Ranger 302 Progress
 

I know i haven't been very active in this forum, but i just thought i'd post some pics and info of my 2000 ranger 302 build. It has been a lot tougher than i had thought in the beginning. I am beginning to think i am the only one who has ever done this to a 2000 ranger with a manual trans behind the 302 because i have yet to find anyone online who has done this with a t5.

About the truck: This truck started out as a 2000 Ranger 2WD 3.0L 5 Speed Manual Flareside Extended Cab that I bought a year ago at Suburban Ford in Sterling Heights, MI. I pulled the motor and trans at 149,513 which is where the odometer currently sits. When i pulled the motor, i herculined (roll on truck bed liner) the whole engine bay to prevent rust, also the bed has been lined with herculiner, and i left all the wiring intact so all of the trucks electric system (headlights, brake lights, radio, horn, wipers, etc) works just as it should.

About the motor: The motor i had built is a 302 block bored .30 over to a 306. It now has brand new Speed Pro .30 over 10:1 compression pistons, a brand new Speed Pro .474 lift cam, brand new Comp hydraulic lifters, brand new Comp valves, brand new Comp springs, brand new piston rings, brand new rod bearings, brand main bearings, crank has been reground, heads were gone through and resurfaced, brand new Victor gaskets, brand new Melling oil pump, brand new Melling oil pickup, brand new Carter mechanical fuel pump, brand new freeze plugs, Ford autolite distributor, brand new water pump, brand new oil pan, brand new oil filter relocation kit, just rebuilt Holley 600 CFM carb with a holley rebuild kit, brand new Griffin racing 302 radiator, stock Ford 4 barrel intake which i had cleaned up at the machine shop

About the Transmission: Transmission is a Borg-Warner T-5 transmission. It literally looks brand new inside, i bought it from a guy who was parting out a mustang that had less than 60,000 miles on it. Brand new clutch, pressure plate, pilot bearing, throw out bearing, brand new clutch cable and clutch fork.

I am thinking a few more weeks to get it on the road because all i have left to do is exhaust and tie up a few loose ends.

Re: Ranger 302 Progress
 

Nice job, and nice truck man. Mine is similar in the original specs of yours except mine is a fleetside bed with a standard cab. I can't wait to see how it turns out. Mine is even the same color. I love the Herculiner in the engine bay. It almost looks like Ford done that at the factory. What issues have you encountered so far?

Re: Ranger 302 Progress
 

Thanks, its definitely worth the money and the time to do the engine bay like that, its very durable and it prevents rust. So far, the biggest problems are the motor mounts because no one (that i've found anyway) sells the swap mounts for 2000's because the front end is completely different from 93'-97' rangers and the block is not out of an explorer and i couldn't find any donor 5.0 explorers around here, it is out of a 1974 f100. Also attaching the mustang clutch cable to a hydraulic pedal after pulling all the hydraulic stuff required some modification to the pedal mostly changing the pivot point and mounting the bracket for it to pivot on. Everything else went pretty good except I work all week so the only real time i get to work on it is Saturday's and Sunday's which is why its taken from late September till now to get this far but i think it will be fun when it is all done.

Re: Ranger 302 Progress
 

Thanks for the info. It's greatly appreciated because I have a later model and done research, and no one has listed any specific problems people encounter on the web. It's usually centered around the steering shaft and headers and nothing else is listed. But what you listed is a huge bit of info that people need to see very badly when doing a similar project. You'll enjoy the ride for sure (cause I did when I rode in a friends 1999 Splash he recently installed a 347 stroker in).

Re: Ranger 302 Progress
 

good job on the wheels man

Re: Ranger 302 Progress
 

Glad i could help because i went into this project with the attitude that everything was simple and just a one step process and boy was i wrong. and like you said, more information should be available online for people with later model rangers that want to do this because i extensively researched and could not find much for 98"+ rangers as far as the swap goes and i believe that a lot of people with these later models would enjoy this project even though it has its ups and downs. that 99 sounds like a beast of a truck!

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Thanks, thats just spray paint for now, i plan to get some 31's and get those rims powder coated down the road. yours look real good too.

Re: Ranger 302 Progress
 

It was orgasmic. At first, it didn't seem like much but when my friend romped on the gas sweet jesus look out. I thought the front end was going to come off the ground. and that X303 roller cam with the old 351 firing order and GT40 heads with flat top pistions man she sounded damn good. Kinda like an old moonshine thumper keg. The only one I know that did a 98 model Ranger (did he ever) was TIM SOCKNESS. you'll find a picture of his 351 pro street ranger in the other rangers section at this website: www.v8ranger.com . Oh there's a video in there too.

Re: Ranger 302 Progress
 

haha thats badass especially in that body style nobody expects a big engine in a ranger which makes it the perfect sleeper for racing. thanks for that lead also, i'll try and contact tim.

Re: Ranger 302 Progress
 

Not exactly a sleeper with the huge blower coming out of the hood. And I found an old Car Craft Magazine I bought that had an article and specs. I was wrong. The block is a 351 but it's punched out to a 383 cubic inch monster. The mag issue was Dec, 2010. I hope you enjoy that site I posted, and here's another one: www.bigblockranger.com . Someone stuck a 460 in a ranger. Follow the links a bit and you'll see a video of it running.

Re: Ranger 302 Progress
 

AWESOME build! Need moar pichers.lol

Re: Ranger 302 Progress
 

Just got the heads and intake mounted today and the motor sits in there like it belongs, i'm very happy with the progress only a couple more things left to do :D

Re: Ranger 302 Progress
 

Wow that 460 is a monster!

Re: Ranger 302 Progress
 

kool man. Very nice.

yeah it is. I pitty whom ever races it.

Re: Ranger 302 Progress
 

Nice pick of motor and tranny for your project. Was in your place when trying to find all the info about getting the efi to work on the 5.0 in the ranger and how to hook up some sort of clutch. One word about cable clutches in a ranger, they suck. Found a way to make a pull type slave cylinder from summit to work with the T5, check out my cardomain page if you need some ideas. It will save your left leg in traffic jams and from having to replace broken cables after every 6 months or so. Good luck with the rest of the install though.
Scott...

Re: Ranger 302 Progress
 

Thanks for the info on the clutch pedal, will look into doing it the way you had done it, seems much easier.