We Put a $50,000 Engine in our $500 Ranger

all right let's

see holy we bought this Ford Ranger for

$500 and we're going to drive it 500 mil

in the deserts of Mexico in the Nora 500

to have any chance at finishing the race

and not dying we've had to upgrade our

Ranger a little bit so far we've

upgraded the brakes the wheels and tires

and the suspension costing us just over

$22,000 but the truck is still pretty

slow and doesn't push through loose sand

quite as fast as we' like come

on which means we need more power which

means we need a new engine which means

we bought this LSX crate engine for

$115,000 did I mention that this truck

is 28 years old just want to make sure

we don't forget that but 15 grand only

gets us this LSX crate engine we also

had to buy a ton of supporting

components to make it work we bought

cooling fueling electrical components a

fuel cell a new transmission and a bunch

of other ingredients to make sure we get

the most out of this new engine all

together including the engine we spent

$50,000 on Parts just right here that's

not the stuff back there yeah there's no

way we make money on this video there's

no way yeah so head on over to donam

media.com I think Chewy's ready to go

what about you guys yeah let's do it we

got a lot to do boys first things first

got to get the old engine out M I always

forget about this I don't know

how jimy

oh

hey Whack It O oh Jesus

Christ cross brace out the stock 4 L V6

that's currently in the ranger makes a

blistering 152 horsepower it's not going

to be quite enough so with the LSX that

we're throwing in this thing our goal is

to hit 500 horsepower at the rear wheels

oh 500 horsepower that's going to be

super super easy and you're put it did

something that's how old applying for

AARP as we speak radiator radiator

officially out don't don't don't don't

don't so to get the engine and

transmission out of this truck is going

to be a little bit tricky partly because

this truck is so much taller than it

used to be that it's going to be hard to

get our crane to pick up the engine and

transmission and clear the core support

so what I'm thinking is we cut the core

support out and that'll give us plenty

of room to just pull the engine

transmission right out the front super

easy plenty of room to put the new stuff

in and then we can bolt this back in and

weld it back up where we cut

[Music]

it

voila

woo now look at all this room we have

this thing's going to come out easy

peasy right

[Music]

guys all right all right students let's

talk about what it's going to take to

get 500 horsepower into our Baja Blaster

well it's going to take an engine swap

so that broken down into steps is only

five steps seems pretty easy doesn't it

step one remove the stock engine that's

what we're working on right now we can

also be dressing the LSX putting some of

the bits and Bobs that we have for it on

it that'll be easier to install outside

of the vehicle than they will be inside

of the vehicle step two is installing

the LSX which should be fairly easy we

just got to hoist it in there drop it on

the mount bolt it in place the big step

and the majority of the work come at

step three just got to Wrangle the five

elements the cooling system water the

drivetrain takes power down to the

ground the Earth the intake and exhaust

air the fueling system fire and all

those things combined

Captain

Planet or the hot chick from fth cents

six cents fth element or uh the Avatar

dude then on to step four fire it up

hopefully assuming step four goes well

we can move to step five which is taking

this thing to a Dyno getting it tuned

and seeing how many horsepower we can

get through those 37in

tires don't you

dare okay you going to pump it up

yeah yeah baby

[Music]

oh yeah no

problem there she is go she's free you

know what this was a valiant engine it

was it a lot of water it drank a lot of

water and it didn't die so great job

little four you did everything you

could thanks to Nissan for sponsoring

today's video a dang it the ice dragon's

now enraged and his Roar causes you to

freeze in Terror oh come on all right

Rogue your move I roll out of the

Shadows revealing my aggressive new

styling and Flash my headlights to get

the ice dragon's

attention you do what now wait I thought

you were playing as a rogue I am a 20124

Nissan Rogue can you do that can he do

that okay hold on hold on hold on I turn

the drive mode dial to sport mode and

launch all 201 hers per straight at the

ice dragon think again ice dragon cast

blizzard breath covering the ground and

slippery ice are you guys serious right

now I see the ice and I laugh knowing

that I have intelligent all-wheel drive

and not just sport mode but five total

drive modes you wouldn't dare I crank

the dial to snow mode and drive across

the ice with e hey Google find me the

fastest way out of here hey you can't do

that oh yeah I got Google built in

finding you the fastest route now wao

wao what about us I swing open my doors

revealing a black semi analin leather

interior and room for five people I jump

in the Nissan Rog we jump in the Nissan

Rogue not so fast the ice dragon slams

its hulking body in front of the exit

preparing for its final

strike hey Google play the the ice

dragon's favorite

song I'm a big scary ice dragon more

treasure you could ever imagine take

your adventures to the next level with

the 2024 Nissan Rogue to learn more

click the link

below all right Jerry

yeah I already did it that's so much

less satisfying I

[Music]

