A few months ago I bought a 2001 Sport Trac with a blown engine, and wrecked 2011 F150 3.7L. This has been a complicated project, but I just recently got it on the road.

You would think that a 3.7L would be smaller than a 4.0L, but that's not the case. I ran into a lot of clearance issues. Once of those clearance issues still remaining is to rebuild the AC box to make it slightly smaller. I'm using as many of the F150 parts as possible to limit the number of compatibility issues. You can see that the F150 steering column is installed in the Sport Trac. The F150 instrument panel is being used. The F150 fuel pump has been installed in the Sport Trac gas tank. The F150 had electric power steering, so the Sport Trac power steering pump has been fitted to the engine, and all the belt-driven accessories have been moved upward to solve some clearance problems.














Making seat adapter brackets to adapt Focus bucket seats to Corbeau seat brackets.


The Focus seats are installed now.


This is the first time it ran since removing the drivetrain from the F150





It seems to have enough power to get out of its own way

 

That's cool.

Before the demise of my previous '03 Explorer, I thought retrofitting one of the modern engines into it would be cool if I ever came into a boatload of money.

Still think it's a neat idea, even now after getting another '03 Explorer. It's got the 4.0L and we all know how those are.

 

Wow, very impressive! I admire your dedication.

-Rod

 

How many compatibility issues have you not been able to solve due to the difference in years ( dash lights ). Swapping over a modern dash pod, I like that a lot. I'd be interested in the challenges you ran across electrically. Also, why the change in fuel pumps? I'm assuming that the newer engine is a returnless system which you needed a pump that could run off of varying voltage?

 

I swapped the fuel pumps because the two pumps operated at different pressures (I don't remember the exact numbers), and the resistance (ohms) for the fuel gauge was pretty much opposite for empty and full between the two systems.

Because of this swap, the current gauge (the F150 instrument panel) never quite reads full, since the Sport Trac tank is slightly shorter in height than the F150 tank. Also, the miles-to-empty is incorrect due to different tank size. I hope to be able to fix the miles-to-empty soon with some reprogramming.

ABS and Advancetrac no longer exist on this drivetrain, so I am still researching whether or not I will be able to disable those warning lights.

 

So you swapped computers as well into the Sport Trac from the F150? I guess with the right software and coding you could possibly either delete the parameters that would set off the lights, or change the input range from the sensors that would affect the systems affected. Otherwise, there's always the old "remove the bulb from the offending light in the dash" trick...unless of course they used LED bulbs in the new dash cluster ( likely )...

I did a computer swap from a 1999 Chevy Express van into my 1998 Astro, which opened up a ton of options for tuning, as well as supporting the 5.7 Vortec swap the previous owner had done. First thing I had to deal with after repinning the new computer in was getting the proper O2 sensors since apparently the 98 sensors didn't want to talk to the new computer. I have the vehicle anti theft and EGR removed from the computer since I don't have cats, nor rear O2s either, the rear O2 sensors were removed from the system as well. It's really amazing that doing swaps like this don't require nearly as much as a person might think.

I am curious though, what was the thinking with going with a 3.7 instead of just sourcing another 4.0? I'm not that familiar with the 3.7 in regards to any gains you'd get over the stock configuration. Seems like you aren't eliminating the timing chain cassettes from a potential long term maintenance solution.....I love the attitude going into it though, and the results look bone stock to the unaware...I tip my hat to your work so far.

 

Yes, the PCM, smart junction box, and body control module from the F150 have ave been moved over to the Sport Trac. The fuse boxes from the Sport Trac remain in place, but only have a few active fuses and relays for things such as HVAC, power windows and doors, fog lights.

Reasons why I chose the 3.7L swap?
I had access to a wrecked F150, so it seemed like a logical, albeit not easy, swap. The 3.7L has 100 extra horsepower, has a 6-speed automatic transmission, and with the correct rear axle ratio is capable of much better gas mileage.

 

This is a very sweet swap! One I never would have thought of. You do very clean work.

 

I took the Sport Trac out today after the snow. You can see the exhaust now exits on both sides just in front of the rear tires. That helped quiet things down in the cab quite a bit.

 

Diggin' the rims a lot...way better than the ones we got with ours..great rake to the truck as well. It needs something else to set it apart from the rest of the sport tracs...maybe a strip of color down the sides in orange or bright green.

 

This is a gorgeous swap. And a powerplant much more suited to the vehicle. Wish the possible new ranger was more like this instead of the gigantic thing it's currently presumed to be.

 

you are my hero. I got a 2002 Sport Trac 4x4 last week with a bad timing chain noise for $2000. I was originally going to do a 5.0L swap and now it looks like i can't because of CA Smog laws. I'm looking at options to fix it or swap engines. I'm leaning towards a 2010 mustang 4.0L to be a direct swap when I throught to search on a 3.7L and found this thread. Very impressive. I had the 3.7L in a rental Mustang and i liked it a lot.
Thanks
Tas

 

Congrats on doing this swap! I have a 2003 Ranger FX4 Level II, automatic (5R55E), with the 4.0L SOHC. I'm wondering, what transmission did you use, the one from the F-150? (it sounds like it) What stock trans did your SportTrac come with? Also, are you 4x4 or 4x2?

My engine is going to go at some point (cassettes going/gone), so sorta looking to see what's been done out there and how hard it was to do. I like the 3.7 option for it's RWD layout from the F-150, and what I'd hope would be it's cheapness (at least I hope so). Also liking the VW TDI swaps for the gas mileage.

 

I'm using the 6R80 6-speed auto that came in the F150. My Sport Trac is 2WD. I can't speak to the possibility of doing this swap with a 4WD configuration.

I'm not sure this swap would be considered cheap. I invested $4400 in the donor wrecked F150 alone, because I needed the complete vehicle for all the wiring and the ECU. Then there was a lot of fabrication needed since there are no parts made for a swap like this.

 

Holy crap, that's way more than I expected it to be, prohibitively so! lol

One last question: Did you have to do anything special to make the 6R80 fit?

Again, congrats on accomplishing this!