Shoehorning a 4.6L V8 Monster Into a Ford Ranger - Trucks! S12, E3 

We'll continue to post these episodes here on RU-vid. If you can't wait for the rest of the build, visit our site to binge-watch: www.powernationtv.com/shows/trucks

Since it's going into the Mazda B Series that was built alongside the Ford Ranger, a custom B4600 nameplate to reflect it's new 4.6 liter powerplant would be a nice touch. 😉

So I did a very similar swap on a 99 regular cab short box ranger in 2013. I put a build SOHC 4.6 in it with a M5OD trans and an 8.8 with 4.10's and a locker! It was a fun truck! It also ran up ALOT of credit card debt and I had to sell it 🙁 I documented the whole build on The ranger station forum!

14m, That wasnt runout, that was ovality. The dial gauge was in the right spot but The V block should have been on the other side of the weld

"we don't make any tree-huggers angry"...that statement alone will make tree-huggers angry. Hehe.

I actually did the same swap before these guys did with a Mark VIII 4.6 DOHC in a 2000 Mazda in 2009. What a great project had a blast doing, sold the truck a few years later.

Hi there.I have a Ford Ranger with a 302 Windsor in.Lots of fun! I am form SA.

Wish build episodes were longer like at least 45 to 50 minutes for a 1 hour time slot instead of a 30 minute time slot.

Never miss these Programs back then Every Weekend

A real “Stealth” hood would actually be a CHEAP misaligned hood scoop from Kmart 😉👍🏻 Wash your hands and cover your mouth folks.

I had a 4.6 in an f150 for years and it was one of the best engines I've ever had as far as reliability. I could have used a bit more hp and torque but it was so good on gas it made up for it. Dont get me wrong though, she wasn't terribly underpowered, it's just that for me, more is better. God willing, I'll always have at least 1 truck in the driveway and I always have.

When you’re finish what you’ll have in a sense is something like a regular cab version of an Explorer Sport Trac. We had one of these and it was an awesome ride with what was essentially Mustang GT powertrain, great 4WD system, four wheel independent suspension, big disk brakes, and the ability to do some towing.

Wow those driveshafts are thin-walled, did not expect that.

Love builds like this. Upgrading with oem parts is awesome

I am a tree hugger and a car person and I appreciate you not dumping the freon into the air 😁 Personally too, I would have done the manual swap and everything in one for rather than have to take the truck apart twice.

Awesome that the stock hood fits,I love the idea of a v8 sleeper

Wouldn't you check burnout with the V block behind the tack welds to see which way the end need to be moved?

A fitting end for a marauder... hell of a car!

I'd just keep the Mercury Marauder🤷🏿‍♂️

A full inch of clearance? Well now that's just too much

I had a gm 350 in a 1981 toyota pickup , the back end would lift off the ground when i went trailing and put the brakes on too fast going downhill lol

Solid info in this episode, I'm currently in the process of swapping a 302 into my 90 ranger so there was a couple of things here I could take to this build. Awesome video.

Checking the run-out was not done correctly. The "V" block should have been on the other side of the cut.

I love this swap! A potential problem area that may be exacerbated by the engine swap is upper front shock mounts. Just dropping off of a slab of pavement on the highway I managed to pull the shock out of one of the mounts. Best Wishes!

Great videos and a good instructions too! Thanks!

I would love to see an Eaton swap on this.

Hearing someone say the new edge mustang motor a monster sure does put a smile on my face It sure does show how far we've gotten with our car technology Hmmmm this makes me want to get some crazy gas turbine engine out of a Abrams and put it in something aulthough I probably wont ever be able afford a 2 million dollar engine out of a Abrams or fit it in anything because it's like 10 feet long and 8 feet wide

This video is a nice Marco ad

You guys really should have built this into a 4x4 it would have been cool. This is gonna be squirrely to drive in any kind of straight line with such a short wheelbase and light weight not to mention frame twist

I put a HT4100 Cadillac in a Ranger. Looked like it came that way from the factory. Only surgery involved, was notching and reinforcing the right frame rail for exhaust manifold clearance.

