Ranger SC?

R

Ruffinit

Guest
Hey guys,
New to the forum but figured it would be the place to ask the questions on feasibility. I owned a Cougar XR7 4.6 until I gave it to my daughter at 260K. An absolutely wonderful car and one of my all time favorites. Now for the questions.

I have a 2003 Ranger Splash, with tandard cab, step-side, 2 wheel drive with the duratec 2.3l engine. For some reason after sitting 4 months (ankle surgery), I started it up and it's knocking.. could be a spun bearing (I'm not sure at this time). I've babied the thing since almost new and drove it on a 2500 mile trip before parking it.. anyway it's a long sad story.

I often thought that if the engine ever went I wanted to put something in there that would be economical yet fun. After all the time thinking about this over the past 8 years, I've thought that the SC engine would be the way to go. Originally these Rangers have the 2.3/2.5 duratec, 3.0 and 4.0 engines in them. The 3.8 being a different animal, I'm trying to figure out if it would bolt up without much modification and if the 5 speed tranny would work. The truck mechanically is pretty healthy and so could probably be fine with the stock rear (4.11).

I know of a fabricator in Florida which makes a "frame" that fits the T-bird/Cougar IRS to the Rangers and I'd probably need a donor vehicle for all the SC parts. I feel it's sacriledge to donor up a SC, but if the body's shot...

Thoughts?
 
That would be a very involved swap. Besides the custom motor mounts, you would have to deal with the fact that the Ranger is OBD2 and the SC is OBD1, so you can't just run an SC computer in it. The easiest way around that would be running a V6 Mustang computer with a tune to run the SC engine, but then the computer in the Mustang is in a completely different place, so there would be quite a bit of re-wiring to do to make everything fit and work together. With that being said, if you have the torsion bar front suspension on that truck, a 5.0 swap is a completely bolt-in swap. You can use a 5.0 out of an explorer, along with the explorer ECM, and if it is an auto, you can use a 4R70 out of a V6 Mustang, which will work with the stock explorer ECM, bolt right up to the 5.0, and keep it 2WD. For a 5-speed you would need a tune, but an auto swap can be done without a tune. There will be quite a bit of re-wiring, but most of it is just re-pinning the main harness connector, and then you will need to make a new fuel line, but other than that, it is a much easier swap, which will make the truck pretty quick, especially with the 4.10s.
 
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