V8 swap

[88~Stranger]

Im turning my 88 ranger into a street truck, Im putting a 302 out of a mustang in it with a t5 tranny, and 8.8 rearend. This is gonna be my senior project for school, and I need some good advice for the parts im gonna need, and all the different fabs that are gonna need to be made.

[cgrey8]

Start off with what your budget is.

Next what does your 88 Ranger already have for a radiator, tranny, rearend, etc.

Are you looking for the cheapest possible install or are you looking for all the places you can value-add to the truck peripheral to the V8 upgrade such as stronger front springs, suspension bushings, traction bars, locker in the rear, etc?

Is this fun street truck where fuel economy, emissions, and longevity are not really a concern? Or do you need to drive this to work/school everyday and thus need it to be reliable, not waste TOO much gas, and drive well in traffic?

And some info as to what the 302 is (stock, modified, extremely modified, etc) and what you also want to do to it before transplant (look at it, rebuild it, port/replace/upgrade stuff). Budget will dictate a lot of what you can and can't do.

Will you be running the engine as EFI or carb? This will also likely be dictated heavily by budget and/or what mods you do to it. If you got some budget to work with and plan on engine mods, then engine tuning could be in your future. If you are easy, then you'll be ditching a lot of what's on the top of the engine for a carb intake, a carb, and vac-advance dizzy. If you keep the engine 100% stock, then you can get away with keeping it EFI without too much headache as long as you have all the wiring harnesses (inc HEGO harness) and the EEC.

Finally, what condition is the tranny in? If it's been ragged out while it was in the Stang, then it'll likely need a rebuild. If it's holding together and will work well enough, then that's one less thing you got to worry about.

This only scratches the surface of the things that need to be decided and known. But this is a good start for us to get a feel for what it is you are wanting.