351W powered 93 Ranger

[MercuryMan]

I had to cut off the old 4 banger mounts and I'll need to lower them on the CM to set the 357 in there. I was just about to go in to measuring mode when my friggin on-call phone rang...Murphy's law.

I want to use my 4 banger mounts for mock up and then replace the rubbers with V6 peices later, will this work? From the little bit of time that I spent tonight with the 351 between the fenders it looks like it's going to fit pretty good. I gotta slide one of my C4's in there tommorow for a better look and some measurements before I go into "fabrication" mode...LOL

I'm going to try and get the 351 bolted in with the tranny too before I take the engine lift back to the shop on Tuesday.

[MercuryMan]

Here's a few more pics. We set the engine in close to were we want it shimming it with blocks of wood. From what we see, screw the N/A for 07 plan, twin turbo's for 07 is the new plan. My cheapo headers won't even be close to clearing so we flipped the 5.0 shorties and sported some serious wood! ;D ....LOL

I think I'll need to use the drivers side 4 banger mount and a passenger side V6 mount to clear everything. The steering column and oil filter kit being most important. We'll also need a drop pitman arm kit to clear the front sump of the pan. I have loads of tranny BH clearance, right now I'm about 5" short of my tranny CM mount with the C4, but that will be easy to move ahead or make a custom CM. I grabbed a free Explorer 8.8 diff today too.

Those 4 banger front springs didn't notice the 357's weight at all, it might have sunk 2", just look at the pics.

[Don @ Maritime Drag Racing]

I have a feeling that Ranger is going to be much quicker than you realize so we'll try to give you a couple of tips: DO NOT use rubber motor mounts - either make solid mounts or a front and a mid plate and bolt that puppy up as solid as you can.
If you're going to use those hair dryers you'll make a lot more power than that little 8.8 will take for any extended amount of time. Too bad you couldn't find an real early Econoline 9 inch - it'll fit like a glove in that Ranger.
Traction shouldn't be a problem if you make a good set of lift bars like the South Side Machine leaf spring ones. The best modification you could make is to loosen up that front end - leave those stock front coils in there, free up the control arm pivots and invest in a good set of 90/10's.
Make sure the rear squats a bit and the front end lifts easily on launch - you need a fair bit of "pitch rotation" on a pickup truck. All in all it sounds like a great project to me - I've always said that trucks are easier to build than cars. Here's hoping you can prove me right... ;D ;D ;D

[MercuryMan]

Thanks for the tips. ;D...I was gonna leave those springs in as they seem very soft and would let the front end come up quite easy but I keep getting conflicting stories on traction for this truck. I was chatting with a ranger guy who had a nitrous fed 351W under the hood with an 8.8 diff and slapper bars....10.60 ET's with otherwise bone stock suspension and not a huge slick either.

A mid plate is not an option right now due to the cost, I was going to use straps on the engine to limit the travel to a certain point and to keep it in the hole should a mount break if I used rubber mounts. I can make solid mounts (already bought the steel) but then what do I do with the tranny mount? I could weld in some extra crossmembers and the roll bar, that should stiffen the truck up quite a bit. We had really hoped to run N/A in 07 but with header issues and etc it just makes more sense to do the turbo's now. It's mostly fabrication work and I only need to buy some stuff for the fuel system to feed the boost demands.

I think what we will do is run 5lbs of boost for 07 with no intercooler, learn to tune the truck and then add an intercooler and 5lbs more boost for 08. Should put me at 500HP or there abouts. Got any idea what this thing might weigh when it's done? It's getting totally gutted.

[turboguy]

Explorer 5.0 mounts should be a bolt in.I threw away a set a couple months ago........I have a pic if you need one.

[MercuryMan]

The truck is a lot lower than it was, too low really. The front is 31" to the fender lip, the back is 27-3/4". By my math it's dropped 5" in the rear from the stock height with the under-lung axle perches and missing load spring. On the plus side it already has 31 spline axles in it - my 28 spline posi will have to be sold/traded for a 31 spline posi or spool. My bump stops are only about 1.5" from the tubes.

I'll look at a few options so I can try to keep the axle on top of the springs to help prevent axle wrap, otherwise I'll have to cut the perches off and move them to the top.

[SS10]

Rearch the springs to get the ride height and then you can fab a set of slapper bars to take care of axle wrap.

Sam

[MercuryMan]

I'm not sure on what I want to do, the rear springs are very soft without the load leaf in there...I mean REALLY SOFT. What's in the S-10 for rear spings? I wonder if a 2" lift shackle might be a better thing to do?

[SS10]

It has the same setup with only one ply under the main and the S 10's come factory with underslung springs, people are using the exploder rears in the S trucks because the will fit and usually you gain rear discs and a limited slip.

You could buy some new spring pearches and convert it to over the axle mounting and then fab a set of slapper bars get a set of 50/50 rear shocks and build a cross member to fasten them to an then yer done.

BTW they do not make shocks for the S10 or the Rangers you have to measure up what you need and pick out what you want for fastening points.

Instead of making the shackles longer why not just drop your hangers down and then fab a nice tubular CM to support the drop hangers.

Sam

[Jeff Kempton]

Stu, maybe I'm asking you about something that you've already decided against, but instead of moving your trans crossmember forward why don't you consider notching the firewall and moving your engine/trans back? You seem like a pretty good fabricator and that firewall looks like an easy deal to modify. Besides the better weight distribution you'd also gain some room to plumb those hairdryers, which BTW is going to add to your front end weight enough without hanging them any further forward than absolutely necessary.

I realize that you've been thinking budget and leaning towards a bolt in/OEM mount approach, but I suggest that you reconsider. I agree with those who recommend that you fabricate motor plates or at least solid motor mounts. If you do that, then the extra work to move things rearward will be minimal, plus you'll have mounts that will hold up once the turbo setup is performing to it's potential.

Regardless of what you decide to do, Best of Luck with your project!