Alternatives to the 5.0 - 8 Cylinder Gasoline - Ranger Engine Tech

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JAMMAN

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Guys I know this is a sore subject on most forums and many of the FB groups but I have been looking at 5.3 LS motors.

It is hard to believe how saturated the market is with them, but if you are serious about budget torque you have to look at the specs.

There isn't much to them, basic cam, pushrod, incredibly tied in crank (6 bolts total going both directions) and you don't have to worry much about them coming apart at 501 HP like the windsors. If you are wanting even 550HP from a windsor and want to drive it more than once or twice you will be looking at an aftermarket block if you are not lucky enough to score an ancient mexican casting.

The way the LS is bolted together is nothing short of great engineering, they learned from years of the original SBC which wasn't shabby either, but had its problems also. Faced with an older SBC or a SBF I would definitely go SBF even though it would be a little more expensive.

SO that being said unless I can score an excellent 99 through 01 expo come fall time, I'm yanking the 5.0 out of my project to use on one of my 4WD rangers and the 2WD will probably get a LS. I can't see going through the crap to adapt a GM 4WD setup to a Ranger but plenty of kits available for the LS and a 2WD.

This all comes from having butt loads of turbos kinda laying around at work, some of them I made most of the parts for. You can't put a lot of boost to a 5.0 without substantial reinforcement. Most of the LS motors will handle more boost than you would ever want to run on a street motor especially a DD summer vehicle.

So it is everyone's turn to talk me out of it if you can but I am considering jumping over to the dark side.

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Posted: Wed Apr 8th, 2020 07:32 pm

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4.0power
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I'll just throw this out here: LS heads bolt on a SBF....

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Posted: Wed Apr 8th, 2020 07:35 pm

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JAMMAN

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Never heard that, where is your info coming from?

I did find out that 351C heads will bolt up to a SBF and I lost an argument because of it LOL I admitted I was wrong.

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Posted: Wed Apr 8th, 2020 07:37 pm

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4.0power
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https://www.theturboforums.com/threads/ls1-heads-on-a-sbf-yes-they-fit.324772/

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Posted: Wed Apr 8th, 2020 07:41 pm

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JAMMAN

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The gains wouldn't be worth the headaches. Get it? Head Aches.... never mind.

Still have the block splitting thing though.

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Posted: Wed Apr 8th, 2020 07:58 pm

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Mike69

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Jim, all I can say is do NOT put anything Chevy into a Ford.

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Posted: Wed Apr 8th, 2020 08:21 pm

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JAMMAN

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I felt the same way up till about 3 months ago. I'm a poor boy and if I can get 400HP for under a grand then turn around if I blow it up and with the parts from the blown one and a $250 block build another... makes me look twice.

I dream of driving a 400HP vehicle back and forth to work, all I have wanted since I bought an 86 mustang GT in 88. I can't afford 10,000 on a toy wish I could but I can't.

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Posted: Wed Apr 8th, 2020 09:39 pm

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Eddie Money
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I think if you want an Ls, get an S10...

If you want cheap power do a K swap...
Honger...or Randa...1000hp easy. Honda ECU has been hacked so much over the years theres no need for an aftermarket ecu

Havent found a K swapped ranger on the internet yet. There is a all wheel drive version available from overseas...

Last edited on Wed Apr 8th, 2020 09:42 pm by Eddie Money

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Posted: Wed Apr 8th, 2020 09:43 pm

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4.0power
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If you truly want to be off the wall, keep it ford. get a Barra motor. Fords answer to the 2JZ. If the ecoboost wasn't around I'd swap that into my 2003 low rider

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Posted: Wed Apr 8th, 2020 09:47 pm

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JAMMAN

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S10's are ugly, Rangers are cool.

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Posted: Wed Apr 8th, 2020 10:02 pm

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Idahome

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2.3L turbo? oooh la la
4bt
big block
all possible and been done
What year ranger?

I love the 5.3 Chevy engine, transmission choices, aftermarket support. It will fit right in a Ranger, small compact v8 with aluminum heads capable of making big power cheaply
I am all for it!
Run what ya brung!
I am not sure one would find its way into one of my fords...............but to each his own
A conversion of any kind is alot of work and a big commitment so to pull them off makes me happy no matter what the owners personal preference is.
Maybe the ecoboost, even a 3 valve 4.6 would be a nice swap. Keeping the HVAC is the challenge with that, but those are good alternatives to the proven 302 swap
At the end of the day nothing runs or fits better in a ranger like a small block ford my friend :)
But you already knew that

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Posted: Wed Apr 8th, 2020 10:21 pm

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Eddie Money
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Posted: Wed Apr 8th, 2020 10:48 pm

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Scrambler82
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JAMMAN wrote:
Guys I know this is a sore subject on most forums and many of the FB groups but I have been looking at 5.3 LS motors.

It is hard to believe how saturated the market is with them, but if you are serious about budget torque you have to look at the specs.

There isn't much to them, basic cam, pushrod, incredibly tied in crank (6 bolts total going both directions) and you don't have to worry much about them coming apart at 501 HP like the windsors. If you are wanting even 550HP from a windsor and want to drive it more than once or twice you will be looking at an aftermarket block if you are not lucky enough to score an ancient mexican casting.

So it is everyone's turn to talk me out of it if you can but I am considering jumping over to the dark side.
Why do you need 500 HP in your Ranger ?

4.0power wrote:
I'll just throw this out here: LS heads bolt on a SBF....
Wouldn't be the first time I've been surprised but Cheeba heads on a SBF-W Motor... that's getting out there.

JAMMAN wrote:
Never heard that, where is your info coming from?

I did find out that 351C heads will bolt up to a SBF and I lost an argument because of it LOL I admitted I was wrong.
351C Heads do bolt on but they need a slight mod to the water passages, AND the intake needs to be modified... not what I can a Plug'n Play !

