Ok so after selling my v2203 ranger and building a 4bt f150 I think its time for another ranger. We are having another baby so my v2203 2dr ranger wouldn't work so I bought this one today. It's a 2003 ford ranger with a 4.0 5 speed 4x4 and 4door. It has 4.10 gears now so regearing will be in the future. The motor is a vm motori 2.8l 4cyl. It is not the 2.8 from the liberty it is industrial and has timing gears not a belt. It has wet sleeves It is a turbo motor with a ve pump. Here are a few pics

 

Here is a short video of it running cold with out glow plugs before rebuild

 

That looks nice. congrats on the new baby and the new truck. Is it a DI or IDI motor? I would have been very wary of the VM jeep motor. mechanical timing sounds better.
have fun with it take lots of pics. What belt system are you going with, it already has the v-grooves. If I do another Kubota I am pretty sure to do a all serpentine set up like Kubotaman's

 

It is di with 18/1 compression. I've been talking to fte about the belt. I really want to go serpentine. But haven't made a decision yet. This will have to be the last kid or I can't have another ranger l0l 2 is the limit

 

That's a nice sounding engine, I'm jealous!

 

Nice truck man!! That's just what I have been looking for!

 

Nice truck and engine, I'm not familiar with a vm engine, what's it out of? Any idea how many HP it is? My serpentine belt works great but you must have a lathe! There are just too many spacers, bushing, step down bushings, and other custom built components to try and build a serpentine system without one.

 

The vm is from a zamboni sized sidewalk sweeper it's rated at 64 kw and 300nm @ 1500 with max rpm of 3000. So 90 ish hp and 225 tq before tweaking. I agree on having a lathe but I really don't have the space right now but I know fte has been itching to use his so I might have him help me.

 

I meant to ask, why not another Kubota? Been there done that or??

 

Well I really liked the kubota and it suited my needs very well when I was commuting 75 miles 1 way and I needed 4x4 but now I have moved to Monroe and my commute is only 17 miles 1 way so my needs have changed. I bought my wife a new vw jetta sportwagon tdi and I did all the deletes so its getting excellent milage and I have my new superduty for work / 4x4/ hauling but I hate to use it like a truck. I wont really take it in the woods , mud or put greasy stuff in the bed. I intend to use this for that as well as my run around truck. The kubota did the job but I got this motor pretty cheap and thought why not I will probly have another kubota in the future but for now I want to try this. Also I was kinda taxing the kubota in my opinion. During the winter I go over the mountains almost every weekend either to the ski lodge or to leavenworth that is a really hard pull and at 4200 lbs pushing 30+lbs for extende pulls I would be afraid I was hurting the motor in the long run. Redveloce makes the same pull in his wrangler and I'm sure the same is on his mind