Autocross Ranger: V8 Swap, SLA, IRS

Time for more updating:

The new framework all painted

Decided the make my own roadrace oil pan.

Wrapping a set of long tubes

Final assembly

Working on the steering shaft. The OEM hollow shaft accepts 3/4 DD perfect!

Steering and brake lines ran

18x10 front wheel fitment. It's definitely going to take some good size flares.

Time to prep the engine and trans. The new oil pan and headers installed. I feel very lucky to be enable the work under a 3 ton gantry hoist 99% of the time.

Cylinder walls still look great

Longtubes on

Weighing in the new 302/T5 combo. Great to see I lost a fair amount with the lighter manual trans.

The engine weighing and prep was all work from this weekend. So that officially brings us up to current! Sunday I ATTEMPTED to install the the engine, but had a ton of issues. The biggest being the oil pan I made. I thought I measured correctly with the mockup block installed, but apparently I was off. The new oil pan was made after mockup and it hits the k member right on the nose.

So a lot of work was done this weekend, but not a a lot of progress. I've got a new oil pan ordered and once that comes in I'll try to set the motor.

Enjoy!

Box flares. You need box flares.

Box flares...hmmmm that would look awesome!

I haven't mentioned this yet but I'd also like to give thanks to Matt Boshar with Boshar Racing. He built a well known Ranger a few years back. I've often referred back to his build for inspiration.

Boshar Ranger Gallery

He gave me some advice on what he had learned racing an SLA equipped ranger. So again, thanks Matt!

In reply to JGRAHAM:

You do some good looking work. If you need more inspiration for box flares: https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/one-more-example-of-how-box-flares-make-everything/12227/page1/

Link to a "How-to" on Box Flare construction

Really good write up

wow....you guys are making a lot of work for me; but no I think I'll have to do something along these lines. Stay tuned!

Well I was able to get a few hours in on the truck this weekend. The last time I worked on the truck I ran into a lot of issues. I was unable to get the engine installed because of the interference with the oil pan I modified.

By this weekend my new oil pan had came in. It’s not a “roadrace” style but with its deep pickup location and baffles I think it’ll be just fine for autocrossing. First up was "reprepping" the motor for install. The new oil pan and pickup went on and some touch up work on the header wrap.

In an hour I had the engine finally sitting between the rails…..what a sigh of relief. I ended up shimming the engine up ~1/2” to gain alittle more room between the steering rack and oil pan though. I will never again NOT use the exact oil pan I plan on installing on the mock engine.

It's a terribly tight fit with long tubes

Next I worked on fabbing and installing the transmission cross member. I had a little bit of scrap aluminum tubing and flat bar so I decided to make use of it. The design was done more or less on the fly with what I had available, but I did try to minimize losing any ground clearance.

With the cross member in place and the engine mounts tightened I was finally able to put the chassis down on the ground and check loaded ride height. I’ve had concerns that the suspension compression calculations might not be correct, but I was pleased with the initial stance. In my head I was already planning what I would need to do to correct the ride height. I still might decide to run a 10” vs 12” spring with tender coil in the future, but not until I at least do some testing. I’ve got a fair amount of options with the ride tech coil overs.

lots of poke

I also tested fitment of the upper tower bracework with the carb and distributor installed. I was thrilled to see that I can just barely install the distributor without removing the brace work. The carb can also be put on without removal of the bracing either. I will need to order another style of air cleaner though. My 14” round cleaner will definitely not work now. I might try the triangle Edelbrock air cleaner or use a top-hat, tubing, and pod filter setup.

I spent the rest of the afternoon running various hoses and electrical. Most of this was easier stuff with the truck already having the engine setup.

I hope you guys have enjoyed the thread so far. The engine going back in is a big milestone for me. Maybe a few more hours in the shop and I'll be able to take the Ranger for a test drive!

JGRAHAM wrote: I might try the triangle Edelbrock air cleaner...

As far as I have seen, these things are only good at catching fire when you backfire through the carb. I'd go another route.