Mike69 wrote:
Jim, all I can say is do NOT put anything Chevy into a Ford.
I LIKE MIKE, and the way he thinks... although I did put a healthy 289 in a Chevy II once, got some attention ! LoL !

I for two... would never put a Chebby engine in a Ford... even when I was looking for a '52 F-1, I always said to the Wife that if I get one with a Chebby engine IT WILL COME OUT !

BUTT... if you like it then drive it... of course I may not talk to you if you raise the hood !

LoL ! Good Luck with that !

also, do they make an adapter kit for the motor mounts ?

Last edited on Wed Apr 8th, 2020 10:49 pm by Scrambler82

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Posted: Thu Apr 9th, 2020 09:25 am

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VelociRanger
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Why over 500 hp? Because why not?! Lol no in all seriousness, with the aftermarket support and the way the LS motors have jumped in popularity, it makes sense to consider it as an option, even though it is a Chevy. I've seen guys put in a cam and a couple other really small upgrades tune and make 450 horsepower easily and RELIABLY, where if you were to try to get 450 out of a sbf you would have to do considerably more. There's a guy on YouTube who has ls swapped his Ranger, if I can find his videos I'll link one here. Another good point on swapping an LS is that they're literally EVERYWHERE. Most any junk yard at any given time has around 6 on the shelf or ready to pull, and that's just in my small town. I've looked for a 5.0 and I'm hard pressed to find a decent one in my area. Now, the Chevy in a Ford....I don't know about that. I mean guys who make model A rat rods use sbc all the time, and nobody really says anything because it works, it's fast, and it's cool. If you can make the LS in the Ranger work, make it fast, and make it cool, then I don't think anyone will â€œlook down upon youâ€ or you won't be excluded from any Ford fan groups. You can be sneaky and machine a cover for the engine that's says â€œ5.0â€ or something, that way to the unsuspecting eye it appears to be a Ford ;-)

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Posted: Thu Apr 9th, 2020 09:28 am

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Idahome

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there are two explorers on the explorer forum right now getting ls swaps
Plenty of rangers have already been done, heck there is a 91 Ranger on my local craigslist that is LS swapped.

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Posted: Fri Apr 10th, 2020 09:33 am

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mhoward
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@410 Customs: Happy 4/10! LOL

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Posted: Fri Apr 10th, 2020 09:46 am

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JAMMAN

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mhoward wrote:
@410 Customs: Happy 4/10! LOL
LOL took a while for me to get it.

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Posted: Fri Apr 10th, 2020 10:14 am

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Idahome

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heck yeah 4/10 copy that!! IT was a great day I have been doing alot of brakes lately...spring is here, trucks made it through another winter!
The reason I am four ten fortune is due to pagers and the advet of the internet. Back in the day way before cell phones we carried pagers and everyone had a 3 digit pager code. Because my last name is Fortune I decided to use 410 as my pager code. So if you looked at your pager and saw 410 you knew it was me calling. Then the internet was born, I think 1989-90? We signed up for some early internet service like AOL online or something and it asked for a user name, so I simply used my pager code and my last name, my user name 410Fortune was born..... but its kinda boring so after I started doing full custom builds on trucks and other machines I decided I liked 410customs better. So it really has nothing to do with April 10 or being 10 days before 4:20 or any of that stuff.... just a simple user name.

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Posted: Fri Apr 10th, 2020 10:28 am

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mhoward
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LOL I figured one of these days, you would explain the name!

@Jim: Man, you're slow today! LMAO

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Posted: Fri Apr 10th, 2020 12:21 pm

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Scrambler82
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So Jim, back on topic, what LS number is the 5.3... "6" ?

I went to one shop to find out about the cost to put my 5.0L-W in the Red EDGE and the first things the shop said was what if we put an LS in there !

I said I had an engine but he wasn't interested in doing anything except an LS Engine.

Is there a kit out there, i.e. headers, motor mounts, etc., anything extra needed ?

ltr

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Posted: Fri Apr 10th, 2020 12:31 pm

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Scrambler82
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What's the weight of the LS motors ?

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Posted: Fri Apr 10th, 2020 01:09 pm

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JAMMAN

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There are a lot of iterations gen3 gen4 gen5, aluminum blocks, iron blocks, truck intakes, car intakes. The 5.3 is the size in liters about 323CI.

All have aluminum heads. I'm still doing research but there is a huge aftermarket support for swaps in every vehicle.

A gen3 5.3 with an iron block is about 530 LBS I took one of the high numbers man a lot of guesses on the net. The 5.0 expo setup is about 480 I believe. Again the numbers are all over the place, some include exhaust manifolds some don't. I would have to put one on the scale to tell.

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Posted: Fri Apr 10th, 2020 01:28 pm

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Idahome

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there are headers, there are motor mounts that come CLOSE to working with the Ranger, there are several different accessory drives that can put the accessories where you need them for your swap. As I said there are art least two explorers on explorerforum going through these details right now, what works and what doesn't.
The 5.3 is the most desirable engine out there for conversions, next would be the VW diesel engines...... HUGE aftermarket support

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Posted: Fri Apr 10th, 2020 01:28 pm

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Mike69

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Why nbot put a stroked 351 aka 408 cu in in a Ranger & call it a day?.

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Posted: Fri Apr 10th, 2020 02:27 pm

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Scrambler82
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The only problem with a stroked Windsor is... and I'm not pointing fingers, it is getting old !

The best part of the LS Swap is you get 550 HP with mid 20 MPG !

I know... it is hard to beat !

I would never do one at this point, mainly because I have a nice 5,0L-W sitting in the barn waiting to see what I do, but I have to admit, it sounds interesting !

Ltr

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