Turbo 5.0L 2000 Ranger

[Ummduh]

This is what I've been putting all my money into lately. Not an off road er, sorry.

Started as a Texas 200(1?) Ranger 3.0, 2wd.

Engine locked up within minutes of me buying it. Dragged it home, the plan the entire time was a cheap turbo 302 setup.
Well life moves, I ditched the original plans of "cheap turbo blow through get it on the road"..

It's got a 2000 explorer 5.0l in it. 2001 Mustang 4r70w. I bought a take out sn95 cam for it, and alex-springs for stock+boost. Gt40p heads being newer explorer.

Turbo is a rev9 t72. Supposed to be a turbonetics t72, just machined in China vs the "good" one being machined in the US. 72/68,.81 AR.

I'm running (well, will be running it) it off of twin microsquirts, one for the engine, one for the trans. Eventually the engine computer will get upgraded. Injectors are motorcraft Gt500 62#'s, and I have an aeromotive stealth 340lph pump to swap in. Also swapped to sn95 fuel rails to get the FPR.

Anyways, I got put off by the mess that the ranger and 5.0 engine bay is, and how difficult making headers works was going to be, so it sat in the garage for 3 years..I just got a bug up my ass to just fucking do it already, and I'm pretty made I let it get to me for that long. It's not that bad. No I can't weld stainless for shit, but I think it'll be fine.. Note that the ugly tacks in the pics are just my flux core mig I have at home... I have a good tig at work.

Goal is 500 to the tire on e85.
Also has a DJM 5/4 drop, explorer 3.73 8.8.

 

[Ummduh]

Got all the major fabricobbling done I think tonight. I'm finally starting to get an eyeball for coping.

Next up is pulling the engine back out, swapping the cam, springs, and torque converter. Cleaning up the engine bay a little bit. I'll be finishing the crossover on the engine stand. Still have to order pipe for rhe downpipe and cold side. I have the wastegate and bov to hang as well, have them though.
I'm reusing the factory harness, but have to splice it onto the microsquirt harness. Will probably have to iron out some power supply issues.

 

[arse_sidewards]

That header pic is exactly why I chose not to do a 302 (or a 90deg V6) in my Ranger.

 

[Ummduh]

That header pic is exactly why I chose not to do a 302 (or a 90deg V6) in my Ranger.

This is the reason it sat in my garage for the last 3 years after putting the engine in it too.

I understand why there are 1000's of s10's for every ranger built, lol.

Next big change down the road I think it going to be front clipping it.

 

[welndmn]

Interesting! Keep it up!

 

[Ummduh]

Emptied the bed out and got it sitting on the suspension for the first time.

This thing had a bed rug in it I never pulled out. I got it out and all the bed bolts are just sitting there, well the ones that are left. Wtf.

At least it’ll be easy to remove the bed to do the fuel pump and rear shocks.

Anyways, this is pretty much ride height. Might drop a bit as I get the rest of the interior and junk back inside.

 

[Wheelin66bronco]

Cool build!
I've been eyeballing a 1990 era extra cab ranger in my neighbors field. It's perfectly straight body. First thing I thought of was a 5.0 turbo build. Seeing yours, now I'm not so sure.
I may see about picking it up.

 

[Ummduh]

Cool build!
I've been eyeballing a 1990 era extra cab ranger in my neighbors field. It's perfectly straight body. First thing I thought of was a 5.0 turbo build. Seeing yours, now I'm not so sure.
I may see about picking it up.

A 90 would be easier. Significantly so. Engine wise. Even easier if you don’t want to keep a/c. I wanted to get away from the twin I beam for handling reasons though. And keep the a/c. Considering I now want to cut this front end off, maybe it was a bad call though, lol.

 

[arse_sidewards]

extra cab

Single cab or don't bother.

 

[Ummduh]

Single cab or don't bother.

Eh, if you’re going to actually drive it, super cab all the way. For a purpose built deal yea, single cab short bed.