know well those guys are prettying up

the engine bay to get it ready for the

LSX we're going to get the LSX ready for

the engine bay so I'm about to mate the

transmission in the engine which means

installing this flex plate then slamming

our brand new transmission on the back

of this thing and then we'll put them in

the truck as a unit this is an automatic

transmission this is a 4l8 from gearstar

out of akan Ohio oh that's a HomeTown of

yours that is a HomeTown of mine it's

super beefed up so it's going to be able

to take plenty of abuse that we're going

to give to it via this LSX and hopefully

there will be over 500 horsepower

coursing through this transmission a

little more tilt little more tilt yep a

little more right there go in go in go

in holy crap yeah automatics automatics

are pretty easy there's no splines if

you can't tell how easy that was uh

editor could you please insert some of

our struggles with past

Transmissions okay

okayo oh God

Almighty so you might be wondering why

we went with an automatic transmission

over a manual transmission yeah I want

to know that well think about it okay A

lot of times these trucks are built to

do like long races you don't want to be

shifting that whole time and many these

things have so much power it's not like

you have a hard time kicking the tail

end out if you want to an automatic is

going to be pretty reliable we're not

going to burn any clutches out doing

anything stupid and it will be a little

bit more comfortable that said we are

going to have like a ratchet style

shifter so we can choose what gear it's

in yeah baby and we won't have to clutch

so it's going to be pretty choice they

built this for us custom they took into

account what rear end we have in the

truck so this thing is geared to work

with that flawlessly we'll have top

speed of they said 385 mes

hour yeah we're coming for you

Elon I would like some beef jerky please

well okay okay

[Music]

okay now that the boys have the engine

mounts bolted up to the truck I've got

the rest of the engine mounts right here

and these are about ready to go onto the

engine the only thing is there's a

handful of ways they could go on and I

don't got no instructions so we're going

to take some measurements and try to get

it right the first try but we might

not unfortunately we have the starter

blocking Us in the location that we want

so we got to move the motor mount a

little bit forward that's going to push

the engine further back which is going

to make contact with the firewall so we

have to start beating or cutting

firewall to make room to fit this engine

that's right but overall while it is

going to take more work it's going to be

better the engine further back puts it

more towards the center of the truck

which is going to balance the truck even

better Q cutting and

Sparks beat stick beat

stick hey stabilizers

stabilizing okay now drop it a little oh

hey now hold on hold hold hold hold

brake line is pinched between the block

and the frame there we go right

here okay all right so we're getting

real close okay so your your engine

mount is like touching I think we didn't

quite get it in but we found out where

we're having clearance issues so we're

going to pull it about halfway back out

just till we have room make some

clearance give it another shot but we

were closer than I thought on the first

[Applause]

try with the old beat

pump it up pump pump on it do the pump

right now okay lovely lovely love what

I'm seeing love what I'm

[Music]

