EFIDynoTuning Forum

hope this is the right place for this first post
over the last couple months I have swapped a 1998 explorer 5.0 and pcm into my 2003 ford ranger. the tuning shops in my area do not want to touch my explorer eec-v (NRT1). So I started out looking into tuning the eec myself, as it's a mild build close to stock. just hone with a re-ring and fresh bearings, factory iron 3 bar gt40 heads, crane 1.7 roller rockers, trick flow stage 1 camshaft. my biggest hurdle being that PATS needs to be disabled and deleting the automatic transmission as I am using a m5odr2 5 speed manual transmission, also stuck with the 60 psi return-less fuel rail from post 98 5.0s (matched my rangers fuel system) needless to say this has lead me down a deep rabbit hole of tuning.
also learned that the quarter horse is no more, which seemed to be the most popular/most information about. any suggestions on what hardware and software to get started on this process. i have always been a carb guy this is my first venture into the old of efi. thank you in advance please excuse my ignorance.

You can get quarterhorse from decipha if he still has some in stock.

viewtopic.php?p=15117&hilit=Quarterhorse#p15117

He also does remote tuning if you don't want to spend years on learning the processes and getting it right.

http://www.efidynotuning.com/remote.htm

Got any pics of the project? I have owned a number of rangers. I always like seeing ranger projects

PM sent.

I would like to learn, I didn't realize these explorer 5.0's were such black sheep I guess it makes sense since the mustang had switched to the 4.6 in 96'.

I didn't take to many during the process. the truck belong to my dad, first vehicle he ever bought new, i learned to drive stick in this truck so there's a lot of sentimental attachment to this boring old xl ranger. we always joked that he needed to swap in a 5.0 as the 2.3 was getting real tired, unfortunately my old man passed away a couple years ago. so I am making this swap happen.

ranger station doesn't cover 2wd ranger swaps of this gen. so I was kinda going in blind. this has not been a bolt up process but that's alright its part of the fun right? while it wasn't hard to fit the 5.0 and trans and I actually think it looks more at home in there than the duratec did. some fabrication was required for proper alignment. I am a welder/fabricator by trade with access to a plasma table, welders, press brakes etc so wasn't much of an issue. motor mounts made, front crossmember was modified (so I could keep the explorer aluminum oil pan), transmission crossmember was modified as well for the m5odr2 didn't quite match to the m5odr1 the ranger had. I'm going for a "stock" look as if Ford had put it there.

Nice. Keep us posted on your progress.

The good news is that the Manual trans makes it a much easier swap process. Everything is on Ranger Station for the PATS delete. There is a wire to ground and several to be relocated in the engine to body harness, not a huge deal there. A couple more to be added for the charging system to work correctly, And you may need to do something to make the cluster see the speed signal. With an automatic, the pcm needs to have the speed signal and I ended up having to change the abs module and do a few more things to make it all happen. Still would be nice for the PCM to get a speed signal for idle control but not really necessary. The M5OD may have some durability issues behind a 5.0L but if you aren't too hard on it, it may be ok. The rear end in the truck will definitely not last. You may as well put the explorer 8.8" rear end in the truck as well, also will give you rear disc brakes, huge plus!!

boosted what year ranger did you swap a 5.0 in? I really believe this is the truck Ford should have made available. it say its easier to work on that the duratec 2.3 space wise.

update: explorer 8.8 installed really simple swap.fabricated my own perches and plates. had u-bolts made locally. did buy some new e-brake shoes and cables they were trashed. did not have to mess with master cylinder as some write ups say it brakes really well now and the pedal feels normal.

the truck is running and idling ok, did some light driving to calibrate the speedo and test drivability.
i believe it still needs some additional tuning the expo ecu I'm using isn't fully broken out. i plan on this being a daily driver. the m5od is definitely a truck trans but its fine for what it is.

swap info
I read up on the ranger station write ups and all over the internet to find as much info as I could on this before I started. I could not find a 03 2wd coil spring swap that was documented. but I can assure you it was not a bolt up/ plug and play process for a 03 2wd coil spring. the ranger station I believe is referring to a torsion bar set up which would be a lot easier I would assume.

