REAR ENGINE RANGER

[gottabeaford]

Has anyone ever thought about putting the engine in the bed of the truck and connecting the output on the trans to the diff? I think the bed is long enough the only question I have is how you would shift it the clutch wouldn't be to hard but the shifting between gears I'm not sure about. Do you think you would need power steering still or would the front be light enough. And how well would it handle would it plow when you try to turn.

[cgrey8]

Interesting idea. I don't know of anybody that has done that. But it is interesting.

My idea for an interesting project would be to get a 4wd Ranger and set it up with a V8, but use a 2wd manual tranny drivetrain. The front axle would be setup to be driven by a large electric motor. With a bed-full of batteries and a motor controller, you could have your very own Plug-in Hybrid Ranger with Front Wheel Drive on electric including regenerative braking. And when the batteries run dry, dump the clutch with the tranny in gear to start up the V8. The best part with be with both driving the vehicle in AWD mode. Could you imagine a ~150hp electric driving the front wheels and a mild V8 driving the rear? Without too much trouble, you could get 450hp worth of pull to all 4 tires.

[MalcolmV8]

So when running on batteries you are sort of a "green" vehicle but when the batteries run down about 10 miles down the road carrying all that weight a 300 hp 15mpg V8 fires up and more than makes up for the electric part lol. Sorry just funny, I cracked up reading that. Definitely be a fun toy though, I love tinkering with stuff like that myself.

[rojam18801]

i seen one rear engine ranger at don garlits show here at home in ocala fl. must say it was strange. engine and trans in bed, drive shaft went to transfer case at very end of frame, then second drive to rear end that was mounted backwards. never seen it run, but looked like it would stand on it's butt as soon as it was put in gear. way different.... the old trucker

[cgrey8]

So when running on batteries you are sort of a "green" vehicle but when the batteries run down about 10 miles down the road carrying all that weight a 300 hp 15mpg V8 fires up and more than makes up for the electric part lol. Sorry just funny, I cracked up reading that. Definitely be a fun toy though, I love tinkering with stuff like that myself.

The hope is that through a combination of mild-but-efficient engine building and the regenerative braking from the electric motor, you'd get in-city fuel economy improvements even with the engine running...just like conventional hybrids that don't plug-in. That is unless you keep your foot in it all the time. On the open road, you wouldn't glean hardly any improvements...again, just like with regular hybrids. And you are also right, I doubt the batteries would last longer than about 10 miles. If Chevy is having a hard time eeking out 40MPG from a Chevy Volt, a light car designed for efficiency, I seriously doubt a truck with heavy conventional deep-cell batteries is going to be anywhere near that. It would be neat if it were to get 20-30 miles since that would cover a significant portion of my daily commute.

[Warpig Racing]

Do it. I have seen mid mount blown big block in a older chevy van.