Well, i've been mulling about the house, thinking of how bored I am. The other day me an a coworker were discussing what I could do with my 302 sitting in the garage.

Here is my plan, to take a 2 wheel drive ranger and put my 302 into it. I know there have been a million and two questions asked about engine swaps, but I hope to do a write up on this one.

First:

I am looking for a 93-95 ranger supercab 2 wheel drive with an existing manual transmission and a 3.0 or 4.0 engine.

The reason I have choosen this is as follows. I like the 93-97 body style, and want OBD 1 for its simplicity, so this rules out anything 1996 and newer. I want a supercab for its longer wheelbase, and added space for things. Also a truck with a 3.0 or 4.0 should have an 8.8 rear axle, which should be acceptable for a 5.0. Also it should allready have heavier springs up front.

I guess my final vision of this project is to have a truck that is for racing, but still street legal. I want it to be very fast, and have no plans on it being my only means of transportation, so reliablitiy isnt a huge issue.

Anyone have any ideas or suggestions? I'm just thinking out loud here.

I hope to find a 2wd with a blown engine in it and try and buy it for 500$ or less

 

What you need to know? I did the swap into a '94 reg cab a while back, it's really not too difficult.

I'd say look for a '93 or '94, as '95 was the transition year for OBD-II, so you have a chance of getting it.

Is your 302 carbed or injected? You looking for auto or manual?

 

Now that I think about it, I'm just going to go with any ranger, because i'll need to swap the 302 harness in regardless. I'm going with fuel injection. The 302 I have is from an obd 1 (eec 4) LTD. It has roller cam, and I have cobra heads with roller rockers. But I'm going to look for a newer ranger with a blown engine to swap a 302 into. That way I dont have to worry about rust and such.

My question is...Does a newer (say 01) ranger make this swap more difficult?

Also I would like to make it a stick, and i will need a tranny to hold some power. any suggestions?

 

Newer truck won't make it more difficult in basic terms. Difficulty comes from what you want the truck to be.

When I did the 302 swap, I wanted to keep A/C for the wonderful Texas summers. A/C of course adds fun complications to the swap with all the associated equipment.

If you're doing a bare bones, straight in 302 swap, with few other accessories, it's quite simple. Many accessories can be used from the 5.0L Explorer, since they share the same basic frame and space issues. Of course, you'll need to match the EEC-IV stuff to the OBD-II stuff in the Ranger if you use a later model, perhaps others can offer more insight into that. As long as you're using the computer from the engine donor, it should pose few major problems.

I used a T-5 for the transmission in my truck, mainly because it came with the engine and was in good shape when I got it. Others are out there, but since my only experience is with the T-5, I can't say much other than in the short time I used it, it was a good, smooth shifting transmission.