What motor to run?

I think the earlier vw diesel would be the way to go if you are not worried about speed at all. That is what several guys are running in thier samari's. I bet you could get a decent one out of an old rabit for 1k, but they are getting harder to find with the higher fuel prices.

What about a honda motor, out of a crv or something? Those get decent mpg's and are rwd.

just fyi, the crv's 2.4l is a stinking dog...and its not rwd, its a FWD platform with on demand rwd (when the front wheels slip). Its also not fuel efficient. I can manage about 17mpg on the highway with my wifes 05.

I give you props in trying to run something different or unique. Its easy to say drop a v8 in it but in the case of the ranger, a 289 with a 5.0l fuel injected top end would be pretty cool. Even the 302 is a great idea.
For the ease of an engine swap, the ford branded engines would seem to be the cats tits IMO.

I dont know how trick you want to get here but something trick, fuel effieicnt and not being a common swap....I'm feelin the old v6 taurus SHO engine stuffed into the ranger. Course you'd have to convert it to rwd and thats possible, I have seen them in a few hotrods. You'd have to fight with the wiring harness but if your not scared of wiring and reading electricial prints that would make a pretty trick swap.

I like some of the ideas you guys are throwing out here, keep them coming.

I'm not real sure about the sho motor, simply because I believe I have seen one in a mini before and they are most certainly not small.

A friend of mine has mentioned the supercharged v-6 motor out of a supercoupe, but my issue is I know those things take premium, lol

Maybe I missed it but did anybody mention what the difference if any is between a 22r and 22re?

Anybody know what year they started doing full injection on the 22r? is the what makes it an re?

For those of you that have done full injected swaps into factory carburetor vehicles how difficult is it to use factory gauges? I'm not afraid of wiring, i'm more afraid of the added cost of trying to get a full harness and ecu for a full injected motor with the purchase. On top of trying to maintain the factory gauges.

going from a normally carbed powertrain to a efi powertrain has a learning curve to be sure. but to get factory mechanical guages to work with a efi system is typically not that big of a deal. There are electric to mechanical guage converters and in some cases you will be able to make a mechanical guage work in place of what normally would have been an electrical connection by just plumbing in the mechanical gauge's sending unit. Either way, a speedo shop would come in handy as they would be the most familiar with specific parts you might need when you pick out your engine combo.

On the sho engine, your right, its only downside is it being on the large side but its not overly huge.

Like david mentioned above the 2.3l pinto engine would be trick but thats pretty common and expensive, same as the supercoupe and the turbo coupe conversions.

Speaking of the 2.3 ciricle track engine, back in the 60's another inline 4cyl was common on the circuit and seems to be quite rare to see in vehicles these days and thats the old Pontiac slant 4. Its the old venerible pontiac 389 split in half. pontiac modified the block mold to only pour one half, one side of the engine. lots of go fast goodies, standard pontiac v8 rods and pistons, same bearings in the bottom end. Its fairly small being a 4 holer and it uses the BOP trans bolt patern, so you could do any number of manual trans swaps or auto overdrive swaps (2004R comes to mind!!) The down side is the whole cross branding issue that you talked about earlier, but you are possibly considering that anyway with the vw and toyota engines...

The 22re is the electronic version of the 22r. efi and all that jazz that goes along with it. Most deff a bulit proof engine. Would be a good choice to be sure.

Man its fun to sit and think of the possibilities...

tossing stuff out there, this might be a little too over the top but a friend uses Busa engines mated to a motorcycle trans thats shaft drive to power legend race cars. He has the drive shafts custom made and uses datsun rear axles...not really all that diffrent than the size of vehicle we are talking about here.
talk about small engine with big power and a lot of potential. Guess its all how diffrent you want to be...

to bad your info is wrong jason, the legends series runs a 1200 CC yamaha 4cyl engine with 80s celica front brakes/ rear end

What's funny is I've always wondered about running a motor cycle engine, I didn't know anyone was really doing it at least not on a popular level if you know what I mean.

I've always thought it would also be cool to somehow in the rear run a swing arm (rear crotch rocket style) suspension for each side of the back of a truck, using motorcycle brakes as well. It would look interesting at least. That's way out of my price league for all of the custom fabrication that would require from a machine shop.

But I digress

DUDE I was kickin the idea around for the longest to run an old skool carburated rotary motor in my ranger. like i think it was a 13b out of an 86 or something (cant remember shit) theres definately a ton of cool ass shit for them like webber side drafts, 4bbl conversions, roots style blowers, etc. etc. their not a dificult as people think, people just psych them selves out cuz their different.

13b rotarty. they're tiny, turn crazy rpms, and have potential for a good bit of power.

Originally posted by bagged85



to bad your info is wrong jason, the legends series runs a 1200 CC yamaha 4cyl engine with 80s celica front brakes/ rear end

Naaa its coo, Im used to being wrong, my wife makes sure I know this all the time.

I wonder how illegal his legends cars are if they have the 1299cc engines in em? I know they in there, I pulled one out of a bike for him and saw it in his car. LOL, whoops, maybe I shouldnt have said anything!