Hey guys its Andrew. i FINALLY got my ranger back to my driveway after sitting at the mechanics for about a month. i'll give you some details.

oil pump went out and lost pressure, there was a knock and figured i might as well swap it out.

i told them i wanted to help so they said sure, they started it tuesday, and i went out there on Wed and they went on vacation untill the next sunday.... without telling me. at least they had pulled everything out of my ranger.

i got a hold of them finally on monday and went out there once after work, and they *****ed that they wanted me for the whole day, not just after work.

so i took a sunday off of work and went there, one guy stayed and told me what to do and the rest of them went and took this boat project to the lake ( twin 454's on a huge boat, bout 1500 hp)

i've never done this kind of work before, so i took the tcase off, then undid everything on the tranny and dropped that out.

took a break and came back after lunch and the other kid help me undo all the motor stuff, we finally pulled the 5.0 out and put it on a hoist for the night, i told them i'd come out the next day and drop it in, well i forgot about a bunch of plans and crap i had to do so i had to bail that one day, took them 4 days to call me and ask what to do.

so after talking a while they said they would put the motor tranny and tcase in and bring both the ranger and the expo to my place to finish it up.

so they just dropped the ranger off tonight and his lazy *** is gonna bring the expo tomorrow.

 

Sweet, how much work do you have left?

 

These people sound like some fvck heads.

 

yeah they basically are, when i was out there on that sunday they all were smoking weed around me. which didn't really bother me but whatever.

they do work for our cars at my job, this guy is cheap and you can tell. lol.

stuff left right now, swap computers out, figure out if i wanna get it towed and reprogrammed for my keys, or just swap the expo stuff and use those keys.

get a starter, hook up radiator/lines, hook up misc cables and re-wire the harness a tiny bit.

get some type of muffler on it and should be good to go(crosses fingers)

then when it runs, i'm more than likely gonna put new wires/maybe better coil pack on it, clean the TB, and replace/clean some misc parts on it.

oh and maybe an e-fan since the other fan crap is pulled off already.

 

Jealous! bah i need to get myself a POS dd to to this to my own truck lol

 

Hey. Another MN dude. Nice!

Anyway, good luck with the install of the 5.0. Although in my opinion it sounds like this "shop" is a bit sketchy. My understanding was that shops weren't allowed to let customers into the garage to work on things because of insurance reasons.

But hey, if the guy knows what he's doing, all the more power to you.

 

Good luck on the swap! Its been a bit since I last saw your truck and it looks great! Those 33's and the the topper look great on there!

Hopefully you can have the 5.0L up and running in no time.

Sean

 

Hopefully I can find some free time to come help when I can. Its nice to have it in already, thats a big step. now you get to just putz with the wiring etc on yer own time. I would have loved to do that on mine, but it was mid winter and I had no heated garage to work in.

 

yeah all the big stuff is hooked up, driveshafts are in and everything, i'm just not super sure on what i can all cut out from the harness and what i need to leave. sucks cuz my next day off is friday, hopefully i can get some research in and get going on it.

 

Good Luck on the swap, not the easiest thing to do anymore.
My ’88/5.0L swap was straight forward bolt in no special wiring other than the donor vehicle engine harness that was separate from the rest of the harnesses.

When it is done you will feel great driving it around and the sound is better than… well it is nice too.
It will surprise a lot of people, everyone will double take on the rig.

ltr.

 

If you dont mind just making note of what harnesses and wires and such are needed/what has to be connected once its done that would be sweet. Im really thinking of doing this next year

 

Talk to me about MA inspections… now that the computers talk to each other how is the V-8 going to work in a V-6 Truck… HELP me Michael R. (p.c.) Maybe a PM not to block up this thread.

 

Update for today.

he finally brought my expo to my house (a week later than originally planned)

i got computer swap and all the wiring done (one plug in question yet) all the normal stuffs right now which is good. ha

that guy still has to bring me a starter.

i gotta put a fan on it with the radiator yet, (i need 1 hose from water pump to rad)

AC lines were cut when truck was at the junkyard, so i'm debating on fixing it or just tossing the ac out of there. mn gets hot, but its bearable i guess.

i need to get a tuner with custom tune to disable pats( easier than getting towed to dealership 20 miles away, plus then i'll have a tuner for it)

oh, and i had my gf take out the lighted visors and put them in my truck, and she started taking apart the full center console, i'ma either sell it or put it in my truck i'm not 100% sure yet. (my expo is missing the drivers seat )

i also put the expos front stock speakers in my truck, better than the rangers one and heck cheaper than getting new ones. ha

 

awesome.... get it done man... I need to work on my truck again.. Its been a while.

 

awesome! hope I can get over there one of these days. our work schedules do not like eachother.

 

If you have AAA benefits, just call them up and say your truck broke down and needs towed to the local dealer - they will do it for free for that short 20 mile range

 

ha i wish i had AAA, the towing place in town charges like 75-100 IN TOWN, lol

and the mechanic guy that had my truck before tows for cheap, but F going to him for anything.

 

well i left a message at Henson performance yesterday
Henson Performance-Your central Alabama dyno and tuning facility

he gave me a call this morning, saying he can ship out a tuner today if i order and send a free basic tune to disable pats for now, motor is stock so i'm not going to see much gain right away anyways.

 

good deal. wish i would have had heard about that back when i did mine.

 

man.. this REALLY makes me wanna get another ranger for a toy when i get back from afghanistan next year... Hmmm..

 

you know that damn army money is burning for some **** like that!

 

lol..

I have been debating on A Ranger or a Heep for a toy... Im thinking a 5.0 Ranger would be freaking BA though.. Maybe an SAS.. maybe just a simple double lift with coilover swap.... Who knows lol. But i do believe i have been swayed for the Ranger! lol.

 

if you double lift with coil overs you might as well sas it, ha.

Andy that one guy has d44 and a 9'' for sale in mn, god i wanted to sas my truck before this, but i can't imagine that much more downtime for my truck, or putting that much money into gears/lockers for the axles. ha

Goals for tomorrow, Get My rad hose from store, hook up fan/rad and lines,

change oil and fill up other fluids

put the starter on (if guy brings it, i called him tonight about it so hopefully)

then wait for the tuner :) :) :)

 

and did you get all your stuff? ??

 

well i basically have everything ready.

got all my info to the guy for my custom tune, should be done with that soon.

only "problem" is my tranny cooler line. junkyard cuts stuff off instead of un-bolting it. so the hard line is just cut at the top by the radiator.

so i need to figure out a way to connect it to my radiator since i don't have the connector, are those lines pressurized to much to put a hoze with a clamp on it?

otherwise just gotta change a power steering line, and put fan/rad hoses and put tranny fluid and coolant in and i'll fire her up. and i will (crosses my fingers) take a video of it running. no promises of when tho!