410Custom's builds a 2007 Ranger V8 - custom truck build - Project "Ranger Premier"

[vroomzoomboom]

i just remember what a pita that whole cam sync thing was...

 

[410Fortune]

And she’s in

The felpro head bolt kit comes with two extras when all said and done
They work perfectly here

Don’t forget to clean inside the back of the crank where the torque converter about will ride
Often overlooked

With engine on hoist flexplate and scatter shield cleaned, installed
Flexplate is keyed can only bolt on one way

I have a rule with the rear main seal, if the factory one does not leak, no replace
Area cleaned and prepped

Next round of parts

Now hoist it up high, prop the hood way open and drop her in
Careful, working slowly

Had to work around the ac line, system is still charged

Transmission was manipulated by hand
With converter studs lined up with flexplate the bottom two bellhousing
Bolts were lined uo and installed
Pulling trans to engine block

Converter then pulls forward 3/8” when the first nut is installed
15/16 on crank pulley and 9/16” for converter nuts. If your good you can do two converter nuts at a time

With t case on a jack and engine still on hoist stabbing trans has never been easier
Lower the jack and install all 6 bh bolts,’torque converter cover and dipstick retainer
Done w trans and off the hoist

Easy access

Onto the motor plates and the headers

 

[allmyEXes]

It's difficult for me to see, is that the return-less fuel rails and 19lb injectors with the rounded corners injector connectors?
Looking good!

 

[410Fortune]

Yes
It is a 07 ranger with returnless fuel
I’m running a 2000 explorer fuel rail and aftermarket injectors… which is why they are orange. These are 19# injectors at 64 psi rail pressure with the 98+ style wiring connectors

 

[410Fortune]

So close


Last we saw engine was in stabbed to converter and bellhousing. Bellhousing bolts installed
Time for the Torque Monsters

Set loosely in place

Remflex 03 gaskets

All done mostly installed with a 3/8 box wrench/ a pair of them actually… from around the valve covers

Dipstick was added later… whoops

Starter and downpipes installed
Engine plate to block bolts in
Converter access plate in
Trans dipstick retainer bolt done (fought me!! But I won)
Time for valve covers, surfaces cleaned gaskets coated with spray copper silicon

 

[410Fortune]

Time to bench test the injectors
Each one cleaned, inspected and test fired on my super high tech injector test bench

I moved injector 1 to cyl 2

Injector with tape was cyl 1
She tested just fine
All 8 spray nicely and were responsive

Fuel rail in. Note the fuel rail hold downs are slotted… make sure you seat the rail fully and then mash the bolts down. I did t do this once and I had a minor fuel leak from front injector… live and learn

Couple shots of the oil pressure dual port adapter. Later I had to rotate it back a bit from this position to clean the ac side accessory bracket

 

[410Fortune]

The Holley has one wide band oxygen sensor
It is located on bank 2
I had a piston melt down on bank 1
This is why I swapped injector 1
To the other side, if it is intermittent at least I will see the lean conditions
Just a precaution
We are getting ready to remote tune this new engine
I plan to ask the tuner if the Holley is upgradable to a second wide band sensor?
Just a long shot
Would be nice to monitor both banks?

Dipstick installed
Tucks under one of the header bolts

Parts table almost ready to get folded up

New Autolite ap104’s
New motorcraft pcv valve, the old one rattled but it “feels strange” to me so I swapped it
All Holley wiring plumbed
All hoses routed and installed
Both accessory brackets in
Power steering plumbed, ac mounted
Ready for intake and radiator
Lots of zip ties and careful routing

 

[vroomzoomboom]

one reason why i like to put the headers on the motor before it goes in is its so much easier to get at all the bolts on a stand. i know this was discussed earlier, but hey everyone has their way right? as for a second 02, i'm pretty sure a second one cant be added on a terminator. dominator maybe. i also see the line pressure sensor for the trans hanging. i also couldnt find a spot for it, and didnt feel like chopping a hard line up. as well, i also had a clearance issue with the duel oil pressure sending units with a/c. speaking of a/c, still going to do a write up on it?

 

[Turdle]

One wideband is "assumption" tuning at best when tuning 2 banks.
Assumption that one bank is behaving just as the other.
My opinion.

 

[JoshT]

Looking great!

I moved injector 1 to cyl 2

Unless you ment bank instead of cylinder, that would be cylinder 5.

Chevy numbers side to side, starting with driver side. Ford numbers front to back starting with the passenger side. Might not matter to you doing the work, but good to clarify for those reading and might not be aware of the difference. #2 to a Ford guy would be #4 to a Chevy guy.

Hopefully I'll have mine back tomorrow from exhaust shop and be able to wrench some this weekend. Flipped the axle for setting pipe clearance for future mods, need to flip it back to be drivable. Everything beyond that is on top of the engin and doesn't need the concrete pad. Need to get my project cleared out of the shop so that we can dig into parent's camper to replace soft wood. If the Ranger isn't back, watch out 7.3L, you're getting some overdue attention.

Don't like having both trucks inoperable at the same time, but the F-250 is currently crippled anyway, so what does it matter. I've been having to use its block heater to avoid a fight starting it. Blamed it on cold weather, but this is middle GA, it shouldn't be getting that cold. Discovered last weekend that my glow plug relay is dead. It's also overdue for a coolant change and I believe that thermostat is stuck open, need to get that fixed so I can have some heat. If it arrives in time, I also bought some latex tubing to "revive" the door seals, don't know if that's a thing in the Ranger or Explorer world.

Sorry for going off topic. I know 410 is somewhat familiar with the 7.3Ls or I wouldn't have mentioned it.

