1) It's got a frame, so you can add just about anything to it.
2) It is about as light as a mustang.
3) V8 engines actually leave more space in the engine bay than the stock motors with all of their stuff.
4) Whatever is made for a mustang can be easily transplanted....

Dunno how a V8 would change it, but I think a 2wd Ranger is a hell of a lot of fun to push to it's limit in the twisties, too. (At least when the front is tight and aligned right, which mine isn't, quite. )

They may not be able to keep up with everything, but they're real predictable, and get kinda loose if you let 'em.

I originally modded mine to wider tires because I was running on two lane country roads to work and back.

In the end, I ran 235/60/15's on the back, and have 225/50/15's on the front. A two inch lift was added to the back for clearance issues.

IT STICKS to the road....

For mileage reasons, I feel that taller rims of light materials radically improve performance. Spinning a lot of rubber is expensive at the pump - because rubber weighs more than a rim.

Try this: Ride a mountain bike a mile, then ride a road or touring bicycle a mile. Which goes faster?

The same ideas directly transfer to trucks and cars.

Mine is a 2.3 expensive to repair *****, but it loves country roads. It's a small engined Mustang, with a load bed.

you need to post up some pics, man. Feel free to dig into the image hosting software here and link to it there, or just photobucket.

The ranger is a pretty versitile mobile.

Ryan

I have been kind of looking for an extended cab Ranger to toy with, but I would ditch the I beam front and use an Aerostar front suspension to get the a- frame setup, a little better ride and handling.

Well, before I blew my original motor and we had the spare 6.0L, we were looking for a Ranger to drop it in. There's tow others I know of with 6.0L's in them and they're pretty quick at the strip with very little engine mods.

I'm running stock rubber on mine (205/70-14) on stock 14" aluminum wheels. Tires are dirt cheap (the four on there now cost a total of less than $300, mounted) and I've got the rims, so I can't justify an upgrade.

With the 4.10 gears, she does pretty good on gas provided I keep it below about 62 mph. Starts dropping off pretty fast again after that.

I've only driven one Aerostar, and it was so worn out that I can't comment on how it might have handled originally, but if you get everything tight on the I-beams, they handle pretty good, IMO.

And my 2.3 hasn't needed any expensive repairs yet, but she's closing in on a quarter million miles, so I'm sure they're not far off. Then again, good care and maintenance since new (I know the original owner) will take the thing a long ways.

Let's see if I can do this - if it works I can comment further.

Okay. What you see there is an 89 Ranger, with skinny sidewall KUMHO tires on the front, mounted on 15 inch rims. This brought the height down and stopped a fender rubbing problem on dips

The back end required 2" lift blocks. I'd have used one inch, but they worked perfect. I have two sets for the rear - 235/60/15 Eagles, and 245/60/15 Mastercraft Avengers. The Eagles used to be on the front, but caused problems like I said.

What the heck, the rims were free... And you can see from the rear end shot, that I didn't go into pure overkill on the width. It's pretty much balanced

But the only way I can stuff the Eagles under the front is with two inch overstock spring coils, and an immediate alignment.

I've always liked rangers, they just are not as big and wide as I like my trucks.

You see a lot of Rangers and S10's down at Byhalia and Holly Springs raceways in Miss. Engines go as big as they can get, Windsors are popular in them.

They do good as a sport truck.

I hope your truck isn't 4wd Dutch. That tire size difference will really mess with your gear ratios.

Greywolf said:

You see a lot of Rangers and S10's down at Byhalia and Holly Springs raceways in Miss. Engines go as big as they can get, Windsors are popular in them.

They do good as a sport truck.

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Yeah, the Ranger is hands-down Ford's best drag-truck. I see about 4x as many S10's on the raceways though, seems like everytime I turn on the Speed Channel and that show "Pinks" is on, I see a heavily modified S10 running a 12 second quarter.

Skandocious said:

I hope your truck isn't 4wd Dutch. That tire size difference will really mess with your gear ratios.

Click to expand...

I wouldn't dare do that with a 4X4, even if I thought I had different axles that would work. Nope, she's a street beastie.

Some day my brother and I are going to drop a 302 in my old 89 (4X4). That is the plan anyway.

We have the C5 (two of them actually) to combine with a C4 to hook it all up to the transfer case. All ford!

It won't be fast, but not bad for an old truck. LOL

Have you seen the one off that SVT made with all Lightning drivetrain called the Lightning Bolt? Bad little truck with the whole drivetrain pilfered from a full sized Lightning with the rear end narrowed to fit under the fenders and widened the rims a little but it was mean as could be.

Level2 said:

Have you seen the one off that SVT made with all Lightning drivetrain called the Lightning Bolt? Bad little truck with the whole drivetrain pilfered from a full sized Lightning with the rear end narrowed to fit under the fenders and widened the rims a little but it was mean as could be.

Click to expand...

Wow! Just googled and found it! That thing is awesome! Beat out the Lightning and a Mach1 Mustang no problem! Holy crap.

http://www.pickuptruck.com/html/stories/lightningbolt/page1.html

NEWSFLASH:

Bag either a rear axle or an entire chassis of an Explorer (front suspension ALREADY sway barred, and a limited slip locker in either 3.73 or 4.10 ratio)

No "PEG-LEGGING" on launch....

Slap a Ranger cab and bed on it.

Did they ever build the lighting bolt or was it another concept?