How to: Ethan's 1990 eec-iv ranger - 99 SOHC Swap + A4LD to M5OD

Hello explorer forum! I hate to have started this thread a bit late in the season but I feel like this could help others that may decide to do a OHV - SOHC engine swap. I have already completed my swap and put 1250 miles to this date on ranger and im looking back on all these pics that I cant help but think may be useful to you all. So im rounding up my pictures and soon im going to start a detailed write out of all the modifications made to make this swap work for my daily driven situation. I stayed up all night putting the pics in a pile from all the friends I had sent them to in the past and tomorrow I will start posting on this thread how it all came together.

The chassis I started with was a 1990 ford ranger XLT 4x4 4.0 OHV auto A4LD

The donor vehicle was a 1999 ford explorer 4.0 sohc with a newer auto trans, 4r55/5r55???

Pics the day I bought the pickup assuming I was only in for a head gasket replacement

 

[booyackshaw]

So I have some holes above where I did not post additions to my truck so I'll fill them in now, thanks for talking on here it brings me back to look at what I've done and what I've forgotten to update.

It used to be on 15" rims with 30"x9.5 tires. It's on the same rims but now on 31"x10.5 tires.

I also found a throttle body from a Ford Expedition with a v8.

In the last two pics I drew arrows towards my new idle air control, its adjusted by the hex screw in the front. I had to flip it so the Ford emblem is faced down.

I found this website once that gave me an equation for the perfect throttle body bore for a street application and for a racing application.

http://www.hipermath.com/engines/throttle_body_size

So I put the equation into my laptop a couple times....

So my new throttle body isn't even useful yet until I get a new clutch because the used clutch I threw on from the junkyard starts to slip around 5300 rpm so I usually don't go above 5000.

I'd also like to note the new throttle body has a shorter throw of the butterfly valve because the lever is closer to the middle of the throttle plate, resulting in a shorter throw in the gas pedal.

 

[booyackshaw]

Please note, I did have to cut off the plastic slot ment for a cable with led barrel style throttle cable, and I believe I got a 1/4" or 10/32 ball head screw and rounded the head on a bench grinder til it fit tight in my ball style throttle cable and bolted it into the spot 180 from the spot I cut off.

I also ported the throttle body with a "rotary file bit" and then compared throttle body blades, then knife edged the larger blade for less turbulence resulting in a very few CFM increase.

I'd just like to point out, I believe that the picture with the number 1 will not be as useful as knifeedging shown in the picture labeled 2. I believe illustration 1 will be entirely useless and won't perform any differently.

 

[booyackshaw]

About 2 months ago my fuel pump relay burnt out, I thought it was the fuel pump so I ordered a high flow, high horsepower aftermarket fuel pump designed for the ford ranger I have. 255lph and it was advertised as up to 500hp compatibility. So I replaced the fuel pump for $25 then figured out it was a $15 relay. It was pretty dumb but now I'm ready for more power.

But before that I also had running boards added to my truck. Traded a safe on Craigslist for some "ford ranger factory running boards".

But I believe these were not stock, I believe they were like a jcwhitney aftermarket item because they are about 2-4 inches too long.

^that was before.

And then I went to a junkyard and noticed that first gen Ford rangers do not have rear mudflaps, but have the same exact accessible mounting points as the 2nd gen rangers which do have factory mud flaps. So I bought a pair and put them on. The passenger side went it fine but the drivers the bolt head broke off underneath the bed so I had to bend the mud flap hangar and use a carriage bolt from the hardware store.

 

[booyackshaw]

I'd also like to note, when I put the bigger tires on was the same day I put the running boards on, and my tires rubbed the running boards when turning so I went to the junkyard and got a lift kit.

I went to two 1980's Ford f-250's 2wd and removed their front coil spring seats. The reason why I got 4 blocks was because a friends truck needed lifted too, but also the drivetrain in the vehicle is off center and therefore one spring saga more than the other but in the ranger the drivetrain is directly in the middle of the vehicle so everything is even. But in the f-250's they put 2 different sized seats to level the front end.

