V8-Ranger.com

im thinking of the darker royal blue of the can .. little darker than the color of this car

Ahh Lightning Blue...as in the color of the infamous Lightning Bolt Ranger:

never seen that truck before but dammmmmm thats about the color I want . And seeing it on a ranger pretty much cinches the deal ... LOL now i just need a paint code

google lightning bolt ranger to read all about it.

so I have been working on the truck a little bit every night . decided that I dident like the way everything was with the gt convertible mounts so i got some steal and pulled out the plasma and made my own ..

Heres the drivers side mount.. I used stock 4.0 mounts.. I started with a ruff cut shape and then after checking fitment i gave them some shape..





Passenger side after some shaping ..



After I was saticfied with them I gave them a few coats of hi temp primer and some crinkle black ..



I did set the motor back a bit and had a few places that i had to do some clearance work but nothing a few smacks from a dead blow couldent fix.

i ordered some parts today too..

got my Hayden 291 Oil Filter Relocation kit on its way and a new water pump and alt ...

I decided that it will be essayist to just buy a header kit and so im going with this kit..

http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Small-Blo ... ,3842.html

i found a WHOLE v8 swap kit here in Miss.... its got Heddman shortie headers... transdapt oil filter relocation and transdapt mounts.... they got it listed for $275 ... but he wants it GONE so ya might can get it a bit cheaper......... its on Craigslist..... here is the link... it has a phone number too ... http://northmiss.craigslist.org/pts/3088348835.html ....would make a great shelf stock for a later project ????? .........

thanks grumpy i called and he said they were sold...

picked up some headman shorty headers for the v8 ranger swap today fer the tiddy sum of 80 bucks ..




installed them to check for clearance and they fit but there's a few places alittle bit of clearanceing is in order

few updates ... for a top end gasket kit from felpro and head bolts as well ... my heads are back from the machine shop.. complete and clean.. had a 3 angle valve job, new valve gides , new springs and retainers they machined everything smooth and put a coat of royal ford blue on them ...




started cleaning and sandblasting everything and coating it all with some duplicolor engine enamel.. the valve covers will be replaced latter on as I have to clear the roller rockers that i ordered ..

I found a 97 merc mountaineer 5.0 in the you pull yard and grabbed everything off the front of the motor power steering pump and bracket . alternator and bracket .. also got the upper and lower intake and the heads .. Brought it all home cleaned it and painted it all ...

ordered these today hope the intake clears them with out a spacer but we'll see

http://www.ebay.com/itm/160847133537?ss ... 1497.l2648

I'm curious how you'll get those to fit. I looked at different VC options, but found there weren't any stock VCs that would work with an Explorer 90 degree intake elbow. The Explorer elbows locate the oil inlet in an odd location at an odd angle to other VCs. However these it looks like you have to cut your own oil inlet hole for anyway...or get used to pouring your oil down the dipstick tube.

To get my stock Explorer VCs to clear the rockers, I had to use 5/16" thick VC gaskets and clearance the corners of the rockers on the ends of the engine. But I am using the stock VCs without any problem...at least I was. I had to reshim the VCs higher because the lifters were pumping up more than I expected and holding the valves open when they weren't supposed to be open. One of them pumped up so much it bound the spring and pushed the rocker to the side. I'm in the middle of fixing that now. I never realized how effective hydraulic lifters were at pumping up and holding their pressure. I've had to roll the engine over manually a few times to get the lifters to pump down to where I can "feel" the plunger action again. And some still aren't completely relieved. When I 1st pulled the VCs off to investigate the loud noise, every one of the lifters were pumped up so tight they felt like solid lifters...even days after I'd pulled the VCs. So unless you've already gone this route, when you go to measure for pushrod length, measure with a solid lifter, and only add another .025-.050"...no more. Without oil, the pushrods may push into the plungers with a very spongy feel. That sponginess goes away once the oil pressure hits them and the stiffen up to effectively being a solid lifter.

well my valve covers showed up today .. they look pretty good nice and straight,.

well cgrey8 they fit just fine with a few small mods .. I had to remove the two vacuum ports from the far side of the upper intake .. I fingure that I will be able to get by just fine with out them . theres two vacuum trees in the middle that I can use... heres some pics of the whole deal..