Hey everyone, I'm new to this forum but not new to online message boards. I heard alot of talk about 4.6 swaps being difficult with the steering box ect. I have seen a few 2wd swaps but none 4x4 into a gen 1 or 2. Well here goes my attempt. Some of this is a copy and paste from therangerstation where I posted my build.

I am starting out with a 89 Ranger xlt 2.9, 5 speed, 1354 extended cab long bed. The donor is a 95 Crown Vic P71 FBI investigators car I bought for $38. The car was real nice, 64,664miles on the clock, everything worked perfect, but the rear trunk and bumper were smashed in. It is a sohc motor, I would love to do a dohc 32v but for 38$ for the whole car I can't complain.

http://e.imagehost.org/0562/ranger1.jpg

Plans are, the 95 4.6, backed by a 97-98 F150 m5od-r2, a 1356, explorer 8.8, and d35 front. 3" body lift for clearance, and 4-6" suspension just because. Some 35" mud terrains on 15"s. The Crown Vics steering column, gauge cluster, power seats and more will also find their home in the Ranger.

Old drivetrain out
http://e.imagehost.org/0107/rangerdrivetrain.jpg

7.5" and D28 out
http://e.imagehost.org/0890/rangeraxles.jpg

I picked up a 8.8 rear out of a 2000 explorer with 65k 3.73LS disc to disc for $100 at the local pick and pull, and a d35 out of a 91 explorer 3.73 hub to hub for $80. Completely rebuilt them except gears.

Small update, today I installed the seats, mmmmm power seats, from the Vic, the instrument cluster, and the steering column. Unfortunately I forgot my digi cam but snapped a pic with my phone of the cluster at home in its new dash. It fit surprisingly well with little modification and I now have a 140mph speedo . The steering colum went in fairly easy with about 2 hours of work, and is at perfect height for me, 6'2, with the position of the seats. and has cruise, tilt, and an airbag (not getting hooked up for obvious reasons)

http://photos-d.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-snc1/v949/95/85/1212011227/n1212011227_30243667_2890.jpg

I also beefed the coil buckets to wrap around the frame. Old meets new.... 156k miles vs 64k miles

http://photos-a.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-snc1/v949/95/85/1212011227/n1212011227_30243664_2212.jpg

Buckets

http://photos-f.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-snc1/v949/95/85/1212011227/n1212011227_30243677_5244.jpg

Interior

http://photos-f.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-snc1/v949/95/85/1212011227/n1212011227_30243677_5244.jpg

D35, beam blasted, painted, new u-joints, ball joints, bearings, seals

http://photos-e.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-snc1/v949/95/85/1212011227/n1212011227_30243676_5003.jpg

This is the oil filter / water neck adaptor I'm using from Moroso.

http://static.summitracing.com/global/images/prod/large/mor-23681_w.jpg

And this is what is bolted to the side of the block, CLEARS the PS box by a full 7/8" :spinning:

http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/7296/rangerwaterandoilvf8.jpg

its a -16 o-ring 90 with a 45* -16 on it, just got the radiator the other day, along with the centerforce pressureplate, luk disc, new slave, pilot, throwout, flywheel.

She is in for good, just have to tidy up everything like the wiring and clean off the dirt off everthing. Still have to mount radiator, plumb radiator/oil/fuel, lift kit, exhaust, and driveshafts. I ended up using a M5od-R2 out of a 1997 F-150 4.6 4x4. Pain in the behind to find since only a 97-98 F150 4.6 will work so I drove 3 hours to PA and got one for 900$, ouch, only 30 times more than I paid for the whole car.

The notch and fish plate to fit the 1356.

http://photos-a.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-snc1/v1946/95/85/1212011227/n1212011227_30283776_7765.jpg

Still dirty
http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v2323/95/85/1212011227/n1212011227_30331548_8200.jpg

http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v2323/95/85/1212011227/n1212011227_30331549_8521.jpg

http://photos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v2323/95/85/1212011227/n1212011227_30331550_8858.jpg

You can see the small notch I had to make in the x-member

http://photos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v2323/95/85/1212011227/n1212011227_30331551_9189.jpg

http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v2323/95/85/1212011227/n1212011227_30331554_190.jpg

Today is about 2 weeks since that last photo. Progress made so far is that the wiring is 95% done, shifters are made for the trans and x-case, radiator is mounted and installed, PCM, Cruise Control, Ignition module, Fuel pump and steering shaft are all installed. Sill needed to do: Make radiator hoses, mount oil filter, electric fan, build headers and exhaust, driveshafts, buy and install lift kit, and put the hood, wheel wells and grille back on. Then :driving:

How did you do the mounts? This is a much easier install with a 3" lift. cause you can add height to the mounts to clear the steering box easily. Plus you get heater box and booster clearance too!

Do a more detailed write up and more pics! Great work so far! Keep it up!

For the mounts, I used the stock 95 crown vic mounts, burned the rubber off of them, seperated the two pieces, and then just welded a 3" wide leaf spring bushing to it. It seems to work pretty well. Once eveything is done I plan on doing a write up.

Wow - nice project! I assume the oil/water neck and fittings was also about 30x more than you paid for the whole car! I know An fittings ad up quick, especially when you are in the -double digits!

Yes, it's pretty sad when the truck was free and the donor was $38, but parts alone I'll have over 1700. Still pretty cheap to have a v8, 5 speed, 4x4 pickup truck that should get decent mileage when all is done. If anyone needs the 2.9, trans, or x-case, its all for sale in the for sale section.

Today it fired up, I had to make a custom idler pulley for my A/C delete belt re-routing. At first it wouldn't even fire the plugs or injectors, turns out I didnt tighten the bolt for the main harness connector :doh: and then I forgot to set the inertia switch, but then it fired up and purred. The long tubes I made are at the ceramic coating place. So far all that is left is lift kit, brake lines, shocks and driveshafts. Pictures and maybe a video on Monday. :blahblah:

Sweet!!! Can't wait to see more!

hey everyone, haven't posted up in a while, been real busy lately but the ranger is 99% done. I just have to finish up the interior. If anyone was in Ocean City, MD the other weekend for Cruisin' I was down there driving it around. I only saw a couple other v8 rangers, both were GT's too. Well here is a short clip of it done. I need to get the computer burned, I think it not seeing the auto trans is keeping it in a "limp mode". I can rev 50% throttle but anything after that and it feels like the PCM is retarding the timing . Other than that I now have a full understanding of why everyone loves a v8 ranger :driving:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Me-lYPVWGrw

nice man.

Didn't see your truck down there, but there was a sweet 91ish? that looked like it was bagged with a blower sticking out of where the hood should have been. Also saw a few other square-body V8 trucks and one like mine (94). I know that the black long-bed 87 runs in the 10s consistently at Cecil.

I did see the one with the blower and :dewl: sadly my girl was being a huge biotch and therefor I didnt even look under the hood of one car down there :cussing: I have been trying to go up to cecil soon but i got a pinhole in my radiator the oher day and have yet to tig it up

I'm doing a 4.6 Mark VIII in a 91 4x4? Do you have the wiring details worked out yet? Where is a good source for the information?

Basically i just compared wiring diagrams from alldata for the crown vic and ranger. I left all the wiring for the ranger intact. Then laid out the whole wiring harness from the vic and went through it wire by wire, then overlaid it onto the rangers harness. Big PITA but I like wiring, just expect to spend a good amount of time here.

Wish I lived closer to you so I could get your old tranny and transfer case for my Exploder.

Should be fun when it is finished.

dont feel bad, the trans was shot but I still have the t-case

If you were closer I would definitely get it from you. I need a manual transfer case for my Exploder.