The Cummins Explorer is RUNNING!!!! 

Thank you! Heres where I built the front fenders and mounted the grill. First time doing sheet metal so its not perfect, but I think it turned out alright! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-4jUYJW_tfQw.html

I sincerely appreciate it, thank you!! 😁

Thank you so much! Im very glad to hear it was also informative!

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Thanks! Just today I was thinking “frankenpanda” due to the color 😂

A side post is a good idea, if I can find one in the same size I might do that on my next battery. In the mean time I already bought a rubber cover for the + terminal and its also AGM so no leakage if something bad does happen.

Thanks for sticking around so long! There's only 1 other explorer/ranger chassis 6BT build I know of, and that one did as you're saying and pushed back the firewall and left the fenders and hood stock. HOWEVER this was on a second gen explorer which Ford put V8's in stock, the engine bays on those are even bigger than on a 1st gen explorer if I recall correctly, which is even bigger than on an 89 ranger (I think, you'd need to verify). On his build the firewall went far enough back that his throttle foot was basically wedged against the trans tunnel. If you could find some explorers at a junkyard you could measure the engine bay dimensions and see how much harder an 89 ranger would be than a later chassis, or if they happen to be similar sizes it may be possible! edit: one other thing I just remembered he did differently that made a big difference was he didn't use the cummins rad, and he mounted the intercooler horizontally under the engine. I could've save 5-7" probably if I had used a thinner rad and moved the intercooler, but I wanted the most cooling and power possible and the option to use aftermarket cummins stuff if desired, so I wanted the cooling package to be stock cummins-like. www.explorerforum.com/forums/threads/cummins-explorer.347671/ The easiest way would be to body swap the ranger onto a cummins chassis. Westen Champlin just bought a build that was done this way. The only reason I didn't do this was because I wanted something smaller and lighter than a full size rig for the trails I do. Next easiest would include a large body lift. If you also remove the engine crossmember and go to a lower tubular one, possibly a solid axle swap as well to get it as low as possible, that would help get the engine even lower which allows you to slide it even back further. The goal would be to keep the engine low and back as far as possible. Either way find a donor and take really good measurements before you start! One thing this build has taught me, is to be a diehard inline engine fan. Inline 6's are just so much easier to work on it's a gem compared to say, the V8 detroit in my truck. After working on V8's for so long I can't believe how nice inline engines are to work on, every job takes a quarter as long, and there's some jobs you can do in chassis whereas you'd need to pull the engine on a V8. Another inline 6 you could consider is an OM606 3.0L mercedes diesel. It's an inline 6 just like a 6BT, but much smaller in dimensions. You can swap a mechanical pump onto it and it ends up basically exactly like a mini cummins, the pump is even a p-pump like a 12 valve. They even made an inline 5, OM605, which isn't as long if the 6 cylinder is still too long. These are light, smaller for swaps, rev really high and make good power with a few mods (I wouldn't leave it stock), but won't make nearly as much torque lower in the RPM range than a 6BT thanks to the size (but still more than a gasser). For my next swap I've been heavily eyeing an OM606 ranger build, but built to be more of a street/desert build to take advantage of the engines revs and lightness rather than a rock crawler/overlander like the explorer with it's crazy low end torque but higher weight and lower rev limit. I'd recommend Diesel Pump UK for OM606 stuff, his channel is great. www.youtube.com/@DieselPumpUK Keep me updated if you endup doing this! I'd love to see pictures!

@@BuildSomethingAuto wow. Thank you so much. There’s probably nobody else on RU-vid that would take the time to go into so much detail like you have. I actually appreciate it so much and I have so much respect for you. I’ll definitely take your advice and do a few measurements on the 2nd gen explorer. I’ll likely go with as much of a body lift as possible without it looking strange. I also see what you were referring to with the intercooler underneath the frame rails (which scares me considering anything could fly up and put a hole in it). I’m not sure how I would change that but I’m not a fan. I also don’t want to take up any bed space with a fuel cell or radiators. It’s actually so cool that so many things on the 2nd gen explorer mated up to the dodge so easily. I’m sure the Ranger will be VERY similar to your explorer. I actually own a 1st gen explorer as well that I bought for parts and they’re basically the same vehicle. I’m also a fan of Westin Champlin and his video with the Cummins Ranger only made me more jealous Lol. Nobody does it like you though.. I hope you do start a new project soon, I can’t wait to follow it. Maybe I’ll try to film my build and post it as well. Again, thank you so much! Edit: I’ve thought about doing other diesel swaps and I think at this point I just want to be able to say I put a Cummins in it Haha. If you do decide to go through with the OM606 swap then you may change my mind. If I could suggest anything from a viewers perspective, I think it’s really interesting to see where you buy/find your engine at for the swap. There’s so many cool 4bt swaps out there but 0 videos of where the engine is coming from. Which is insane considering SO many ppl are pulling them from tractors, equipment, and step vans. I think that’s one of the most interesting parts.

