What is the best diesel to swap into a 2007 Ford Ranger 4wd? Meaning best quality, performance (mpg/power), not heavier than it has to be, easy to find parts for, etc.?
Which manual transmission?
Transfer case?
I’d also like to make the truck computer free. Even the climate control I’m willing to try to incorporate a lever control with cables. Like from the 80’s cars. I do want to keep A/C and basically nothing else.
Also, in my state, I’ll have to register it as a ‘composite vehicle’. Has anyone here ever done that?
Thanks!
Honestly, your best bet is to just buy a diesel truck. Doing a diesel swap can be an electrical nightmare.
Probably not bad if it’s a non-computer diesel, right?
The problem is that your Ranger is not a non computer Ranger. Even trying to convert it into a non computer Ranger could be an electrical nightmare.
Well, I know the climate control and instrument cluster are tied in. Airbags, ABS and TPMS, too, but I’d be getting rid of all that.
I’m with the other guys that you are probably better off swapping the whole truck. But if you really want to do it....
I’m going to assume that you will be getting professional assistance (if you had the tools and expertise to do it yourself you wouldn’t need advice from here). So the real question is: what does your mechanic recommend? What has he done before? What is he most familiar with? He should be so familiar with it that he knows what hiccups you are going to have before they happen. Better to have an engine he can fix than a “better” engine he can’t.
PS: you mentioned weight; that’s good because you will probably need to upgrade the front end or it isn’t going to handle right.
