Ls1 in ranger
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Joined: Oct 2019
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Ls1 in ranger I am in the process of putting a 2003 5.3 (pulled out of a Tahoe) into a 93 Ford Ranger. I am trying to save as much money as I possibly can, so I am trying to use the wiring harness as well. Has anyone done this? I am trying to also keep power windows and locks. What pins on the cpu connectors do I need to keep/add and what can I get rid of? As well as any other connections. I pulled the entire harness from the Tahoe.
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Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 967
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From: Winter Haven FL
The power options in the truck have nothing to do with the engine swap. It's not until the canbus stuff came out that it became an issue. For your year it should be handled by a body computer or just a few relays.
You just have to keep the 5.3 wiring that controls the engine and trans connected to the engine, trans and new pcm. You'll need to find a way to run a signal for the speedo and tach and any dummy lights that you want. Battery cables and ground wires will be custom most likely. The fuel pump power will probably need to be relocated to the new pcm.
You may need to upgrade the fuel system to handle the extra demand.
You definitely want to upgrade the radiator.
Physically getting everything to fit will be the tricky part. The s10 is a more direct swap and it's still not super easy to get everything in there.
You just have to keep the 5.3 wiring that controls the engine and trans connected to the engine, trans and new pcm. You'll need to find a way to run a signal for the speedo and tach and any dummy lights that you want. Battery cables and ground wires will be custom most likely. The fuel pump power will probably need to be relocated to the new pcm.
You may need to upgrade the fuel system to handle the extra demand.
You definitely want to upgrade the radiator.
Physically getting everything to fit will be the tricky part. The s10 is a more direct swap and it's still not super easy to get everything in there.
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Joined: Oct 2019
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Ok so here’s the thing. I am trying to clean up the harness as much as I possibly can, getting rid of wires that don’t necessarily need to be there. I am using LT1Swap for guidance, and I am trying to figure out my best way to run a/c. I heard that it’s better to run it standalone without being tied into the harness. How would I go about wiring it like that? Would that really be best? Or just let the computer control the a/c motor? How would I tie my dash controls into the ac to control it then? (P.S. sorry so many questions... yes I know easier to just take to a shop, but like I’ve said... saving money. Plus I know I am fully capable of doing it myself.)
Teching In
Joined: Nov 2019
Posts: 44
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From: Columbia SC
Finally got around to installing the harness on the engine. Literally took me 10 minutes. I still have the interior wiring to do and the few splices I need to do but it should all be equally as painless. So far the biggest issue was trying to get a bracket to hang the 2012+ pump and the only supplier for said bracket had me chasing them to sell me something. After a few attempts I decided to go a different route with that.
The issue with the 2012+ Jeep wrangler pump is that the rear mounts are inset on the body. The front mounts are closer together, towards the pulley stem. The great news is that the 07-11 wrangler pumps are like most other type II Saginaw pumps outside of having one extra mounting point. I do not know the flow and PSI rate of the chevy specific pumps, but from what I've found, the newer and older wrangler pumps are pretty close in flow rate and psi. The newer pumps do have a 4.5" pulley, but are clearly a different design to handle the rpms. The older pulleys are 6". Both can be modded to have better flow for hydro assit or get a PSC SP1200x pump. It looks exactly the same.
The Motech bracket and 12+ pumps will cost you around $299/$89+ (shop around) Their PSC/older JK pump brackets are the same price
Another bracket you could use is the American Billet Gen5 bracket. Looks like it only mounts with 2 holes though. A few people are running them from what Ive seen, however. You will have to use the pre2012+ style pumps.
I am personally going to run the ICT 551368 bracket. It says it only uses the 97-04 corvette pump, but its the same as the early JK pumps. Or, you could buy the corvette pump for $650.. The pulley is about an inch smaller than what they say to use, so it'll fit fine.
The latter two options are cheaper, but the motech bracket looks pretty nice, though $100 more. You could use that extra $100 and splurge for the PSC pump though.
My biggest issue with this entire swap though is justifying the fan option prices. If you are removing a 3.6, you are lucky. A 2012+ pentastar fan is $400-$600 new. Camaro SS are the same price. These are the 2 recommended fans to use. They are great fans, but damn.
You can wire in your stock 3,8 fan and it'll work for regular DDing on a 5.3 but if you are towing, wheeling or have the 6.2, it wont work all that well. I then spoke with Brent over at SPAL because even the best fans ever are still cheaper options. You could use one of their fans if you are able to get your harness to work with a 3.8 fan. I suspect you'll get equal or better results with a SPAL fan vs the pentastar. I did not read anything about this prior to my purchase of a harness, only pentastar this and SS that.
That said, SPAL fans do come in PWM flavor and are still way cheaper, but this is what Brent at SPAL had to say:The trick would be to set up the Fan Duty vs. Coolant Temp map in the ECU. The difficult part will be to figure out what the ECU is sending, and how the fan responds to it. An easy way to do this is to send a 25% speed command to the fan. See if the fan is running 25% speed or 75% speed. (The fan is interpreting the signal being sent to it, a square wave PWM can be either 25% speed or 75% speed depending on how the motor interprets the signal.) Once you figure out if 25% = 25% speed or 75% speed, then you can fill out the rest of the table accordingly.
If you send the fan 25% speed but it is running at 75% speed, then you need to “invert” the table/Map on the ECU. Or take 100 – (every cell value.) This is used if the fan is slowing down as the vehicle heats up, the function is backwards. Example. If the old table value is 30%, the new table value will be 100 – 30% = 70%. You would go through the entire table and subtract the table value from 100%. This will effectively “flip/invert” the ramp direction of the fan. Obviously you want the fan to speed up as the vehicle heats up.
