Here’s something you don’t see every day: a 1995 Ford Ranger Stepside pickup with a 351 V8 under the hood and numerous other upgrades to compliment it. The yellow and black color scheme complete with the stripe down the sides do their best to convince you this is a Mustang in a Ranger suit, all while keeping the stock wheels and tires to give it a slightly sleepy appearance. I love the early 90s Ranger pickup, and this example makes a compelling argument for what Ford should have been building instead of letting the Mustang have all the performance car glory. This is a ton of truck for just $5,900, and the seller claims he’s had it in storage but now needs to sell it to pay for his kids’ college. Find it here on craigslist and located in Port Orange, Florida.
When you first look at it, I wouldn’t blame you for thinking it’d be a half-assed conversion. But then you get into the photos and it becomes crystal clear that someone put in the effort to perform this swap to a very high level. The engine bay is incredibly well detailed, at least in the photos, and provides plenty of supporting evidence of money and time being spent in all the right places. The seller doesn’t go into great detail about the upgrades, but mentions that it features the usual assortment of upgrade parts from the likes of B&M, MSD, and Edelbrock. The cooling system is also said to have been upgraded to support the high performance aspirations of the Ranger, but the seller doesn’t go into much additional detail about the build.
I’d love to know if this was a home brew job or if a vendor in Florida was cranking out V8 swapped Rangers in the middle 90s. It looks a little too nice for a conversion done after work and on weekends, which may also explain why the seller doesn’t have a ton of background info. The interior remains standard Ranger fare inside, which is to say it’s somewhat cheap and basic. For the increase in performance, I would absolutely swap in a better set of bucket seats, perhaps even finding some Recaros from a Fox body Mustang to keep it as OEM as possible. The Ranger is a comfortable, sensible package, so assuming the suspension and steering have been suitably built-up to support the increased horsepower, this Ranger should still be a fairly pleasant driver.
The stepside bed is a must for any high performance truck (in my opinion), as that flared rear end gives it a more purposeful stance, a good thing to have when packing a serious horsepower punch. The listing doesn’t detail what sort of numbers we’re working with, but it sure would be interesting to see a video of a 0-60 run or at least a pass on the dyno. There’s also likely some room for improvement, perhaps with a supercharger, which would make this hot rod Ranger even more potent. While I like the stock appearance, I would have to lower this truck on some more aggressive wheels and rubber if it were mine. Do you recall seeing other Rangers converted with 351 V8s back in the day, or is this a true one-off?
I’m not a Ranger expert, but wasn’t there a model called the Splash which featured this bed? Otherwise per Ford model convention this would be a Flareside (not a Stepside).
Interesting to see a Ranger with a powerful V8. I think one would need to treat it with respect.
Your right Bob, the splash was the model with the flairside bed. I think stepside is a GM term
Yes, but it had a “Splash” graphic on the rear fenders. Those may have been removed.
A good looking Ranger with some get-up-and-go for a good price. If everything was done well, this is a good buy for somebody looking for a small pickup with performance. I like everything about it except the extended cab. I’ve had three Rangers and enjoyed them all but the one I had with an extended cab was my least favorite. I found the extra space useless and the jump seats are only good for kids, not adults. The bed was shorter than I cared for and a regular cab looks much better to my eyes. Still, this yellow Ranger is a nice one and priced to sell.
If this truck is as good as it looks, that’s a very reasonable price. I’d be interested but I’m across the country diagonally from it.
Some Ford Explorers had V-8’s in them and they were not much different from the Ranger. The 5.0 was in the 2000 Explorer. I had a 2000 Ranger and looked into putting a 5.0 in it. Found a wrecked Explorer and it was almost a done deal. A friend of mine wanted it for a Father / Son project so I sold it to him and they returned it to stock.
Rumors were like flies back in the pre-internet days and Ford had plenty of them, one being a 5.0 Ranger. I remember a spy shot of a test mule V8 Ranger, complete with mr. crash test dummy and all.
V8 powered mini trucks were around, all homegrown stuff, like the stock looking Ranger at Carlsbad Raceway that growled like a 5.0 Mustang, usually an old chevy Luv with small block power and other mods.
Going for the Boss look in yellow up there with those black accents, killer 351 and sure to scare it will never get past a CARB emissions official here in California, or other states with strict regulations. That really sucks.
Not Just a Rumor, there were some in the late 80’s done aftermarket. I believe Roush did them. Going back to the late 80’s the Detroit TV channel 7 had a brief story on it. The engine was the 302. Plenty of room under the hood.
I’m sure the aftermarket was involved in 5.0 Ranger conversions, my local Ford guru shop..JBA, probably would do something like that. My point being straight up production Rangers with fuel injected 302’s being sold right alongside 3.0 and 4.0 V6 Rangers….2.3l 4 popper’s. Rumors of a 5.8 Mustang GT go back to the late 80’s, not just a handful of stripped down racers in the mid 90’s which was A Lot better than yet another rumor of the Mustang becoming a front wheel drive fuel sipper. NO Way!
CAFE standards, crash standards, the cost of a complete driveline change and beefier suspension….I really don’t know why Ford never offered a V8 Ranger, at least Dodge offered the 318 and later the 360 in its Dakota line of trucks. Later.
The easiest one was to replace the 4.3 in a small S-10 truck or Blazer with a 350. The V6s Ford used were not derived from a V8 so a swap was difficult. Dodge had the 3.9, 3/4 of a 5.3, so a few 5.9s made their way into Dakota trucks. Nowhere near as many as Chevys.
I agree with FordGuy above on the extended cab. Had two and both rattled the rear doors by 50k miles (all pavement). Seat foam collapsed about the same time so would an era Eddie Bauer Explorer seating bolt in? That would certainly be a nice OEM upgrade.
This is very nice, what a deal!!
Nice truck! Next up a Coyote install.
I had a 1987 standard cab short bed Ranger with an 87 Thunderbird Turbo Coupe (2.3L turbocharged 4 cylinder) engine swap that I did in my driveway….. looked super clean and was even California smog legal….. great truck til someone decided to steal it out from in front of my apartment…… they found the truck a couple months later, but there wasn’t much left of it……
My husband is the proud owner of this gem and I’ve never seen him so happy. Whiplash is fun,lol 😊
I’ll see if I can get him to post the 0-60 video and the rubber left on the road already!