Hi im new to this forum so I hope I put this in the right spot. I just got a 1999 Ford ranger 2.5 with the five speed 2wd single cab step side. Nice little truck and very easy to work on and rather cheap if ever working on any vehicle is cheap. I have been tossing around a few different ideas of what to do to it and my goal for sure is to make it a kind of sleeper truck. Looks stock but is really fast. I have been wondering if it would be worth it to beef up the stock motor and put either a turbo kit on it or to just replace the whole drivetrain for a different set up. That being said I was thinking about buying a wrecked 1997 or so mustang GT and coverting that drivetrain into the ranger. Always fabrication involved as far as motor mouning and trans mounting and different driveshaft and obviously the wiring involved for the switch which im really not to concerned. My main question though, is that has anyone ever done this or thought about it and if so how difficult and does the mustang rearend have the same width as the ranger or am I just wasting my time with the whole idea. My goal is not to be crazy fast in this thing but to be able to give people a run for there money if I were to drag race. I still want it to be a daily driver so. I guess if anyone has any ideas of what to swap out or is it more worth it to beef up the 2.5 and if that's the case can someone direct me to someone links for performance parts for the 2.5 as I cannot find much of anything that would really do much of anything on this motor. Thanks in advance

 

Welcome to the forum

You have a 2.5l SOHC Lima engine
The Lima engine was first used in 1974 Pinto, so often called "the Pinto engine"
Last Lima/Pinto engines came out as the 2.5l in 2001

It came as 2.3l for most of its life, but also had an under bored 2.0l version and a Stroked 2.5l version, you have this version, made only from 1998 to 2001 and only used in Rangers.
Rangers got the 2.3l DOHC Duratec engines in late 2001, no relation to the 2.3l SOHC Lima engines, these are Mazda L engines

The 2.5l uses the same block, head and pistons as the 2.3l only difference is the crank and connecting rods, giving it a longer stroke, adding .2l displacement

There are MANY modifications for the 2.3l which apply directly to the 2.5l, they are same engine
Fox body Mustang used the 2.3l for many many years, so Mustang forums are a good source for hands on modifications

The 2.3l Lima did come with factory turbo chargers in " ’79-’81 Mustangs, ’85-’89 Merkur XR4Ti’s, ’83-’88 Thunderbird TurboCoupes and some ’83-’86 Cougar XR-7’s"

These are of course getting hard to find

Benefits of Turbo charging current engine is you don't really need to change anything(maybe injectors), just add parts and reprogram computer
You also keep the MPG of the 2.5l until you NEED the power, then its there


Changing powertrain does require different computer and wiring, 1999 Ranger computer doesn't have a lot of shared wiring with truck wiring so while you do need to interface some wires its not to bad, mostly just 12v and grounds
I doubt the Mustang powertrain would be a good fit, especially manual trans

Best V8 swap to Ranger is from the V8 Explorer 1996-2001, whole vehicles can be picked up for a good price with rusted or damaged body, and you get 90% of all the parts you will need
.

 

Thanks for the info now the irony and delima I have now with you saying the explorer 5.0 fits the best is that I actually have a 1997 explorer xlt 5.0 awd auto as well as the ranger and if that's the best swap maybe that's what I should use to do so. As for upgrading the 2.5 the 2.3 turbo upgrades bolt on just the same with no modifications? I guess I just need to make a choice as to which way I should take it now.