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289 into a 1985 Ranger?

2.2K views 8 replies 6 participants last post by  cerial  
#1 ·
I want to drop a 80's model 289 in an 85 ranger. What kind of transmission do I need.
 
#7 ·
Toby, the best things you can do, to help make this into a show truck are as follows.
1) Go to a few shows and figure out your long term goal with this truck, ex: will this be a street driver for fun on nice days?, A daily driver? a race truck? show only.
2) Do some reading and research on doing ranger engine swaps, this has been done a lot. You will most likely see some at shows and be able to talk with owner and look at parts and what it take.
3) Next figure engine trans combo, also start to gather parts, save money. This will allow to move forward with out set backs.
4) Have a daily driver to replace truck, once you start this swap you will run into problems. being able to stop working on truck, until you figure out a given issue will be very helpful, thus the need for a dependable daily driver.
 
#8 ·
Ford transmissions are sensitive to engine family, that being their bell housing bolt with the block. For non electronic shifting transmissions the first thing you need is a transmission that fits to your 302 block. Transmissions from other families will require adapters for both bell housings and crank bolt patterns. Ford’s and Chrysler’s are a lot trickier to make engine and transmission swaps than Chevy’s, you‘ll need to do a lot of research as to what fits what, which gets you into doing the builds on paper way before obtaining parts. None of that relieves the constant detail installation modifications of finding thinks like mounts won’t without further mods, drive shafts too long or short or U joints are different, etc. this gets to be a long list of details waiting ahead of where you are. Pee Poor Prior Planning costs a lot of money and time and has been the ruin of many a good project.

The 289 is essentially the same block as the 302, 289’s were not installed in Mustangs or any other production model after autumn of 1967.

Bogie