Low vacuum/rough idle post 5.0 swap

[fastpakr]

Picked it up from the shop and drove it to work with good power and cold A/C. They're hassling me a bit on the brakes, but that's pretty obviously just the rotors not wanting to bite against the pads because they've developed a bit of surface corrosion over the last few years. This weekend I should have a chance to turn or replace them. Then it gets an Explorer Sport Trac axle swap later with a Torsen for bigger brakes, etc in the rear as the next project.

Thanks for all the guidance. It's exciting to be driving it again and not staring in frustration.

 

[CDW6212R]

Drive it and it'll be much easier to handle things. If you have the Sport Trac available for parts, get the front spindles also. Those 4WD parts will go on your Ranger and gain an inch bigger rotors, with the old calipers and pads.

 

[boominXplorer]

Nice to hear!

 

[fastpakr]

Drive it and it'll be much easier to handle things. If you have the Sport Trac available for parts, get the front spindles also. Those 4WD parts will go on your Ranger and gain an inch bigger rotors, with the old calipers and pads.

The ST is gone years ago. I found a guy parting it out online and got the rear axle, driveshafts, center console, and cluster off it. Not sure why I didn't grab the front end stuff - it may have already been gone. But the rear axle is set up now with new spring perches and shock mounts, and the Torsen is installed and dialed in. I just need to find time to pre mount all the brake bits so I can do the swap quickly when the time comes.

 

[410Fortune]

Well done! In my research it turns out almost
Always with these GT40 302 and mild cam 6.3 pushrods are the length that is needed when keeping factory stamped rockers

 

[fastpakr]

Thanks! 6.3 probably have worked great with the factory rockers. With the rollers they would have been just a hair short (between a quarter and half turn of preload to torque down). But the 6.35 got me right on target.

Now I can move on to other things...

Finally installed the Sport Trac axle last night after it's been gathering dust the last few years. Haven't worked it over yet, but the Torsen that a friend set up in it for me seems to be running smooth and quiet.

Now I want to start gathering parts for an R2 swap in a year or two.

 

[fastpakr]

Over the weekend I drove up to Attica, Indiana for a TRS gathering at Badlands Off Road Park. My 7 year old and I put 1100 miles on it in three days and it never skipped a beat. Thanks again for all the help along the way!

 

[donalds]

Nice job
I bet you had some fun with your family
My kind of fun

 

[CDW6212R]

Excellent. I really like those step side Rangers, I'd like to have one some day. I'm glad you had a great time, with your son too.

 

[fastpakr]

To be honest, I hated the step side until I owned one. Always thought it looked goofy and sacrificed valuable bed space. But with a bit of lift and larger tires, it makes it a lot easier to access all portions of the bed from one side. I'm pretty happy with it now.

 

[CDW6212R]

Ditto. My friend had an F150 with the step side bed, and it does reduce the cargo space. But they look better to me, and as little as I need a truck, the Ranger with that bed and the extended cab would be just right. I'd like it to play with, I used to love seeing the gold/bronze colored Rangers in the early 2000's, there was one with a 302 and Kenne Bell on that. I'd like to see that have an ecoboost V6 in it, if that could fit. A toy, we all need those.