Put a lot of lube on the sides of the 4.6.....get an extreme big hammer.....grab your most heavy-duty shoe horn.....get the 'gas axe'.....and have at it. Wow! The Matco tool for the u-joints is magic! Although I've never had much trouble working on u-joints.....those are great.

The only problem I have with a swap like this is the fact that you had to lose the air condition and hopefully it'll still have heat in it too. I'm pretty sure that you can put air back in it, with using an aftermarket under the dash unit but if it doesn't bother you it don't bother me cuz it ain't mine but I can tell you guys it looks good. It's going to be balls to the wall. Great information on your video.

Remember kids. Powernation considers labor not a part of any build. You can build what they build. Throw in about $10,000 in fabrication costs, access to a $100,000 shop and about $5,000 in freebies and YOU TOO can afford this budget build!

I'd Love to do exactly this swap! A) I'm a Ford guy & B) I'd make it a strip only bracket racer... Full cage, pretty much gut anything needed for street use and I'd definitely keep the automatic.... You certainly wouldn't have to many mods to engine for a quick et in a light truck. Only challenge I see would be to 'hook it up' at the strip!

Built a 2007 ranger with a 347 with a Whiple supercharger under the factory hood.

Good luck finding Episode 4

Looking forward to the next video

These guys really love matco tools

Good day! )) 🤠

Much easier and stronger to just cut the weld around the yoke shorten and re install the yoke and weld.

when my misses wanted a new truck she wanted an S 15 she saw at a car lot and took me to see it . it had a 350 corvette engine stuffed in it and was a rust trap but I could fix it so we got it and took it home . a few weeks later she blew it up racing a mustang and had to tell me about it but was scared I be mad .so she finally told me and I got to work on a much bigger project I replaced the engine with a 40 over 350 and used the good corvette heads. repaired all the body work and got a new bed her's was gone when it was done she had her little gold S 15 that stomped all the mustangs in town tell the GT 500's came out. yes this was in the mid 90's .

This is a neat idea, I been looking for a near 00 mazda of my own, this looks like a fun project. The cool part, If the 4 valve filts, then the 2 valve should fit better

An easy way to resolve the run-out problem is to get a 3 inch piece of angle iron and laying in the angle iron and clamp it and then tag it and then flip it and Tack it you know what I mean Jelly Bean

You might need a rubber damper in between the new motor mounts. Like a machine vibration lad. Im just saying steel on steel & that truck will shake. Maybe some air ride.

Hmmm could the Marauder front end have been adapted to that frame?

That's so kool!!

I've seen this done with a late 80's S-10 and a 383... Also saw where he flipped it on the side of I-10 too! Same engine in a postal Jeep, but they couldn't keep the tires on the ground. It would flip back, vertical and need a push over.

Would love to do this to my 1995 explorer giddy up!

Easiest v8 ranger swap is a small block Chevy. Center on the cross member and th400 trans, no drive shaft mods just a Chevy slip yoke with a u joint that's Chevy one way ford ranger the other. Drove my 93 2wd for years with a 350 in it.

Navigator 32 valve motor, identical, more power, available since 97. Poor marauder gave up its heart. Also, ground slots in your cheapest pair of needle nose pliers, work for snap rings pretty well. ✌

Ok, let's see ya do it on a 4wd. Fat fender garage makes a universal coyote mounting kit since this aired

I would like to see the build sheet cost when your done. Nice work; [ * Are the 4.7 liter used in Mustangs ? [ * a. Is the timing chain guides for the cams nylon.[ b.Will the motor have to be pulled to do the cam chains/timing chain ] [ * Will the plugs be easy to change on motor, *oil filter ect . [ And finally, will you have to change out the steering column to one of those close drive units ? You guys are pros...

Awesome

Not even close on the driveshaft run-out measurement. It should have been supported on the OTHER SIDE of the weld, and measured at the end. By measuring it over the supporting v-block, you only measured if the tube was round, not the straightness after welding. Otherwise, nice build. We all can't be machinists...

Probably a stupid question but to correct the runout do you just smack it with a hammer on the highspots or bring it back over with a weld on the other side?

You know they just went out back and threw that AC system into the dumpster...

