1998 Ranger 3.0 to 4.0 conversion - Proj - 6 Cylinder Gasoline - Ranger Engine Tech

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Idahome

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This 98 Ranger has had it rough!
Started life as a 3.0L 5 speed 4x4 and made it to 202K miles before the head gaskets went
I picked up this Ranger like two years ago when we first moved to Idaho. She is pretty rough!
3.0, m5od, 1354e, manual locks, manual windows, some bondo, rubber floor, with lots of NEEDS

Bought it from a shop who did all the work, the story goes they kept this thing running as a daily driver for some lady, just did a new clutch and some front end work and then the head gaskets let go.
That's where I come in, haggled, made the deal, dragged it home parked out back with plans to fix it up.....then it sat. For two years!
Well now she's in the shop front and center getting the demo done.
Recently we picked up a 96 Ford Explorer sport for $100, bought it for the rear axle really, but turned out I was able to get it running on the trailer, the sport ended up being a stellar purchase! The explorer engine is in excellent condition with low 150K miles. The transmission shifts wonderfully and somebody had just installed a brand new clutch. The explorer was ROUGH but it only needed a little fiddling with the ignition switch to get it to run. Drove it around a little, tested things out then ripped it apart and crushed it.
We kept the 4.0 guts and now they are going into this Ranger.

So I present to you project second chance Ranger. From 98 3.0 5 speed to 96 4.0 and 5 speed.....one of the easiest conversions that can be done.
3.0 = boat anchor
4.0 pushrod = torque monster that can last for half million miles
the choice is clear
the truck is ROUGH, the paint, the interior, neglected for toooooo long.
That's where we come in.........

Told you she was rough, these will serve as the "before" pictures

Moose approved

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Eddie Money

Posted: Sun Feb 9th, 2020 11:23 am

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mhoward
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Yeah man, she *IS* rough. I have faith you will make it tons better, though!

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Posted: Sun Feb 9th, 2020 01:28 pm

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Eddie Money
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Wow, that was like an M night shyamalan twist, first I thought you were rescuing the ranger, but decided the expo was better, then bamb!! The expos crushed and the ranger gets rescued.

This is a great way to have some of those 4.0's leave the property on their own power.

Saved another ranger!!!

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Posted: Mon Feb 10th, 2020 09:40 am

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Idahome

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heck yes a semi rust free ranger with a clean title, who care's whats in it when it gets here !!
Goal is to make a good solid daily driver / work truck, does not have to be pretty, she just has to be solid and reliable

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Eddie Money

Posted: Tue Feb 11th, 2020 09:19 am

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Idahome

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4.0 engine is getting re sealed, new head gaskets, lower intake, the fuel injectors will be cleaned/checked and re sealed. Also ordered a new oil pan gasket so we can have a look inside this beauty before it gets installed. The clutch is dang near new like maybe hundred miles before the old 3.0 filled with water.
Interior is out, wow what a mess! Somebody liked to collect rocks? Anywho the truck is all apart now, time to clean it and start putting it back together.
Pretty cool to have manual locks and manual windows with a non slider rear glass.
This will make an excellent truck for somebody, I know I love the manual Ranger with a pushrod 4.0 and M5OD! Makes me want to convert to a manual t case also....have a full manual truck.
We are making a list of parts needed......
Waiting on Rockauto now, I had all the gaskets we need in stock BUT had to order new head bolts and the oil pan gasket.......

Fuel rail studs use a E7 socket FYI, don't twist these are getting harder to find

Previous owner did a crappy repair on a broken intake around the EGR tube. so I had to dig up another 4.0 intake (thanks to the 98 5.0 Ranger the old engine was full of water = parts!)

Some sort of putty?

replacement intake, thank goodness we have one!

interior almost out
WHO KEEPS THEIR RANGER LIKE THIS???

Nasty!

Rock collectors that's who

few new developments here like a new shop puppy

Also picked up a new daily driver:

Been after a good fan cooled 2 up sled for a while now, finally found a good deal! 04 Arctic cat 570!!

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Eddie Money

Posted: Tue Feb 11th, 2020 09:23 am

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mhoward
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Umm, where's the pics of the stripped truck? You're slackin'! LOL

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Posted: Tue Feb 11th, 2020 09:34 am

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Idahome

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your too fast!

