward…



At this point I had enough clearance to mount my cooling fans. Here are pics of the fans that I used. They are 10" fans flowing 1400CFM each and only using 4.5 amps doing it. They are only 2.5" deep at the middle, and 1.25" at the sides. Here are the fans mounted. It doesn't look like I have much room, but the bottom fan I can fit my finger between the fan and the crank pulley. It isn't a lot of room, but it's enough. The top fan has more room than the bottom, but it's hard to tell from the pics…






Here are the fuel lines, I had no problems and needed no modifications, had plenty of room on both the motor side and the frame side, and both connections are plug and play…


On top is the explorer power steering hose, the ranger on the bottom. You can see the difference in length, and the explorer hose needs to be used. However, the ends are different on one end, which is the gearbox end. The explorer uses a rack and pinion steering, not a gearbox. This is easily solved by a trip to a hydraulic hose shop and having them cut the end off and install a regular 90* 3/8 inverted flared male fitting. There is enough room on the hose for the shop to do this...

UPDATE 3-22-12
Although I can't personally confirm this at this time, I have been told a 96 f150 power steering line is a bolt in swap. It has the correct fittings on both sides...


The return line is next. I will be changing this setup in a couple weeks as I am adding a hydro boost setup as well as a filter and cooler into the system, and later will be adding hydraulic ram assist, but for now I did this to show what is needed for the swap. Here is the filter I will use. I also plan to use one of these for the transmission as well. Again, this is mounted temporarily until I build my bumper in a couple weeks…

I used the ranger return line and modified it. I tried to bend it without loosening it, and winded up kinking it at the gearbox, so I had to cut the kink out, and use my tubing bender to make a couple bends in it, then flare the end. If you loosen the fitting at the gearbox, you might be able to reposition the hose and bend it slightly by hand into location, then trim the extra rubber hose at the reservoir…


While not needed to perform this swap, I have a mechanical water temp gauge installed, and needed a location to put the sending unit. I chose the thermostat housing. Before everyone posts up that it's on the wrong side and will give faulty readings, I already know this. To give me slightly better readings, and to prevent trapped air in the cooling system, I drilled a 1/8 hole in my thermostat, and located the hole right where the sending unit is located. I used the old thermostat for mockup and fitment purposes, and replaced it with a 180* thermostat prior to final installation…





The transfer case uses a 1330 u-joint/flange, so you will need to get a 1310/1330 conversion u-joint to mount your original driveshaft to the tcase. For those that have the one piece 98+ driveshaft, good news, remove the flange from the explorer driveshaft with the u-joint, and install on your driveshaft. I had done the driveshaft swap already, so I just had to take my flange and conversion joint off, and install the explorer flange and joint onto my driveshaft. The joint was in good shape, so I opted not to replace it at this time. I will be swapping out axles shortly and will upgrade my joints then. My driveshaft bolted right up with no mods needed.
The trans X-member does need to be modified. It doesn't line up with the factory holes, but it's not far off. With the X-member bolted to the trans mount, the passenger side bolts up on side the frame rail, but the driver side doesn't. I slid it inside the frame rail, but the hole is about an inch away from bolting up. The Tcase also sits lower than the stock 1354, so it needs to be lifted, as the front driveshaft hits the trans X-member. For the swap I installed a 2" square tubing between the trans mount and the X-member. This lifted the Tcase high enough to clear the driveshaft of the factory X-member by about an inch. But I will be doing a SAS in the next week or so, and the trans X-member will be in the way, so I am custom building a trans X-member. This gave me about 1 to 1.5 inches clearance. My trans mount has enough stud sticking out the bottom that I could probably fab a small spacer to take up the threads and that would be enough to clear the driveshaft, but the offset of the bolt pattern put a severe strain on the mount…




The front driveshaft from the explorer is what will be needed to be used due to the flanges being different at the tcase, but they are the same length. The explorer shaft is on the top, the ranger on the bottom…

The AC line is the last, only because it has been at the hydraulic hose shop this long (although he is doing me a favor and doing in his spare time and only charging me parts). I broke the high pressure fitting on the manifold block thinking it had threads, but it's welded into the block, so I took a 4.0L explorer hose up there as I couldn't locate a stock ranger hose. I just took off the ranger hose fitting at the condenser and had it crimped onto the explorer line. After I got that done, I installed the line and the AC was done, just charge and enjoy that nice cold air out on the trail in the summertime!

What I don't have is the exhaust done. My donor did not have it, and I could not locate one that any junkyard would sell. As I found out, the JY's can't legally sell catalytic converters, and the Y pipe has cats in it, so I will just have to take it to the exhaust shop...
The upper and lower radiator hoses...The upper I used the explorer hose with no mods, the lower I used an 89 mustang 5.0L lower and trimmed a little on each side and it fit pretty well...

UPDATE 3-22-12
THE 99 5.0 explorer does not use an oil cooler, so getting a lower radiator hose from a 99 is a bolt in swap...



Not part of the swap, but for more fab work, I cut my fenders while doing the swap as I already had my fenders off, and installed a new fender flare I found, they are made of rubber, so they won't break or tear out on the trail, plus they look pretty good too…





More to come:icon_thumby:

SVT
 
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#11 ·
Yep, had it checked and the starter also, both are good. Dumb question..im not using the AWD transfer case from 97 mountaineer. all tranny plugs are plugged in but the one going to that transfer case...online im seeing a switch on tranny as part of starting circuit. im wondering if it wont crank with that plug not plugged in ? I appreciate your replies.
 
#21 ·
Yes despite having maybe 5 wires in main connector not connected to anything, she runs pretty good. She is finicky when she starts, and I give her 2 to 3 min warm up, then she runs fine. The 33x12.50 tires probable slow her down a little. but I have lit them up a few times..lol. She has a code for tranny..0708 high input? shifts a lil hard. was told switch might be going? But she sounds good, 2 glass pack mufflers, and she is fun to drive!! Hope anyone doing this has the success I did.
 
#22 ·
Hey guys, Hows it goin? Been driving my Ranger for maybe 2 mths or so. She runs pretty good but still has a few codes. 0708 for trans, mech ran it on shop computer..it says the pcm thinks the tranny is in o/d at all times? thinks its a wiring issue. I checked in 2 books, 1 for ranger, one for mountaineer..pin 20 on mount side of conn 115 is tranny control. no pin in that spot on ranger side, wouldn't have a clue where it should go on ranger side? Another code for vehicle speed sensor, one for cam sensor, one for each bank running lean? I have found a pin for vss or servo, its pin 7, on mountaineer side and on ranger side its 4 wheel abs..lol that one would be good to fix huh. hope to hear from someone on this. She runs better everyday but id like to figure out those codes? Havent hooked up the a/c yet..lol
 
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