I have a 2000 ford ranger 4x4 with a new system that im getting ready to start building. My buddy has a 350 that he said he would sell me cheap. Would this be a good idea to put the 350 motor in my ranger? I know i would have to change some stuff like the wiring harnesses and stuff.
would there be a problem fitting the engine to the tranny? you'd also have to move the engine mounts, that's a lot of work to do.
Well i cant do it right now but wen i get out of college i can do it. My buddy has a shop and stuff so i can take it over there and mess with it at night. I think it will be a bad ranger when i get done with it.
with that much power in a small truck it wont take much to get it moving so gas milage wouldnt be an issue. thats if the 350 is in good condition. which im sure it would be. ive heard of pontiac fiero's with 350 swaps getting 28 mpg hiway 20 city.
if i was you i wouldn't use the stock ranger tranny. it was not made to take the power of a 350. it's not a mater of if the tranny will go it is a when the tranny will go. unless you plan on building the ranger tranny up i would just put a chevy turbo 350 or 400 in it. best part you won't need an adapter just some custom mounts. probly be cheaper in the end aswell.
a friend of mine put a fuel injected 350 into his 89 s10 4x4 he redid his tranny but i have no clue what he put in there but he ended up twisting the frame because he had too much torque for that truck but it was an 89 s10 that was a lil rust bitten and he was trying to pull him self outta a bad spot so he had alot of factors but still something to think about
I'd go with a fuel injected 5.0 swap. You could find a rolled explorer and get the motor, trans, transfer case, wiring harness, etc. EVERYTHING you need for the swap... It's be a lot cheaper and easier. With a few simple mods it'd make great power as well... Check out ranger power sports and the ranger station, lots of info on ranger v8 swaps. The motor mounts probably wouldn't be to horrible, but good luck using the stock ranger tranny is probably going to be a lot more expensive than you think. Torque probbly put him in the ditch, the frame was probably twisted due to the impact. I've seen some crazy low 60ft times from built s10's with stock frames, unless your buddy has some serious money in his truck and is running slicks I seriously doubt he twisted his frame. There's an forum dedicated to v8 s10's, it's v8s10 dot org.
we were at the beach and his tires dug him down and as a last effort he matted it and crack pow it was over