Nice work. It's got a great stance! Any idea what offset or backspacing your front FR500s have?

Gimp wrote:

JGRAHAM wrote: I might try the triangle Edelbrock air cleaner...

As far as I have seen, these things are only good at catching fire when you backfire through the carb. I'd go another route.

Threadjack - I was planning one of these for the Vette due to lack of clearance. I know there are drop-base standard filter housings, but I'm not sure I'll have clearance on top of the intake for one of those. I'd looked into a carb hat, but those are way more expensive than I'd spend on one. What other options exist?

Many thanks for the tip on the edelbrock cleaner fire hazard. I hadn't thought of it and it seems to be a known issue with the design.

I believe I've got 18x10 +22mm FR500s. The photos have 18x9s in the rear, but I've got another pair of 18x10s to match the front. I'm waiting to find a good deal on tires before I put them on the ranger.

I have seen guys use a panel filter in a custom made box.

Personally, i have used the hat off a magnum 3.9/5.2/5.9 dakota/ram, connected to a chunk of 3 inch exhaust tubing and a big ass cone filter. Lot cheaper than a carb hat, unless you are planning boost.

In reply to Dusterbd13:

I've never considered the possibility that one of those might fit on top of a carb, might end up using this information.

Worked on an edelbrock. You may need an ir cleaner spacer for a holley.

I looked into carb hats yesterday. I got shyed away from most since the inlets I felt were relatively small in an NA application. I believe I can fit a 9" diameter air cleaner on the carb so I'll probably just got that route.

Some smaller work done yesterday evening.....

i made my first emblem on the 3D printer. It's a neat little tool!

The 302 is getting closer to firing up. Sorted out a lot of the wiring and hoses. Got the the radiator back in and the power steering system buttoned up.

Well another good weekend of work done on the Ranger. Biggest thing is now it's a running and driving vehicle again! The main issue this weekend was getting the right firing order setup. A quick google search gave me the wrong order that the installed Comp Cam actually has. Nonetheless after figuring this out we had a running SBF.

Here she is rolled back in the shop for a weekend's work

I've been a little nervous about many of the "untested" components and systems. This includes the the new, old clutch, balance of the aluminum flywheel, hydraulic clutch system, and even the rebuilt T5 transmission. I'm happy to report everything felt and shifted well with no apparent issues so far.

I've still got a TON of little work too do. Heres a peak at the exhaust tips I'm fabbing out of some scrap aluminum.

Is it just my eyes and how the picture was taken or does the truck sit lower in the rear than the front? Also curious what those tips are going to sound like. Very interesting idea. Looks like single inlet to the pair of tips?

In reply to JGRAHAM:

Congrats! That exhaust is slick too.

In reply to pres589:

The chassis rails show a few degrees of forward rake. I felt the same way when I was looking at the cut front fender wells. I'm ready to fab up some front flares and get rid of that wheel gap.

I like the rectangular tip look but not too in love with the transition (or lack of) from round tube to the two rectangular tubes. It'll all be hidden but it could be done by a better fabricator willing to take more time on it. If I don't like the sound or it doesn't flow well I'll take it off and modify it more.

Thanks Petegossett!

Now that you have it rolling again, it would be good to find out what you're weight balance is. I'm concerned that you might have a fairly hefty forward bias.

jstein77 wrote: Now that you have it rolling again, it would be good to find out what you're weight balance is. I'm concerned that you might have a fairly hefty forward bias.

Yeah I just hope I'm better than the 57/43 weight distribution that it was prior too the SLA.

I found these two photos yesterday. It really shows the suspension differences between stock ranger and last year's modified twin beam. Two completely different results. I hope that this year's setup will net even better results.

Got the the air cleaner figured out. It's a tight squeeze too get a 10" filter in there but it worked. Double stacked for more air flow and had to chop the hood a little more.

coming along nicely. I dreamed of doing this in high school. Always nice to see someone pull it off.