The finished truck is killer, they install a Cobra IRS down the road

Damn those exhaust ports looks alot different than what my 4.6 2v

The radiator will need to be replaced with one designed for a V8, especially if the V8 replaced a 4-banger, but I like it. There are many stories about squeezing a 305 V8 into a Chevy Blazer or S10 as well. Tree-huggers can weep, muahahaha!!!!

4.6😆, should have fitted a 4.0 Barra!!!👍👍😁

They make long tube headers . The cobra headers fit a marauder and fit a mark8

Nice Mazda.

The Windsor is SO much easier.

It isn't shoehorning until you work on cramming a Vortec 8100 into an S-10.

you girls call a 4.6L a monster? palm to face!!

Im here just for the music ;)

Wow I didn't know u could cut a drive shaft urself thanks

Im sure the mazda rear end will love this amount of twist. Why not a 7.3 powerstroke diesel?

if your putting a modular 8 in why not the 2003 5.4 2v with the PI heads there is a pin hole in the crator at the tail of that weld.

Homie back in the day put a 5.0 v8 in his 84 Ranger. Cooler body style for the Ranger

Such a giant motor to make a measly 300hp

Probably shouldn't use the word "monster" and 4.6L in the same sentence lol

How is the bulkhead a firewall? It ain’t a computer lol .... my auto tech instructor used to tell me that was the ignorant way lol 😂

Definatley “don’t want to make the tree huger angry.” 🤣

So the body of the ranger and B2200 are the same ? Apart from the grill maybe ?

What would be REALLY fun would be to swap a T-56 Magnum onto the back end of that 4.6 32 valve Intech V8...

So sad a Marauder is off the road...but that all aluminum DOHC 4.6 will make that truck move. The 03-04 Marauder 4.6 is the same as the 03-04 Mach1. Personally I believe those 4.6s have a bit more that the advertised 305/310 hp.

Lol air rachet? What a dinosaur

"We don't make any tree huggers angry" You just did. 😂🌲

You wouldn’t think an engine with such small displacement would be so massive.

Man, it would have been a whole lot easier to just body swap an Eddie Bauer Explorer. Although the Eddie Bauer Explorer to only have 5.0 send them.

Does the engine clear the power steering box?

There's plenty of room for a 4 liter , in my Ranger . How much bigger does that .6 liters make the engine ?

Why did you not rig the engine 2 inches further forward?

You gotta get rid of that Mazda badge lol

needs more chevy v 8

I feel like a Windsor would’ve been more fun

lol @ how he said tree huggers

As a lifelong oil patch worker and pipefitter, I'd say I know a bit about welding pipe. Setting up your stands correctly is apprentice level shit. I'd pull aside an apprentice for that mistake, if it was a welder, he'd have to recertify his B-pressure before I'd let him make one more weld.

A ecoboost 2.3 could give up to 360 horsepower and still be streetable, better mileage, lighter and easier to fit under the hood

What confuses me is why they went with a 32v 4.6? The modular Ford's ( 4.6 & 5.4) blocks and cylinder heads have the same external measurements. The 5.4 makes 330 hp and almost the same in torque. Heck you can use 4.6 heads on a 5.4 in some applications. You can even buy some adapters off Amazon for fifty bucks that allow you to use any pi 4.6 intake on a 5.4.....there are about 6.9 wahzillion 2v 5.4 s out there . That u joint tool should not be used with most aluminum shafts and yolks...just a heads up unless you have a Tig welder or are skilled with JB weld😎😂🤣

“ Tree huggers “ lol 😂!!!!

What year mercury was the engine out of ??

Why would they cut it right there, the other side of the drive shaft you can cut the welds on the yoke and pull it out the cut. Hammer yoke back in . The yoke welds to driveshaft tube. Much safer

Can't Ford Explorer engine mounts be used in a Ranger? From what I have seen at salvage yards, the Ranger 2WD frame is different than the Ranger 4WD, but the Explorers look to be the same frame for 4WD and 2WD. I would think the Explorer mounts would fit the Ranger 4WD?

Gee wish i had a lift

What sort of truck is a Marsdah?

How does this channel still exist? How can they compete with the RU-vidrs with far lower budgets who do a much better job?

Hey what’s up with that? Where’s the rest of the show waiting on where y’all get the harness lol

Build on a budget...uses TIG welder