My driveshaft is long as fuck, 68” ish. 3.73 gear and 26” tire works out to ~129ish top end before driveshaft explodes. I was hoping for more.

I’d like to be bottom 10’s at some point.

 

[Ummduh]

This is what I did with the electronics.

Ditched the air bags. Ditched the abs as well.

The trans controller fits under the cup holder, engine ecu and wide band (spartan 3 lite) is where the passenger airbag was. We die with honor lol.
Wiring isn't even close to being done.

Also swapped an aeromotive stealth 340lph into the stock hanger. -6 from the tank to the engine. We'll see how it works out. A little worried about the return.

 

[Ummduh]

Got tons of work done.

 

[rattle_snake]

Also swapped an aeromotive stealth 340lph into the stock hanger. -6 from the tank to the engine. We'll see how it works out. A little worried about the return.

I'm running a 340 lph pump in a stock GM pickup with 5/16 return in hat. Works fine. return line is 3/8/-6

 

[Thatg9659]

Single cab or don't bother.

How tall are you?

 

[no class]

I'm 6'1" and drive a reg cab ranger everyday. It's comfortable enough, but yeah, a super cab would be roomer. My desire to not have a super cab is stronger than the desire for more leg room.

 

[Ummduh]

Got the headers all welded up yesterday. 10hrs of welding.

I will not be sharing my weld pics 😂

Working on stabbing the drive train back in right now.

Hoping to have it cranking this week! Going straight to e85 as I can still get it for $2.85/g. I bought a flex fuel sensor as well.

 

[rattle_snake]

Ah come on, your welds can't look that bad...

 

[Ummduh]

Ah come on, your welds can't look that bad...

After a good night's sleep, I woke up and wondered if maybe I wasn't tripping at an aviary instead of at work tig welding...

But for real, they're not as bad (mostly) as I saw them while welding, after looking at them and going over them yesterday again. I did have a lot of problems with cleanliness and porosity in some areas and I just kept feeding it heat and filler... You know, instead of fixing anything.

Welding thin to thick really kicked my ass. As did the modification I did to the very thin valve cover.. I think I melted three or four holes in that mofo.

This would have been a lot easier if I had a tig at my home garage, being able to assemble and weld as I went instead of having to tack and do it all in one shot. I still suck with the tig though, lol.

 

[Ummduh]

Well here's the shitty welds.

I didn't want to fuck up the joints so I left them undersized prior to welding and then ground them out more of less flush afterwards.

Been pounding away at the wiring, only have a few things left. I ran 10ga back to the fuel pump triggered off the original pump power, and off of a separate relay. Getting really close to being able to put a battery in and find everything I fucked up.

Have to figure out where to mount the ethanol sensor and wire that. Pretty much done with wiring then! When I went to plug in the Injectors I realized every single locking clip was broken off. I ordered replacement connectors and just swapped the connectors shells only.
The fuel Injectors are ford gt500 62#ers. Very inexpensive, I want to say they cost me like $30 a piece brand new.

Still have a ton of stuff left to do.

Swap 90 degree ceramic boots on the pass side.
Plumb remote oil filter. -10 ptfe braided ss
Plumb trans. -6 ptfe braided ss
Turbo oil and drain lines
Cold side. Weld on blow off valve and iat sensor bung
Turbo back exhaust & wide band.
Vacuum lines.
Pcv system.
Overflow tank.
Bleed brakes.
Figure out throttle cable and trans shift cable.
Nut & bolt pretty much whole truck.

 

[Ummduh]

Well here's the shitty welds.

I didn't want to fuck up the joints so I left them undersized prior to welding and then ground them out more of less flush afterwards.

Been pounding away at the wiring, only have a few things left. I ran 10ga back to the fuel pump triggered off the original pump power, and off of a separate relay. Getting really close to being able to put a battery in and find everything I fucked up.