 

[410Fortune]

I live and breathe 7.3s I have 3 of them
Cold start issues normally injector seals and o rings on a 7.3.
Re ring injectors, clean and inspect injector
Cups, replace new zd11’s, new international valve Cover harness. If it’s an obs upgrade to superduty valve covers and wiring.
Upgrade that gp relay to a Stancore

Cylinder 5!! Silly me

not sure where my head was at
I’m really nervous,
I get this way when I just put an engine together, the old one blew up, and I’m about to turn the key

let’s see I put together 6ea 302 in the last year and 2 of them failed on the test drives, 2 are still running great and one is about to be started for the first time…. Nerves wrecked but I’m used to this
Cross your fingers it runs properly and we can start the Holley tune Eddie really needs his truck back

 

[JoshT]

I live and breathe 7.3s I have 3 of them
Cold start issues normally injector seals and o rings on a 7.3.
Re ring injectors, clean and inspect injector
Cups, replace new zd11’s, new international valve Cover harness. If it’s an obs upgrade to superduty valve covers and wiring.
Upgrade that gp relay to a Stancore

Cylinder 5!! Silly me

not sure where my head was at
I’m really nervous,
I get this way when I just put an engine together, the old one blew up, and I’m about to turn the key

let’s see I put together 6ea 302 in the last year and 2 of them failed on the test drives, 2 are still running great and one is about to be started for the first time…. Nerves wrecked but I’m used to this
Cross your fingers it runs properly and we can start the Holley tune Eddie really needs his truck back

Definitely the GPR here. Pulled out the multimeter and it's deader than a door nail. If the glow plugs don't get power, they can't heat up. Most of the year it isn't warm enough to need glow plugs here, so the failure can go unnoticed for a while. Plugging it in provides enough heat in the block that it starts easily even without the glow plugs on a ~30° morning. Probably wouldn't if it were colder here though.

New GPR got delivered yesterday, just got to make the time to install it and do the other stuff. Went with the Trombetta, installs in factory location and been getting good reviews in the 7.3 forum over on FTE.

 

[allmyEXes]

Looking good... I just read where you had the # 1 cylinder fuel injector sticking closed. I have the same part numbers as you that are reman Bosch injectors. I haven't really mentioned it yet, but I have a stuck open #7 injector. After cleaning I might swap it with the front ones if it would make it any easier to work on again if necessary.

 

[JoshT]

Wow. I bought a new set of FRPP 24lb injectors to install with the tune, they'll flow closer to 30lb at the 65 PSI system pressure. Hope I don't have any problems like that with them. It really would not do to wash the crank case with fuel and have to pull the engine again this soon. After exhaust, injectors and the MAF are about the only things remaining prior to tune.

My intake is ported for a 75mm TB, but there's no point installing one behind the factory MAF. On the flip side I can install a bigger MAF now, and wait to do a 75mm TB later with no problems or retune required. So bigger MAF now and tune once, or bigger MAF later and pay for a retune.

 

[dvdswan]

Awesome job. I'm secretly looking for a 5.0 explorer to bring home and build the ST. Would love to do the 5sp swap as well but I like the full console too.
So far, my wife hasn't figured it out. But I need to get my Nissan driving first.

I definitely love following the thread and all the attention to detail you do. Very informative. Keep up the great job.

Do what you love and love what you do.

 

[JoshT]

@dvdswan

There's been a bunch of people do the Explorer full console swap with a manual transmission in a Ranger. The shifter comes up where the info display or storage cubby would be. They use an aftermarket boot to fill in the opening. Wouldn't surprise me if manual swaps have been done on Explorers with similar results.

Most of those were with a V6 and Ranger transmission, but I think the 5.0L W/M5OD puts the shifter in about the same position.

 

[dvdswan]

@dvdswan

There's been a bunch of people do the Explorer full console swap with a manual transmission in a Ranger. The shifter comes up where the info display or storage cubby would be. They use an aftermarket boot to fill in the opening. Wouldn't surprise me if manual swaps have been done on Explorers with similar results.

Most of those were with a V6 and Ranger transmission, but I think the 5.0L W/M5OD puts the shifter in about the same position.

I had thought of that, it seemed to be weird in my mind as the boot would be about halfway up the shifter.

 

[JoshT]

I had thought of that, it seemed to be weird in my mind as the boot would be about halfway up the shifter.

It's up there, but IMO it does not look terrible. Here's a link to a Ranger forum that has a few pics of it done. I particularly like the results with the hurst shifter one.

EDIT: Helps if I actually post the link. Exp Center Console /w Manual Trans - Ranger-Forums - The Ultimate Ford Ranger Resource

 

[dvdswan]

It's up there, but IMO it does not look terrible. Here's a link to a Ranger forum that has a few pics of it done. I particularly like the results with the hurst shifter one.

EDIT: Helps if I actually post the link. Exp Center Console /w Manual Trans - Ranger-Forums - The Ultimate Ford Ranger Resource

Those actually look pretty good. The Hurst one is nicely done for sure.

 

[410Fortune]

And…

She has her zip tie / stick

Got her put all back together
I had a couple
Of battles along the way, the trans dipstick got bent somehow wand refused to seal / line up with its mounting bolt.. took me a bit I think I won

Custom trans mount and crossmember was done, better then the “old”’setup. Details to follow

First we need to hear her run
So… exhaust mount assembled, new trans mount and custom crossmember

Finally with trans dipstick sorted Time for intake, spacer, coil tower, wires, plumbing…

Alternator wired, power steering plumbed, vacuum,
Lines, hoses, and wiring prepped, routed and tied in place

Time for upper plenum

Look see what I found
A couple of the Taylor wires indeed were arcing on the headers. A constant battle! I added some factory tins this time around
Little trick I learned recently

Lucky I have some spare Taylor
Wires was able to add one and complete the set