I modified the front crossmember cut and channeled it so the expo oil pan had clearance (a rear sump may have worked but I liked the cast aluminum OE expo pan better).

I tried rickz rangers motor mounts for a 2wd coil spring 98-11 they did not work (engine sat to high and to far to the RH side of the engine bay. I fabricated my own, to center the engine and drop it down an inch. (used the factory frame mounts from the 2.3)

I had to drop the transmission crossmember 9/16th" of an inch for the R2 to fit like I wanted with a factory pinion angle in mind (cut the mounting section out and fabricated new mounting hole plate) still usings existing mounts on the frame I'm really happy with how this turned out.

explorer exhaust was modified from down pipes back (hit the RH control arm)

the R2 needed its mounting holes reamed to 7/16". I also used a modified an R1 and R2 shifter stubs (cut, clocked and TIG'd them together). so I could retain the ranger shifter. I have seen guys grind the stubs but I had both to work with.

I did retain the PATS hardware from the expo and was going to wire it in but once I knew I needed a tune. PATS can be easily disabled according to Decipha. so didn't worry about that and never installed the PATS hardware. getting around the ranger side of PATS was as simple as grounding the starter relay ground lug as the ranger eco would have done this

used the ranger 60 psi returnless fuel system (swapped to a 99-01 rail) much cleaner and easier than adding a return line and dealing with regulators.

the speed-o was easy as well I bought a Dakota Digital SGI-100BT universal signal interface unit. I hid it behind the radio/heater panel. I used the OSS sensor on the trans tail shaft to get the signal for it. spliced in power and ground from behind the dash so it's all hidden. calibrated it yesterday.

fan shroud was fabricated from an 03, with ABS 3d printed parts

designed a cover for the QH on the ECU.

An EVTM is absolutely essential in my opinion for this. I had to make a harness so the ranger 42 pin matched the expo 42 pin as well as extend it so it physically could reach.
having access to a CNC plasma table, TIG and MIG welders, 3D printers, evtms. made this process much more doable.

cover for the QH

Make sure the pcm is actually getting the speed signal it needs otherwise it will not shift correctly nor will it go into lockup. Ask me how I know that. My ranger is a 1999 technically but I used the wiring harness and frame from a 2002 to add all the power windows and locks that my 1999 didn't have originally. So the only thing 1999 about it is the actual sheet metal. I modified the frame so I could bolt the stock explorer mounts to the frame and use the brackets from the explorer as well. Made it easier to get replacement parts in the future. centered everything up nice and sits nice and low in the frame. The fan shroud I used at first looked ok but the fan was just slightly too deep in the shroud and caused some overheating issues so I ended up finding a shorter shroud at the local junkyard, I think out of an explorer v8 of a newer model year and it fixed that issue. Stock fan is pretty close to the big V8 explorer radiator I used. It is the full core version for the explorers that had the tow package and super cooling option. Mine is a 2 wheel drive with a 4r70w auto.
The cover is a good thought, You will just need to put a hole in it to run the usb cable through. Thankfully the pcm is right behind the glove box basically so it is easy to run the usb cable right into the glove box for safe keeping until needed. I just use a piece of duct tape to go over the quarterhorse to make sure it stays in and cut the little divider out where the pcm mounts so it doesn't hit back there. Of course once I am done playing with the tune I will probably just flash the PCM and remove the quarterhorse anyways.

very cool! my donor had the tow package rad as well so far no overheating issues.

it struggles on light throttle, low load, I may switch the ECU to a crown vic or grand marquis like Decipha had initially suggested. as I can't datalog with the current ecu I have now.

I was thinking of doing the same and mounting the coils on the valve covers to clean things up a bit. But I am working on trying to define the READ0 strategy for now anyways in an attempt to learn the coding side of it a bit to understand how the PCM does what it does better. Actually Decipha posted a datalogging ADX file and DEF file he made from some of the parameters that I pulled out so far. I have to try the new version still, the old one was missing a checksum, he has since posted the new version to try. You may want to check that out.

Guess the lockup and shift points don't really matter in your case. Although it may have some effect on throttle response and idle valve performance if it can't ever see a speed signal. That could be some of your sluggish issue. But It could also be that it was originally an explorer too. LOL