Have to figure out where to mount the ethanol sensor and wire that. Pretty much done with wiring then! When I went to plug in the Injectors I realized every single locking clip was broken off. I ordered replacement connectors and just swapped the connectors shells only.
The fuel Injectors are ford gt500 62#ers. Very inexpensive, I want to say they cost me like $30 a piece brand new.

Still have a ton of stuff left to do.

Swap 90 degree ceramic boots on the pass side.
Plumb remote oil filter. -10 ptfe braided ss
Plumb trans. -6 ptfe braided ss
Turbo oil and drain lines
Cold side. Weld on blow off valve and iat sensor bung
Turbo back exhaust & wide band.
Vacuum lines.
Pcv system.
Overflow tank.
Bleed brakes.
Figure out throttle cable and trans shift cable.
Nut & bolt pretty much whole truck.

Well, had a lot of fun today.

Nut and bolted most of the truck.
Got the ethanol sensor mounted and plumbed.
Got all the wiring except alt, battery cables, ethanol sensor done

The fun stopped at the transmission. I used a 4r70w out of a 2000 Mustang. Apparently they use a stubby shifter linkage and a specific dtr sensor. So the stud that holds the shift lever on isn't there. Options were to swap the shift shaft from my explorer trans (didn't use as it's 4wd and getting a Mustang trans was cheaper than converting it), or... Weld the lever on. I chose the welder.

Batteries got fucking stupid expensive. I'm trying to charge up the original battery. It was at 6v and has been sitting in the Gare for 5 years. Not holding my breath.

Also got the registration done.

Getting really, really close. To trying to start anyways.. I'll stop and get some e85 after work on my way home.

I'm thinking I'm just going to blast my pressure washer through the headers to clean them out.

My driveshaft angles are kinda shit, axle is pointed up and trans is down.. But they're close to each other. Guess we'll see. Axle wrap could get ugly.

 

[Ummduh]

I'll have power to it tomorrow. Expecting issues, hope to be able to crank it Sunday.

Things are.... Tight.

 

[Ummduh]

Update:

It runs! Got it running last night. Had a couple set backs.

The fuel crossover lines on my fuel rail were broken under the sheathing and I didn't know it. I knew I should have just replaced them but I was too hopeful the 30 yr old rails were OK...

So intake back off, replace the hoses. Start filling radiator with water, when it gets to the tstat it just starts pouring out. Initially it looked like it was coming out from the lower intake gaskets but luckily it was just the tstat. Not sure how I messed that up, I installed it while on the engine stand. Weird. New gasket, back at it.

Next issue was no crank. Figured out I had to add a ground that the oe ecu used to supply. Fixed.

My timing light doesn't like wasted spark.

Transmission dipstick tube doesn't even come close to fitting. It should have. I think I have my engine set way, way back from most people. Lokar pets are expensive.. Jegs offers one similar for less than half, I'm going to try that.

And I wired my crank vr sensor backwards. I didn't notice in the manual that they wire vr+ to sensor negative and sensor + to vr-. I was able to get a reading by changing the trigger to the opposite of what it was supposed to be. Falling edge instead of rising edge? Or vice versa. And wala! It started! Timing is off because of the crank sensor but shockingly it fired right up!

I still got a good bit of work to do. Where I ran my starter cables is way in the way of the upper intake.
My turbo back exhaust welding is UGLY. I tried flux core ss wire and my machine HATED it. Not enough power. Going to have to knock some of it down and clean it up. Also still have to do the waste gate into the exhaust.

Transmission works on jack stands.

Oh and I didn't realize it but my gm iat I had wasn't 3/8npt. It it m14x1.5. After not being able to find that tap anywhere in my city I just ordered the 3/8npt iat sensor instead.

 

[rattle_snake]

Hell ya man nice work!

 

[Ummduh]

Waste gate is plumbed back to the exhaust. It's welded up, just not in the pics.

Only got a couple things left before it's back on the ground and hopefully driving around the block. And they're small really.