So it’s definitely possible to make the system work, but it may require quite a lot of work on your part.
I was almost a test subject, but a buddy actually told me he had one, just toss a few bucks his way. Figured $100 was fair and what I was planning on spending for a new fan when I dived into this.. Like seriously. The cost of a new fan is more than I bought my D60 and 14 bolt axle set.
Transmission lines: I am going to remove the crimp on the rubber hose connections and splice in some new rubber lines to the stock JK rubber lines. I will also be flipping the thermostat in the transmission bulkhead connector, or you can remove everything and plug the port. This will allow your trans temps to stay a lot lower instead of letting the trans heat up. Pretty common mod.
Once I swap the input on the tcase and plumb the fuel line, it'll be ready to go in.
I will be deleting the engine oil cooler. Just something in me doesn't see how air can quickly cool a liquid as thick as engine oil before it went back into the block. I could be wrong. If I am, swapping it back will be just as easy as taking it out.
The air pump, I wasn't planning on removing it, but I reckon I will. It'll clean up the engine a bit and I hear it likes to explode. I will use the PCV valve on the back side near the fuel line for my brake booster and then plug the front one that it connected to.. The two breathers on the front of the valve covers are still there so it shouldn't be an issue.
I think that's it for the time being. I am getting pics, but I'll download them once I am done with the swap unless someone wanted something specific.
The issue with the 2012+ Jeep wrangler pump is that the rear mounts are inset on the body. The front mounts are closer together, towards the pulley stem. The great news is that the 07-11 wrangler pumps are like most other type II Saginaw pumps outside of having one extra mounting point. I do not know the flow and PSI rate of the chevy specific pumps, but from what I've found, the newer and older wrangler pumps are pretty close in flow rate and psi. The newer pumps do have a 4.5" pulley, but are clearly a different design to handle the rpms. The older pulleys are 6". Both can be modded to have better flow for hydro assit or get a PSC SP1200x pump. It looks exactly the same.
The Motech bracket and 12+ pumps will cost you around $299/$89+ (shop around) Their PSC/older JK pump brackets are the same price
Another bracket you could use is the American Billet Gen5 bracket. Looks like it only mounts with 2 holes though. A few people are running them from what Ive seen, however. You will have to use the pre2012+ style pumps.
I am personally going to run the ICT 551368 bracket. It says it only uses the 97-04 corvette pump, but its the same as the early JK pumps. Or, you could buy the corvette pump for $650.. The pulley is about an inch smaller than what they say to use, so it'll fit fine.
The latter two options are cheaper, but the motech bracket looks pretty nice, though $100 more. You could use that extra $100 and splurge for the PSC pump though.
My biggest issue with this entire swap though is justifying the fan option prices. If you are removing a 3.6, you are lucky. A 2012+ pentastar fan is $400-$600 new. Camaro SS are the same price. These are the 2 recommended fans to use. They are great fans, but damn.
You can wire in your stock 3,8 fan and it'll work for regular DDing on a 5.3 but if you are towing, wheeling or have the 6.2, it wont work all that well. I then spoke with Brent over at SPAL because even the best fans ever are still cheaper options. You could use one of their fans if you are able to get your harness to work with a 3.8 fan. I suspect you'll get equal or better results with a SPAL fan vs the pentastar. I did not read anything about this prior to my purchase of a harness, only pentastar this and SS that.
That said, SPAL fans do come in PWM flavor and are still way cheaper, but this is what Brent at SPAL had to say:The trick would be to set up the Fan Duty vs. Coolant Temp map in the ECU. The difficult part will be to figure out what the ECU is sending, and how the fan responds to it. An easy way to do this is to send a 25% speed command to the fan. See if the fan is running 25% speed or 75% speed. (The fan is interpreting the signal being sent to it, a square wave PWM can be either 25% speed or 75% speed depending on how the motor interprets the signal.) Once you figure out if 25% = 25% speed or 75% speed, then you can fill out the rest of the table accordingly.
If you send the fan 25% speed but it is running at 75% speed, then you need to “invert” the table/Map on the ECU. Or take 100 – (every cell value.) This is used if the fan is slowing down as the vehicle heats up, the function is backwards. Example. If the old table value is 30%, the new table value will be 100 – 30% = 70%. You would go through the entire table and subtract the table value from 100%. This will effectively “flip/invert” the ramp direction of the fan. Obviously you want the fan to speed up as the vehicle heats up.
So it’s definitely possible to make the system work, but it may require quite a lot of work on your part.
I was almost a test subject, but a buddy actually told me he had one, just toss a few bucks his way. Figured $100 was fair and what I was planning on spending for a new fan when I dived into this.. Like seriously. The cost of a new fan is more than I bought my D60 and 14 bolt axle set.
Transmission lines: I am going to remove the crimp on the rubber hose connections and splice in some new rubber lines to the stock JK rubber lines. I will also be flipping the thermostat in the transmission bulkhead connector, or you can remove everything and plug the port. This will allow your trans temps to stay a lot lower instead of letting the trans heat up. Pretty common mod.
Once I swap the input on the tcase and plumb the fuel line, it'll be ready to go in.
I will be deleting the engine oil cooler. Just something in me doesn't see how air can quickly cool a liquid as thick as engine oil before it went back into the block. I could be wrong. If I am, swapping it back will be just as easy as taking it out.
The air pump, I wasn't planning on removing it, but I reckon I will. It'll clean up the engine a bit and I hear it likes to explode. I will use the PCV valve on the back side near the fuel line for my brake booster and then plug the front one that it connected to.. The two breathers on the front of the valve covers are still there so it shouldn't be an issue.
I think that's it for the time being. I am getting pics, but I'll download them once I am done with the swap unless someone wanted something specific.
