Putting my mustang motor project into a ranger now. It has 4wd and I want to keep it that way. Will an explorer computer and wire harness work with a mustang motor? if so what needs to be adapted, if not what can I do instead? Thanks for any info here I know this is not all about mustangs so I am curious the feedback I receive.
Mustang 5.0 with explorer ecu
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This is a popular swap for Early Bronco guys. Go to this site and read away...wish I could help on this for you but I'm not familiar enough...anything else Bronco related and I've already done it, probably 3 or more times!
ClassicBroncos.com Forums - 66-77 Early Ford Bronco Discussion Forums
ClassicBroncos.com Forums - 66-77 Early Ford Bronco Discussion Forums
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LOTS, TONS of differences. Biggest -- Explorer is DISTRIBUTORLESS (crank-trigger/cam sensor fired individual coil packs); the Mustang has a distributor run by the ECU.
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You can use the coil packs off the Exp and the cam position sensor - but most do it by either modifying the fox ECU, or simply using it as an excuse to move to a speed/density system by MS, AEM, FAST, etc....
how would you mod a fox ecu to engage a 4wd system? and you can make a distributor motor use a coil setup? which is the best route?
Thinking now I have to sell the project motor and get an explorer to mod... just to make things work properly
Thinking now I have to sell the project motor and get an explorer to mod... just to make things work properly
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what year ranger?
My 97 ranger I was able to simply plug in the explorer engine harness to my 4 cylinder chasiss harness all the pinouts were the same.
using similar year components is the key.
If using the explorer trans and keeping emissions itll be a cake walk
But, youll need all the sensors, coil packs, harmonic balancer, possibly timing cover (might be the same as a 94+ mustang gt), and you might as well use a gt40 intake setup unless your planning using something better
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My 97 ranger I was able to simply plug in the explorer engine harness to my 4 cylinder chasiss harness all the pinouts were the same.
using similar year components is the key.
If using the explorer trans and keeping emissions itll be a cake walk
But, youll need all the sensors, coil packs, harmonic balancer, possibly timing cover (might be the same as a 94+ mustang gt), and you might as well use a gt40 intake setup unless your planning using something better
Wow your ranger looks awesome! My ranger is a 1998 and I have a 5.0l for a mustang I was going to put in: stock bottom end, afr165 heads, edelbrock performer rpm intakes, trick flow stage 1 cam.
Wondering how this would work out with an explorer ecu being for coilpacks and my motor has a distributor like the other poster brought to my attention. What could I do to make this motor usable as well as the 4wd and it is a 5 speed right now, would like to keep that. The TKO has multiple shifter mount points so it can get the shifter right up by the original location
Wondering how this would work out with an explorer ecu being for coilpacks and my motor has a distributor like the other poster brought to my attention. What could I do to make this motor usable as well as the 4wd and it is a 5 speed right now, would like to keep that. The TKO has multiple shifter mount points so it can get the shifter right up by the original location
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I don't think the Tkos will support a transfer case.
youll need a ford truck manual trans, or if you aren't serious about offroading, you can use a 4x4 s10 T5 with a sbf bellhousing, but thatd be iffy with your power level.
I used the SLL4 explorer ecu and had it chipped to turn it in a manual trans ecu and get rid of the smog stuff.
Like I said before, youll need all the sensors off an explorer 302, a explorer/94-95 gt timing cover, and the explorer harnmonic balancer/pulley.
youll need a ford truck manual trans, or if you aren't serious about offroading, you can use a 4x4 s10 T5 with a sbf bellhousing, but thatd be iffy with your power level.
I used the SLL4 explorer ecu and had it chipped to turn it in a manual trans ecu and get rid of the smog stuff.
Like I said before, youll need all the sensors off an explorer 302, a explorer/94-95 gt timing cover, and the explorer harnmonic balancer/pulley.
I appreciate all your info here sir I really do. I just got into this idea about 2 weeks ago so a lot of digging around needs to be done on my end.
The f150 5 speed trannys were not rated at too much hp/tq either... advanced adapters make an adaptor for tko+transfer case? thats what I was thinking. The final thing I got and keep asking I know, is an explorer ecu will run a mustang 5.0 with a distributor? I got the extras I'll need to get as what you're listing but sensors and things will match up and run it?
It will go offroad which is why I want to keep the 4wd system but I never do anything crazy enough to break things. Just a bit of safe fun... and I will burn a few wanna be's on the street in a truck lol
The f150 5 speed trannys were not rated at too much hp/tq either... advanced adapters make an adaptor for tko+transfer case? thats what I was thinking. The final thing I got and keep asking I know, is an explorer ecu will run a mustang 5.0 with a distributor? I got the extras I'll need to get as what you're listing but sensors and things will match up and run it?
It will go offroad which is why I want to keep the 4wd system but I never do anything crazy enough to break things. Just a bit of safe fun... and I will burn a few wanna be's on the street in a truck lol
I think the idea is that you take a Mustang 5.0 with a distributor and swap enough accessories to turn it into an Explorer 5.0 with DIS, and then the Explorer computer runs it just fine.
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