seeing get go get it in get it in get it

in there she is there she

goes good job

boy thank you guys so much for watching

see us next time make sure I'm just

kidding we got got a lot to do big one

getting crossed off there oh yeah now

it's time for the real work step three

is most of the stuff so I think we're

going to start with intake and exhaust

because those are the things that are

least likely to fit with the engine and

the truck situation so we're going to

start with the headers and see what we

find probably going to go right

in how bad does it look dude it's

doesn't look possible no way it's going

through that no you'd have to feed it up

from the bottom looks pretty good though

yeah looks good don't

that's pretty close

yeah there's absolutely no chance of our

headers clearing in between the cab and

the frame we need to cut some clearances

we need to bang stuff

out oh wait hold on hold on we've been

trying to make the headers fit in the

traditional way which is to say down and

out the back but as you might remember

in our video where we tore down this LSX

the LSX actually has extra head studs no

other LS has that but the L LSX those

head studs are interfering with our

headers and it's not like we're going to

compromise or remove those head studs

they're there for a reason and we're

going to keep them oh I know how we do

it D other way around so they're facing

outwards out forward oh forward

oh now that's not a bad idea J I

actually for this right now does it

actually work is the pattern line up

yeah the patterns equal so you can do

thato that's great get out of here for

real I think it can be cool we just want

to make sure that we're not choking

ourselves out with exhaust fumes in the

cab of the truck uh you know we're going

to be in this thing for a long time uh

consecutively you know we don't want to

die but I think I think this could be

cool we tried so hard to do this well

yeah even the best laid plans boys

another bold decision that will

literally be the only thing people talk

about remember those guys put the

headers forward a bunch of freaking

idiots just give me moral support oh you

got this you're going to do great just

keep going just keep going don't give up

are you sure just go come on do it going

come on you got it you got it you got it

you got it you got it it's all done that

looks pretty good does it that looks

pretty good with our forward- facing

header situation we do gain a lot of

clearance in some critical areas but we

lose some up here uh we are interfering

with the alternator the alternator is a

very delicate piece of electrical

equipment and we would like to not melt

it with this exhaust we're going to try

to make some more clearance so that we

can have room to heat wrap the headers

and hopefully the alternator as well so

that both things not only can fit where

they go but work for the rest of

[Music]

time okay I thought sunglass was going

to be enough that was not the case

good job boys we're looking good from

the front this thing looks like a

monster like an animal of sorts it looks

like Dr

less' spider from Wild Wild West

remember that movie oh you're doing dude

you got the Deep

Cuts okay we've got a to-do list for

ourselves today we just got done with

the headers uh by choosing to run them

backwards so now we're on to another few

big items getting the intake into the

cabin so Justin and Nolan are going to

be working on that we need to make a

transmission brace so I'm going to be

working on that while Adam works on

mounting the fuel cell so we got a lot

more to add to this list but this is a

really good starting point I think we're

going to have a very progress filled

day we're trying to pull this interior

part and right under the seat there's an

entire ecosystem of mold I don't know

about you but I don't want to breath

that in

[Music]

I found some Pokémon you found Pokémon

cards why does every car of ours have

cards we got Pikachu oh of course we got

Pikachu yeah we're keeping this in the

truck nice

yeah I'm too weak to go outside so we've

removed the entire interior we are going

to be running the intake from the engine

bay into the cab so that we're sucking

in the freshest air possible keeping the

engine nice and happy not sucking in a

bunch of dust and dirt and it's also

going to sound really

[Music]

cool

nice it's wild dude that's excellent

this is so weird but I love

[Music]

it I shot that right at Zach yeah I was

getting nailed

fuel cage will be here we'll have a

spout over here to be able to

[Music]

refuel yeah does it look good or what

yeah it does sweet so we got a fuel cell

from radium over here and this system

like basically everything for the

fueling being the fuel rails pressure

regulator the surge tank the tank is

right around 6K ya so we kind of went

crazy on the catalog but we you know

want to make sure it's reliable right

and uh when we're out in the desert I'm

sure we'll be we'll be thankful that we

have it this is a 22 gon tank 22 gon

tank and what's cool about fuel cells is

they're supposed to be able to retain

all their fuel if you're tipped upside

down they're heavily Dent resistant so

that fuel doesn't go everywhere and

we've got a fuel surge tank inside of

this guy so that helps with fuel

starvation nothing says race car like a

big fuel s yeah and radio makes some

nice stuff a really unconventional way

of doing that nice next up I'll be

mocking up our engine oil cooler and our

transmission cooler this is going to

help us cool all our fluids down and

hold more capacity now our Factory

Ranger did not have this that's also

because this was just a cruiser we're

going to be blasting through the Baja

desert we're going to be at 5,000 RPM

6,000 RPM so with a larger cooler

capacity it'll just be more reliable

another positive thing about putting it

back here is it frees up room in the

front and throws weight to the back so

that when we do send this thing off a

jump it'll be as level as

possible steering box out and we get the

new one in oh

[Music]

baby here we go rep Place steering box

in quick and easy job are you done with

the Trans brace Joby

no next thing I have to do is start

working on the radiator and this thing

is huge look at this

sucker it weighs a good uh 25 30 lbs

probably we have some clearance issues

obviously with our front support here so

uh a lot of cuts but eventually we'll

get it in there and really this is super

important we're going to be out in the

desert it's going to be hot as crap yeah

one of the most important parts our

cooling system if we want to make it 500

miles we can't be overheating right

overheating is akin to death

[Music]

