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Idahome
Joined: Wed May 2nd, 2018
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Did I mention I love having a 2 post lift?
Trans and t case are in, exhaust has been fabricated, ready to bleed the clutch and fill the trans and t case, then lower it back down to finish the top of the engine.
Progress:
Before installing the engine I swapped the power steering line from 3.0 to 4.0. In hindsight the 3.0 line may have worked, but for peace of mind I used the 4.0 since I know it works and was working before the swap.
Also swapped the 3.0 throttle cable for 4.0
Also prepped (clean) the 4.0 engine wiring and needed a 98 Ranger 4.0 fuel line
Now thanks to Jamman I had to check the height of our 3.0 engine mounts....and turns out we are good to go!
same height both sides!
next onto the fuel rail, had to ditch the 97 Explorer return style fuel rail in favor of a 98 ranger returnless setup. So as usual I bench cleaned and tested each injector, then re ring them and install the fuel rail and gaskets before dropping the engine in
home made fuel injector cleaner/tester
Fuel injector O rings are lubed with vaseline.......vaseline is soluble in fuel works perfect for this application.
Engine dropped in place and bolted down
Onto the wiring
wiring up the alternator.....this engine came from an explorer. The ranger the alternator is wired through the C112 42 pin plug pins 41 and 42...so this is where I ran the alternator voltage regulator wires to.
Had to cut off the explorer pins and solder ranger/female pins instead
alternator is now powered and connected to battery light
Next is the MAS and airbox, the 97 Explorer donor uses the stupid round airbox with built in MAS. This will not fit our ranger so I am converting to the 3.0 square airbox and mas.
This requires building a simple harness. 97 Explorer MAS plug with 98 Ranger MAS wired on
The coolant temp sensor for the dash is different from a 97 explorer to 98 ranger so I had to install the 98 ranger sensor and wiring pigtail. Parts are coming from the old 3.0 engine.
NEVER GET RID OF OLD PARTS until the conversion is complete......trust me on this.
Also the coil pack wiring plug was broken so I swapped it out with a good one (from the 3.0)
Now onto the starter / ac wiring harness....to make things easy on myself and after looking things over I decided to keep and modify the 3.0 Ranger starter/ A/C harness. It already plugs into the truck and wires up the battery, power dist box and ac clutch and high pressure switch. All I had to do was modify the starter side of things to fit the 4.0 / 5 speed starter and add one ground cable.
wiring done, engine in and ready for more
truck was then lifted up so we can install power steering cooler, clutch and 5 speed, starter, t case, drivelines, and fab up some exhaust (cats deleted)
sorry did not get many pics of the underside work, it all looks like a stock Ranger except for modded exhaust
Flywheel was cleaned with scotchbrite and wiped clean. Clutch (has 100 miles on it) was cleaned and installed, trans was stabbed
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I build custom RBV, specializing in drivetrain conversions, wiring, suspension and complete custom trucks