Lucky_1980

ok guys quick introductions. I'm known as Lucky by everyone. I own and operate Lucky's Kustoms LLC here in Iowa where I am located. I do more work on custom motorcycles right now until I get my new shop built but have been turning wrenches as long as I can remember. I have a huge background in most automotive industries along with diesels as well from my time in the Marines. I'm building this truck as a street/strip truck to take to some local events and hopefully some bigger ones to get my name out there.

I have plenty of equipment to get this swap done.
welders- Tigweld 200sx w/ aluminum welding capabilities and a harbor frieght mig 170 setup with gas.
Air compressor- is a hybrid built Husky single stage 60 gallon with a 30 gallon expansion tank with plenty of air tools.
Obvious the general hand tools and specialty automotive tools.

So right now I have the ranger motor, trans and reared out. I will be picking up a 1999 Silverado 5.3/4l60e and ford 8.8 disk rearend from my local junkyard. I also have a 2004 Silverado 2500hd with the 6.0/4l80e in it. I haven't decided which one I am going to put in yet because I'm not sure I want to pull another motor and trans due to having disability problems from injuries from my time in the Marines.

I plan on documenting the entire build process since I have not been able to find much on swapping a LS into a 98+ Ford Ranger.

Some of the things I need help with:
motor mounts
pcm selection (I have the original brain boxes but not sure if I want to use those and get HP Tuners or switch to a Megasquirt 3)
Suspension i'm still working on but I do know it will mostly be hand built and plan on running a 4 link in the rear and coil overs on all 4 corners. I will be boxing in the entire from and cutting speed holes for weight saving and trying to get to the 50/50 weight distribution for the front and rear axles.

So there is some of the starting info. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Let me be strait forward though, I do not have time nore want comments like why not just swap something else etc etc blah blah. If you don't like what I'm doing, well sry, go read somewhere else. I am not a chevy , ford, dodge etc guy. I am a automotive fanatic. I love building things that aren't the norm and I love going fast!

Here are some pics of my truck so far. I have some more that I will get up later.

Tootall_ty

Nice. I too will be swaping my ranger in the next couple of months. For motor mounts I was going to get dirty dingo mounts. I know someone that used the s-10 mounts in there ranger. I'm going lm7 5.3 with a 4l80e in my 94 ranger

Lucky_1980

i actually found some plans online for the engine side mounts so i will be fabricating those and then fabricating the frame rail mounts from those. I did actually end up with the 4l80e from a 2500. The salvage yard I work with are awsome people. Helps to have a good relationship with them, helps get the parts I want and I didn't pay for the motor, wiring harness, ecm, transmission or the 8.8 rear end. Just traded them for the parts I pulled from my Ranger since everything only had 135,000 miles and was the 4.0 sohc and all the 4x4 parts.

Tootall_ty

That's awesome same thing with me but a little different the junk yard I work at my dad owns. Could you share how your doing the motor mounts I would rather build then buy parts for this swap.

Lucky_1980

Here is the link, they have a few others as well but youtube can be your best friend. If I don't know how to do something I google or youtube it to get a general idea then adapt it as I'm going.

https://www.diyautotune.com/support/...wap-templates/

casias

iTrader: (1)

Looks like a nice little truck to start with. Good luck on your build, you won't be disappointed.

Tootall_ty

What's your plan for the exhaust manifolds?

Lucky_1980

hand built out of 1 3/4in to a 3" collector

Lucky_1980

Yea from the outside she looks pretty nice, even the interior was pretty nice but that was about it. She wasn't really taken care of hence why I decided to do the swap. The drive shaft was dented while I let someone borrow her and the guy I bought it from couldn't really do his own maintenance due to his health and trusted whatever the mechanics told him so just about every gasket and seal was leaking and brakes were falling apart. Pus its fun messing with the Ford guys. They get all angry when you talk about swapping a LSX into a Ford lol Me personal don't really care what it is or what powers it, just like going fast lol

casias

iTrader: (1)

I get that also. Check my builds. A Dakota R/T (Oh, my god, that's a collector! You ruined it) and a ZL1 Durango AWD.

Lucky_1980

whats wrong with the collector? Just checked out your thread and I have to say I really miss my goat!!! First thing I did when I got back from my first deployment with all the money since I had nothing to spend it on over there was I went strait out and got a 06 gto! Loved that car, couldn't keep traction to save my life with it but was a blast to drive. And then I saw the your supercharger!!!! (drooled only a little bit lol) Thats one thing I have never done is supercharged just because of the cost. How do you like it? What did you use for tuning? Stock pcm with software like HP Tuners or something like a stand alone (i.e. megasquirt) I would really like to get Hp Tuners because I will have a 4 wheel chasis dyno in my new shop but the cost right now is just too much since I still have the cost of the new property and building the new shop which will be a 2 story 40' x 40' with all the new shop stuff like the dyno, sealed paint booth, lifts etc etc. Right now I'm leaning towards the megasquirt 2 just to get me up and running. Its about the onlything within my budget right now for get the motor running expecially since I still have to buy all new mustang bullitt rims and all the fabrication metal for the new mustang ii style suspension that I'm building.

casias

iTrader: (1)

No. I meant people tell me I ruined the Dakota R/T with the LS engine "because it is a collector car". I tell them, it's just a Dakota with stickers.

