My uncle has a 96 ranger with a 4cyl 5 spd. 2wd. He found an engine out of a 94. brought it home and noticed a few differences. looks like the crank sensor is a 4 wire. the accessory drive brackets are a little different. water pump is different.....all of this could be swapped, i guess. the only problem is the block is different on the drivers side. the older engine has the distributor hole blocked off and the newer one doesn't even have it machined out. the main problem being is a couple of the accessory bracket mounting holes are different around where the old style distributor drive is located. making it appear that the accessory drive brackets wont interchange? is there too much difference in these 2 engines that they wont interchange?

 

No, it can't be used without significant changes, he needs a 1995-1997 2.3l or I think a 1998-2001 2.5l block can be used as well, just has a longer stroke, same head as 2.3l

The crank sensor is the biggest challenge, 1989-1994 use a hall effect crank sensor, 1995-2001 use VR(variable reluctance) crank sensor there is no "wiring" fix for this they are different signals, and because of the precise location needed its very hard to adapt this

Yes, the 1995-2001 block used a different casting than the 1989-1994 2.3l Lima engines, so brackets often won't match up

 

I just went through this. I ended up using a 99 2.5L motor. Kept the 2.3 lower intake due to the fuel regulator, but used the 2.5 upper intake since I stripped out a EGR bolt. This is how I ended up with 3 Rangers, and made 2 good ones.