 

[Ummduh]

It runs! Pretty well too. Obviously besides getting the thing to not die immediately there is almost no tuning at this point, but it doesn’t sound too bad.

I spent a lot of time fighting myself, had the intake back off trying to figure it out. In the end I just overlooked it.

Took a few to realize that my map sensor was getting no reading at all. Tracked it back to two fittings on the intake that apparently don’t see manifold at all. They just tee off each other. But they go into the intake. Must be some fuckery afoot inside there. Anyways, what did I have all the important stuff hooked to? Yep.

Once I got that figured out all my frustrations went away.

Alt is dead. And there’s a pretty good oil leak. I think it’s the turbo drain, I want to redo it anyways.

Tuesday is the day it drives. Everything else looks good to go.

But for right now all my home co sensors are going off. Lol.

Fyi I am very annoyed at how dirty and messy everything is. That’s going to be the winter project. If I didn’t throw it together it was never going to get driving.

 

[Ummduh]

Having some sync loss issues causing everything to drop out. I think I know how to fix it.

Logs show hitting 6psi (6 # spring in waste gate and boost controller turned off) but only around 4500 rpm before it starts breaking up. It's spicy already. 2nd gear and half throttle just turns the tires to smoke.

 

[Ummduh]

Drove around for about an hour successfully. I'm having some setting issues, I can't get above about 5500rpm... No sync loss anymore! I think it's something in the trans controller getting in the way.

Anyways, it's stupid fun. 5psi on the spring only, 100mph is way too easy. I'm almost a little scared to turn it up!

Video is of rolling into it, if you stab it, it's all tire abuse. It'll roast them until you let off.

 

[mjlogan88]

Figure out your sync loss yet? VR or Hall effect sensor?

Killer build, would love to do something like this

 

[Ummduh]

Figure out your sync loss yet? VR or Hall effect sensor?

Killer build, would love to do something like this

Yea, just had to bridge the provided shunt resistor pads on the micro. It applies a 5.99k Ohm shunt across the vr inputs. Fixed it right up.


It is the factory explorer 36-1 and oe vr sensor.

I hurt the turbo the other day. The internet told me to run a restrictor in the oil feed line on these Chinese turbos. I had a 0.078" in it. Now it's loose. Now the internet says "well why did you use a restrictor!?"

LOL..

Not mad, it's why I started with a $300 turbo.. I figured I was going to fuck something up.

Nothing has hit yet, just has side to side play. The suggestion is to get rid of the restrictor and keep running it. I'll give it a try. Even if it's done, I can get these things all day for $300 or use the opportunity to try a different one. Also rebuild kits are stupid cheap and seem highly universal. Being chinesium, who knows if they'll work or not. But for $30-60 I might give it a try before I do actually hurt any hard parts.

 

[mjlogan88]

Yea, just had to bridge the provided shunt resistor pads on the micro. It applies a 5.99k Ohm shunt across the vr inputs. Fixed it right up.


It is the factory explorer 36-1 and oe vr sensor.

I hurt the turbo the other day. The internet told me to run a restrictor in the oil feed line on these Chinese turbos. I had a 0.078" in it. Now it's loose. Now the internet says "well why did you use a restrictor!?"

LOL..

Not mad, it's why I started with a $300 turbo.. I figured I was going to fuck something up.

Nothing has hit yet, just has side to side play. The suggestion is to get rid of the restrictor and keep running it. I'll give it a try. Even if it's done, I can get these things all day for $300 or use the opportunity to try a different one. Also rebuild kits are stupid cheap and seem highly universal. Being chinesium, who knows if they'll work or not. But for $30-60 I might give it a try before I do actually hurt any hard parts.

Sweet, had the same issue on my 36-1 VR setup and adding resistance to the VR+ side fixed mine. Glad you got it sorted

Journal bearing turbo i'm assuming? I've heard the same do/dont run a restrictor but a call to the mfg said no restrictor on a journal bearing turbo. If you get smoke your drain is not sufficient.