I don't have the Durango done yet. I am using a complete power package from BP Automotive (LSA ECU, throttle body, DBW pedal, sensors, harness) which will already be flashed to run the stock LSA engine I have in. Then I will take it to a local tuner for fine-tuning using HP Tuners. I don't do any of that.

Lucky_1980

Lol oh yea, sorry still working on my morning caffeine. I think thats the beauty of the LSX platform that just can't be beat. These motors came in so many different vehicles so you can find practically whatever you need at a salvage yard and swap them in to just about everything and have a serious contender that can preform just as well if not better than other high dollar platforms out of a catalog. I'm very interested to see how your build turns out, will def be following your thread. Do you know your weight ratio between the front and rear axles? Getting to that perfect 50/50 is posing a challenge for me since I'm doing a truck but am relocating a lot of things like the battery to the rear and also going to be losing a lot of front weight since im ditching the 4wd stuff. Then I will be fabricating a tubular front end to save even more front weight.

b4ctrooper

Wow. Please take some good pics of what you do for mounts. I actually planned on doing a swap into an Explorer (8.8 disc rears, and they are dirt cheap around here), but the mounting looks to be a pain. A crew cab pickup would be better for me anyway, so I'm searching for a Sport Trac Explorer or Dakota 4dr. I searched the internet for hours looking for LS swap info for Rangers/Explorers, but came up with very little. I found 1 underhood pic of an explorer with an LS engine, but zero info on it. Here's some links for a few swaps that were done:

http://www.rangerpowersports.com/for...wap-build.html

https://ls1tech.com/forums/conversio...-lm7-swap.html

http://www.therangerstation.com/foru...=31022&page=10

Lucky_1980

will do, I uploaded a ton of pictures this morning just waiting on them to approve them. I was in your same shoes. Been through tons of threads both ranger, explorer, lsi,lsx, ect ect. The biggest reason why you can't find alot of people doing it is because of the horrible suspension design the ford put under these vehicles. The crazy thing is, these trucks are awesome platforms for some pretty fast times but it is the way that people look at the swap. Hot rodder's have been fabricating all sorts of crazy stuff on older cars for decades. If you look at it like a blank slate its pretty easy to use tried and true designs like the mustang ii suspension to make things work. With a little bit of fabrication skills and tons of research you'd be supprised at what your really capable of.

lsxRanger94

Yeah Ranger suspension can be a PIA on older ones. 98+ should be IFS unlike my TIB. So it should be easier.

Lucky_1980

yep hence why I am starting from scratch. Will have all new front crossmember, brackets etc. All the old brackets and 4wd stuff has been cut off to make way for the fully hand built independent front suspension.




$100 for a set of Voxx Torino 18x8" rims from craigslist

Lucky_1980

well its been a while since i updated. Had a fun little visit to the hospital. Sucks having a ruptured disk lol Anyways, made some more progress. Had to build a stand for trans and for my new band saw. Got the rear end out and started cleaning up the rear frame. Got one side of the front frame rails pretty much cleaned up. Once I get the other side done I will be starting all the measurements for all the new parts up front. Got a 4x4 piece of 3/16 plate for the front cross member I will be fabricating. Got a basic design for the tubular control arms. I will be using a circle track style upper with regular tubular lowers. The uppers will be fulling adjustable so I will be able to get the geometry right. The hardest part so far is just figuring out my front axle center line so I get the cross member positioned right. Got some square tubing to build some adjustable mounts that I will temporarily weld so that I can get the frame positioned and leveled at ride height. And also got the motor back. Will be starting on it once I get all the new parts in.

before i start everything

Project GatTagO

iTrader: (7)

Thread resurrection. I know a few Ranger swaps have been done, but does anyone make simple swap mounts? I don't have the capacity to fabricate anything right now.

Andrew

BlueMaxCougar

I have not found any direct bolt on mounts and with all the threads I have seen and videos I have watched, everyone has fab'd their own. Dirty Dingo makes some really nice, in my opinion, adjustable LS mounts. They may have something that will work. However, I haven't seen anything on their website that shows a vertical mount like the Ranger's use. Maybe something could be made to fit on the frame side to accept the Dirty Dingo mounts.

http://dirtydingo.com/shop/index.php?cPath=359