Explorer powertrain into a ranger?
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Joined: May 2004
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From: The hills of No. Calif.
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I'm not clear which way you're trying to go here. Your thread title says Explorer powertrain into a Ranger, but then in your post you ask about putting the Ranger powertrain into the Explorer.
Either way, it's somewhat do-able, although putting the Ranger 2.9 in the Explorer wouldn't really be a great set-up. You would encounter some wiring issues either way due to differing ignition systems (the 2.9 has a distributor with TFI, the 4.0 has distributorless EDIS which uses a coil pack) and the 4.0 would be MASS air while the earlier 2.9s were Speed Density EFI. Also, the '88 2.9 is OBD-I while the 2000 Explorer is OBD-II. The two systems are not compatible which means basically a complete re-wiring job. For the work involved to make the swap of putting the 2.9 in the Explorer, it would be much easier to find another 4.0 to swap in. If you are trying to go the other way, you'd need to do some junkyard scrounging for wiring and components (including the computer) off of an early 4.0 with OBD-I.
https://www.ford-trucks.com/guidelines.html
I'm not clear which way you're trying to go here. Your thread title says Explorer powertrain into a Ranger, but then in your post you ask about putting the Ranger powertrain into the Explorer.
Either way, it's somewhat do-able, although putting the Ranger 2.9 in the Explorer wouldn't really be a great set-up. You would encounter some wiring issues either way due to differing ignition systems (the 2.9 has a distributor with TFI, the 4.0 has distributorless EDIS which uses a coil pack) and the 4.0 would be MASS air while the earlier 2.9s were Speed Density EFI. Also, the '88 2.9 is OBD-I while the 2000 Explorer is OBD-II. The two systems are not compatible which means basically a complete re-wiring job. For the work involved to make the swap of putting the 2.9 in the Explorer, it would be much easier to find another 4.0 to swap in. If you are trying to go the other way, you'd need to do some junkyard scrounging for wiring and components (including the computer) off of an early 4.0 with OBD-I.
Last edited by TigerDan; Sep 5, 2006 at 10:30 PM.