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mhoward

Posted: Tue Feb 11th, 2020 12:55 pm

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JAMMAN

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Jalapeno was really dirty, I think yours is worse. Took 2 cleanings before I could stand to drive it.

I am a SLOB normally, should see my desk. For some reason I like the inside of my cars really clean, it bugs me and I am constantly wiping and vacuuming and empty bottles spend one day max if I am extremely busy.

This is about how it stays

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Posted: Tue Feb 11th, 2020 01:00 pm

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mhoward
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Dang, Jim! That's clean enough to eat off of it! Wish I had those nice cloth seats!

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Posted: Tue Feb 11th, 2020 05:25 pm

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Arthur
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Yeah tne lvl II I just bought looks like that :/ previous (young) owner usednit for hunting only.
It's so bad that I didn't even notice the vinyl carpet is gone too, straight on the floor pan.
I did find drain holes.

(No wonder it's so loud in the cab, I can see the road down there while driving)

Hey if anyone can get this back to it's former glory it's you guys.
Will you take the whole truck apart and clean everything by hand and do all the super neat wiring and nice details and sealing and general badassery if it stays a worktruck?

Last edited on Tue Feb 11th, 2020 05:28 pm by Arthur

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2008 XLT 4x4 4.0 5Spd. Pretty much stock except 33's and Bilsteins: A bit broken for now.
2007 FX4 Level II auto: new project!

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Posted: Tue Feb 11th, 2020 05:31 pm

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Idahome

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never cut corners!! My dad always said there is only one way to do a job

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Posted: Tue Feb 11th, 2020 05:42 pm

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Arthur
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410customs wrote:
never cut corners!! My dad always said there is only one way to do a job
Indeed.
Funny, my dad always said "Only the results count"
In know it seems the opposite, but it's
not that he doesn't care wich way a job is done. More that you can't have good results if you do things half assed. But do think out of the box
Anyway it makes sense in french lol.

Putty on the egr or siliconebronze?

Last edited on Tue Feb 11th, 2020 05:45 pm by Arthur

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Posted: Wed Feb 12th, 2020 09:26 am

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Some sort of hard putty was used

Interior is out

still strange to me to see one of these steering wheels with no cruise control switches.
For an explorer dude who has crushed alot of explorers and now doing rangers it still catches my eye

You want dedication? How about power washing when its only 28 degrees outside!
My neighbor is a badass

SOOOOOOOOO much better to work on now

Starting to look acceptable, considering monstaliner for this truck

Note to everyone who reads this, Bosch +4 spark plugs are a GIMMICK. Electricity is like water it always follows the path of least resistance. So you offer it 4 electrodes to choose from....when you only really need one. There is an old trick amongst (word?) racers from back in the day, file back your spark plug electrodes to expose more of the tip of the plug to the combustion chamber. This makes for a cleaner more complete spark as the electricity (spark) is exposed to the combustion chamber without having to travel around the electrode first.... Bosch knows this, and when they released the +2 and +4 plugs back in the 90's....people fell for it. People Ford spent ALOT of $$$$ developing spark plugs that work best in their engines.....use them.
Bosch +4 = money down the drain, they cause more issues then they solve.

I bet the gap between the electrode and the top of the plug is more then .054" with +4 and I bet the spark only travels to the electrode that is closest.

These heads are about to get CLEAN, checked for flatness and cracks.......although I only see two spots where it looked like the gasket failed, I think we will be good to go just to replace the gaskets.

very recent clutch
Now that this truck is clean we can see some things, it has a reman rack and pinion, it has newer upper and lower ball joints, newer brakes front and rear. The front brakes are going bye bye anyways but it is nice to see some major upkeep was done on this rig.

We need to extract one seat bolt and fix a crack in the drivers floor, solve a water leak at the drivers windshield.

Now waiting on parts!

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Posted: Wed Feb 12th, 2020 09:54 am

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mhoward
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Truck looks pretty straight. So, do you have to go rescue your neighbor when he freezes solid from the overspray? LOL

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410customs ,Eddie Money

Posted: Wed Feb 12th, 2020 10:27 am

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JAMMAN

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I used to try every plug that came out thinking it would be the greatest thing. I even tried the ones without electrodes for gas and 2 stroke applications. Leg warmer syndrome, figit spinner syndrome, whatever you want to call it. Not one ounce of extra power in fact I fouled the electrodeless (?) plugs quicker in a 2 stroke they were pigs.