The taller ones are 1.4" tall and when assembled add 2.75" of lift. The shorter ones are 1.2 and lift it 2.4 I think? So I'm mid process of moving the running boards back from the tires so I can unlift the front because of bad camber and I don't want to buy two camber bolts at $30 apiece. The nut in the middle of the front coil spring on both vehicles is an inch and one eight.
1 1/8".

If you were lifting your truck and you want it to have less problems, I suggest you also follow this pic.

Here's pretty recent pics of my truck

 

[booyackshaw]

Recently I removed my leaf spring helpers in the rear that were making the ride super stiff and I lost 2.5" of lift in the rear, so as I sit today it's 2" of body lift all the way around and it has a ford 8.8 swap with the leafs ontop of the axle not underneath it, with a 4 leaf spring pack from an explorer rather than a 3 leaf spring pack from a ranger. And the front just has the 2" body lift and the 1.2" spring seats which is 2.4" lift. (4.4" lift total in the front)

This was parking on a small gravel pile and my rear leaf on the driver side was completely flat, but the front of that same leaf pack was actually bending downwards farther than flat, so I think I'm going to take apart my leaf spring helpers and add the leafs to my current pack, then either I'm going to add belltech 6400 shackles which I already own, or I may just lift at the axel before I do a rear leaf spring perch flip which many have written online that it increases the travel, comfort, and driveability of the rear suspension.

 

[Joel h]

Looking good dude mine has a lift and 31x10.5xr15 too they were not easy to find up here in the gulf islands. Another difficulty is everything is being done on a small island so every part is a ferry to town for me, really slows things down, i think i can get a buddy to weld up my exhaust that i mocked together but going to an exhaust shop is out of the question right now id get pulled over as soon as i got into town with this pig its just ridiculous right now. The other day my clutch pedal pressed to the floor too and all the fluid drained out and i just parked her and havent looked at her since. What did you end up doing with the air temp sensor? I just left mine hanging maybe thats why shes not running so hot i also wondered if i have had drive train issues or something slipping i really am at a loss. If i didnt have my 1990 2.9 that i fixed the headgasket on to get me around id probably kill myself. Any ideas?

 

[booyackshaw]

In between my pod air filter, and my maf sensor housing is a "spectre" brand maf sensor adapter was what I think it was labeled as, at oreillys. It was around $12-15USD and it has a plastic bung for smaller sensors or for a vacuum line? Well I just removed the plastic and the IAC was the correct size to fit in the hole. With the stock rubber intake tube that I used before it disintegrated, I used a vacuum hole and ran my 2 vacuum lines to 1 hole rather than 2.

Your IAC can play a huge difference in performance, that should be the next thing you do after the clutch gets figured out. The IAC tells your computer the temp of the intake air charge so that it can calculate how dense the air is, then to also calculate how much fuel is used based on air density.

I also had to extend my IAC wires about a foot and a half.

 

[booyackshaw]

I found the website from the original manufacturer of my intake parts and they have free shipping over $10. This might be your best bet, I snapped some pics of the same exact parts I used for you with part numbers and pricing. I also used a 90 degree bend but I didn't snap a picture of it, I'm sure you'll be able to find it when you get on the website, I used a 90 and 22 degree, the maf housing adapter and the vacuum hose adapter, plus 4 hose couplers. My intake is all done in "3 inch OD"

There are some plastic clamps that LOOK chrome but they aren't, that I was thinking might match better than the pvc couplers I used but I wanted the blue to match my paint. Who knows, you might find something local to you that is cheaper.