@@donotedit4646 Of course! It's just great having other people to talk to that are interested in this stuff 🤣. On mine I would've loved to show more of picking up the truck and deciding on a drivetrain and such, but I had bought the truck and planned the swap years before I started a youtube channel. For future builds I will definitely show more of planning the build, buying the donor, etc. Thanks for the tip.

@@BuildSomethingAuto Hey there!, I’ve been doing more digging and I’ve actually found a few different 6bt swaps in various year model Rangers. One of the more interesting ones being this one ⬇️ ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-MgHixX37lb0.htmlsi=hXUbTXgKBpRHqxvn There’s actually a few videos of the truck on his Channel. He doesn’t go into any detail on the swap whatsoever haha. But as you’ll see, he had enough room to do custom long tube headers and managed to keep the whole truck looking stock. In his other short videos on it, he shows the interior which has the complete stock interior and dash. (He even has air conditioning lol) I’m not sure how he did it so well without having to do a body lift, a front clip extension, etc. Anyways, I just thought I’d share with you.. that’s all I needed to see to reassure myself haha. Maybe you’ll have your own opinion/words on it. Its apparent that this guy has plenty of money, which definitely helps lol. Thanks for reading. Edit: I assume he maybe ditched the stock engine crossmember and sat the engine and trans down as low as possible like you suggested to me before. Although, the valve cover seems to be in a tolerable spot. I’m really interested in what you think about it.

@@donotedit4646 Very interesting find! Thanks for sharing that! Sorry it took so long to respond, your comment was hidden due to the link and I just noticed to unhide it. I agree he probably has money, that is a clean truck. I love stepsides. To me it looks like he did basically everything we talked about, here's my thoughts. First, it's a 3rd gen ranger (corresponds to 2nd gen explorer) and I think those engine bays are bigger (haven't confirmed). Second, it looks like he used the stock radiator, and then mounted the intercooler horizontally underneath. I think this is why he did "long tube" headers, to move the turbo way low down closer to the intercooler (at first I thought it was NA which didn't make any sense 🤣). This is the biggest difference, I think it would would save 7" or so. This helps packaging but like you said puts the intercooler in danger of rocks and such, the long tubes mean less heat to the turbo so less power, plus it means the intercooler isn't getting forced air so less power. Also I'd be pretty worried about a stock ranger sized radiator keeping up, definitely wouldn't be comfortable modifying the engine with the smaller rad. Definitely some compromises doing it that way, but it certainly kept the truck looking clean. Third, I agree that he was able to mount the engine lower and further back. That gen ranger used IFS instead of TTB, so I wonder if it's easier to mount it lower in those. I also wonder if it's 2WD, I don't see buttons on the dash for 4wd, this may help get it lower as well if there's no front diff. I think mounting it that low would've saved 2-3". Very interesting!

Yes. The frame is boxed to make it stiffer, and then the axles and most of the suspension is out of 3/4 ton trucks. The rear is a dana 70 from a ram 2500 and the front is a dana 50 TTB out of an F250. I have videos on installing/modifying all of it if you're interested 😅

did you have uploaded that videos?? im installing a 1956 f100 on an explorer 1998 chasis and i have a 6bt that i want to install in the proyect but i didnt want to use the ram chassis because is very tall, sorry for my english is very bad but i am looking for ideas

@@humbertogarza7892 Yes, a 1998 explorer is a little different though, the front suspension is independent instead of TTB, and it uses torsion beams instead of coils. My front suspension videos probably won't help since they're for a 1994. If it were me I'd look at some F250's from that era in a junkyard and see if you can get their torsion bars to fit yours. Here's my video on adding the rear axle (note I put the leaves ABOVE the axle instead of BELOW which added ~6" of lift): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-YSlF6DpWLWU.html Also make sure you measure the length of the engine including the intercooler and everything, I needed to stretch the fenders and hood to make them fit. However the biggest reason was that I used the intercooler and radiator from the ram 2500 and they were much larger than the explorer. Intercooler and radiator install: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-pmABBiUzM2o.html Front Fenders and front bodywork: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-4jUYJW_tfQw.html