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Posted: Thu Feb 13th, 2020 12:10 am

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Eddie Money
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JAMMAN wrote:
I used to try every plug that came out thinking it would be the greatest thing. I even tried the ones without electrodes for gas and 2 stroke applications. Leg warmer syndrome, figit spinner syndrome, whatever you want to call it. Not one ounce of extra power in fact I fouled the electrodeless (?) plugs quicker in a 2 stroke they were pigs.
You need to try iridium plugs.... lol. Kidding.

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2007 Sport 4door 4x4 4.0L SOHC V6 Ranger

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Posted: Thu Feb 13th, 2020 07:04 am

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JAMMAN

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I was thinking, adamantium or unobtainium. Back to topic LOL.

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Posted: Thu Feb 13th, 2020 09:21 am

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Idahome

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I want copper core with irridium tip, but can we do like a +5 electrode setup? I always like 5 or 7 spokes never 4 or 6........
Stick with the Motorcraft double platinum for this engine, unless you are doing forced induction, the stock plug will work BEST

Waiting on parts from Rock auto for this project.
Neighbor is now thawed out and ready to get back to building this thing.
We all really like this truck, something about no fancy do dads and a truck.......4.0, 5 speed, manual everything....should be a hoot to drive

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Posted: Thu Feb 13th, 2020 10:38 am

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mhoward
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Glad to hear neighbor is doing well! LMAO

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So many mods... so little time...

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Posted: Thu Feb 13th, 2020 10:00 pm

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Idahome

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cleaned up the coolant reservoir

replaced steering shaft with low mile late model one

fixed crack in drivers floor pan for rear seat mount

Head gasket parts arrive tomorrow

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Posted: Fri Feb 14th, 2020 09:22 am

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Idahome

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woke up in the middle of the night realized the 98 Ranger is single fuel line the 97 explorer engine is two fuel lines.....I have to convert the engine to returnless!!
These are the things that keep me up at night.....so two choices at the junk yard, convert truck to return fuel (yuck) or convert the engine to returnless fuel rail and injectors = the path I like to take.

Trip to the yard is needed gotta find a 99-2000 OHV for parts

Battle on...........

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Posted: Fri Feb 14th, 2020 04:57 pm

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Eddie Money
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^^^ This cracked me up.

I woke up in the middle of the night too but it was my new little girl kitty making noise....her meow sounds like a wild turkey

Last edited on Fri Feb 14th, 2020 09:08 pm by Eddie Money

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2007 Sport 4door 4x4 4.0L SOHC V6 Ranger

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Posted: Sun Feb 16th, 2020 11:00 am

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Idahome

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good news, no need to lose more sleep! I actually had a 98+ fuel rail and injectors on the 4.0 engine that was full of water (from the 98 v8 build)
So the parts are in, the engine is going back together and ready to be dropped into the bay

MUST compare the new gaskets to the old as there are a few changes to the 4.0 gaskets over the years.

Engine mount plate for 3.0 vs 4.0 has different stud locations on drivers side, so I use the 4.0 engine plate, mark it, and drill a hole.

Removed the sensor off the CPS and added half a cap full of motor oil, this helps lube the sensor body that has been sitting in a dry engine for a few weeks

Now that the head gaskets, lower intake manifold (LIM) gaskets are done we turn our attention to re sealing some more of the 4.0 weak oil leak spots. Install new O rings in the oil filter mount and dipstick

Now working on the returnless fuel rail, cleaning it and bench testing/cleaning the injectors...then we drop the engine in

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Posted: Sun Feb 16th, 2020 12:50 pm

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JAMMAN

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RE: 3.0 driver side motor mount. You drilled a hole in the 4.0 plate. Are the 3.0 and 4.0 motor mount the same height?

I have heard on the 3.0 2WD there is a spacer under the motor mount, is the same spacer on the 3.0 or did I hear wrong?

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Posted: Sun Feb 16th, 2020 02:27 pm

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Idahome

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they appear to be the same height
However I will check before I drop the 4.0 in in about 20 minutes!! Thanks for the heads up....if the 4.0 was not sitting flat in there my eye would pick it up....but since shes not in yet I can go check height
This truck is 4wd, if that makes a difference

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