 

[EvanL94]

Did you have any issues clearing the engine crossmember with the SOHC oil pan? Currently doing a SOHC swap in my 88 Ranger

 

[booyackshaw]

My 4wd traction arm mounting bolts did infact get very close to my oil pan, it took me 8,000 miles before one day I was roughly flooring my ranger through an old logging road with some big potholes and when I can back to town, it was pouring oil. Took the oil pan off to replace it with a new one and found my timing chain Plastics in my oil pan so I did a full engine rebuild, made some engine mount spacers on a manual lathe, they were out of aluminum rod .400” thick 5/8 diameter washer or so, made 4 of them, 2 aluminum washers to fit on the single engine mount stud on each side and two more aluminum washers to stick on the alignment dowel on each side, I think I made the alignment dowel washers smaller OD. I’ve been needing to post some pics here, look at this...

 

[booyackshaw]

Even though I did add those washers to my engine mounts, my oil pan is still pretty scarily close to those bolt heads on the crossmember, I might have to check that out after my diff is put back together, if your wondering what I replaced with the engine rebuild I’ll tell ya.
New main & crank bearings
New pistons & rings
All 5 timing chains replaced
I think like 3 out of 6 sprockets replaced
Oil pump
Oil drive gear
Water pump
Rear main seal
Aluminum thermostat housing upgrade
Headers & header wrap
New hydraulic lash adjusters
Cleaned valves on a lathe with scotchbrite
Cams were cleaned by a custom shop so I could get a custom grind but they got swarmed with business and wanted to put my cams 3 weeks out so I said no and took them back, finished the project.
I bought an OTC tool kit for the 4.0 chain kit, it was $211 online.

 

[booyackshaw]

Even though I did add those washers to my engine mounts, my oil pan is still pretty scarily close to those bolt heads on the crossmember, I might have to check that out after my diff is put back together, if your wondering what I replaced with the engine rebuild I’ll tell ya.
New main & crank bearings
New pistons & rings
All 5 timing chains replaced
I think like 3 out of 6 sprockets replaced
Oil pump
Oil drive gear
Water pump
Rear main seal
Aluminum thermostat housing upgrade
Headers & header wrap
New hydraulic lash adjusters
Cleaned valves on a lathe with scotchbrite
Cams were cleaned by a custom shop so I could get a custom grind but they got swarmed with business and wanted to put my cams 3 weeks out so I said no and took them back, finished the project.
And I bought the 4.0 otc timing chain tool kit for $211

 

[410Fortune]

good work thus far that little truck should be a rocket with the SOHC under the hood!
Keep the updates coming we are reading them!!

 

[booyackshaw]

Yeah it definitely is, especially with a 5spd. This engine is actually really cool with being able to sit in 2k-3k rpms in the torque band and be able to lug around town and within speed limited areas, from 45mph 5th gear I can double down shift and rip 4K-5k rpms and hit 60 in what feels like almost no time at all the tq/hp bands are pretty unique in this engine, even though it was a major pain to do a full rebuild, I definitely like how the cam chains are balanced and designed.
I definitely over used the half slang word “tho”, although I was very tired and didn’t realize, excuse me for being an idiot on Snapchat. Lol

 

[410Fortune]

My friend Brett has a 2004 SOHC engine in his 94 Explorer sport with the 5 speed on 33" tires. I am sure it would give my 5.0 BII a run for its money!
The oil pan fitment is a issue with his ttb truck as well, I hear he is going 347 now keeping the a 5 speed manual.........tired of the fitment of the SOHC in the Gen I truck huge notch in the heater box, close to the oil pan, close to the frame, etc
I commend those who have done it, the SOHC is a great engine underneath all of those chains and plastic bits!

 

[dezertranger]

are you still on here? im about to start on the exact same swap and have some questions about what wiring had to change? thnaks in advance

 

[booyackshaw]

are you still on here? im about to start on the exact same swap and have some questions about what wiring had to change? thnaks in advance

Yeah I’m still on here. For like 2 or 3 years I was getting email notifications on this forum then suddenly they turned off, I’m still around and the truck is still my daily driver. Still rips burnouts everywhere I go, even if I’m not trying. Fun stuff, I may have forgotten to post here that I have a new video on YouTube.



I guess I really should do a follow up in the best camera I’ve got huh. Coming soon.

 

[Ryan15]

What all wiring did you change like the cab an the engine bay an dash