Not a mechanic/fabricator/welder...don't pretend to be one in real life either.
However, based on a current thread for building a car, I've thought about somehow dropping a V8 in my '98 Ranger. Keep everything on the outside looking as stock as possible and smoking the doors off the unsuspecting. Just a pipe dream...
Anyone build a sleeper?
I've never done it - but your post reminds me of a vehicle I happened upon several years ago.. A mid-90s Ford Ranger.. I don't know what he had in that thing - and it appeared to be just a normal small pickup.. But when the light changed he took off like a ROCKET.. I swear he was at 100 mph before he went two blocks... I wish I could have seen what he did with that truck, but it was pretty cool to watch..
I had a bone stock 1992 Ranger STX that was very quick for a stock truck of the era. It had an early 4.0 V6.(the first 2 years of the 4.0 had slightly higher compression and made peak torque at pretty low RPMs.) It was a 2WD, 5 speed manual with a short bed. It had highway gears (3.08), but would still roll out damn quick. 0-60 in the high 7 second range, which doesn't sound like much, but this was when the Ford Lighting and Chevy 454 SS were running 0-60 at around 7.4-7.5 seconds.
That Ranger would smolder the tires in 1st, get good rubber hitting 2nd at 35 and still get a chirp when I hit 3rd quickly enough at 60. Entering the highway with some aggression would bury the 85 MPH speedo in 3rd, but the truck didn't have much more than that, because it was limited to a max of about 109 MPH.
It easily ate every stock 4.3 S-10 and 4.0 Jeep it ever encountered and ran light to light to light one night with a Monte Carlo SS.
It was a fun truck and I'm glad to have survived owning it.