yeah all right it's a brand new day but

we need to figure out who's going to do

the wiring we got to do the Avatar the

ECU the controller of it all and that's

honestly my least favorite work yeah I

don't I'm not a fan you got anybody you

know anybody dude I heard of a guy you

did yeah who is

[Music]

it oh my God hey I heard you guys needed

some wiring help just who we needed yes

dude we've got the one and only Aaron

Parker here to help us out with the

wiring that is his specialty and I

couldn't think of a better person for

the job what what's uh what am I doing

uh wiring that

everything yeah you just got to like

make it all work and stuff and looks

like uh got my work cut out for me so my

plan today is basically to attack what I

like to call the foundation of this

truck which is your battery charging

system and the starter uh installing our

switch system and asking the guys how

they want the truck to function when

they hit a button does the fuel pump

come on or does the ECU control it it's

all up to them whatever they want I can

get it done first things first check out

the truck Adam did a great job H me on

the right path and he got all this Sweet

Link gear comes with a plugin ECU and a

wiring loom that actually is plug and

play and requires very minimal in order

for us to fit this unorthodox engine

into uh our truck so it's pretty cool

because again I don't have to mess with

any of the inputs or outputs it plugs

directly in and the only thing I'm going

to need to do is extend a couple sensors

because again our engine is not in the

normal orientation that this application

demands links plug-in Loom 1,200 bucks

ECU 1,700 bucks seems like a lot but for

a standalone ECU and plug and play

harness that's like a no-brainer thanks

[Music]

link so in order for Aaron to get all

the new wiring in all the old wiring has

to come out

[Music]

noan noan huh hey did you just go

through right there I did it actually

went through the bell housing as well no

it didn't dude I could see it I could

see it nicked it I did hit the bell

housing went straight through the floor

and hit the Bell house or yeah son of

a I was trying to drill out the spot

well went through the floor so it's fine

nothing nothing job can't weld up

that's my bad you know Don't Know My Own

Strength

man no one has cut a beautiful hole in

the firewall which gives us access to

our throttle body we can see our engine

we want to seal the firewall up to that

tube so that no air is like flying

through here what we were hoping was

that the engine would sit far enough

forward that the only thing that would

intersect the firewall is actually the

intake tube itself but it sits so far

back that where it intersects the

firewall is around this kind of complex

surface of the throttle body so what

we're going to do is effectively build

the firewall out a little bit further so

it lands around here so it will just

intersect the tube going to take a

little bit of fabrication to make that

firewall but it shouldn't be too hard

off to the band saw I got to cut this

out we'll bend it into shape weld it up

okay we need to cover up some Gap and

make it fit so it's uh a lot of you know

put it on okay now that's hitting we'll

go trim that and then so on so forth but

it's coming

along oh yeah let's weld that sucker in

no no no

[Music]

hello uh that's pretty sweet Joby nice

job yeah very cool that's going to be

loud in the cabin so it's a fart Evac

system yeah oh a fart Evac know you

could fart as much as

that's right just eat them up the

methane the gas the methane gas will

actually help yeah it's like nitrous but

but butan but nitrous Nolan we need more

juice funneling beans just refi beans

giving noan the beans give it the

beans hey it's me but I wanted to show

you a new shirt that we made

specifically for the Baja Blaster you

can see it's got the ranger on there

ripping through the desert and there's

even a little frog trying not to get run

over it's available in wash black and

natural and we even made a long sleeve

version for those chilly Desert Nights

get it all now at donut media.com and

give it the

beans I'm getting the fueling system

together here we're actually using an

LS7 sports car manifold as opposed to a

taller truck manifold so that's pretty

cool we got these really trick fuel

rails here from radium the Machining on

this is so awesome I love radium Parts

here and these dks injectors here

they're rated at a maximum of 1,000 cbic

cm per minute of fuel deliver

amazing and to put that in perspective

the stock injectors that were in the V6

on our truck only delivered 200 CC's so

huge difference this system is going to

ensure that our engine is getting all

the fuel it needs at all times looking

lovely fuel rails and injectors are on

they're in the intake manifold and the

intake manifold is about ready to punch

into the cab yeah that's pretty big yeah

[Music]

chewy come here bud come right here come

right here oh thank

you this is so safe we got this thing

pretty heavily tacked in pretty tight to

all the sheet metal of the truck so now

it's time to actually make the hole for

the intake confirm that it's in the

right place

[Music]

dude nice hole hey thanks man everybody

seems to love my

hole today I'm going to be working on

the battery in the foundation getting

the battery masterkill installed and

running the cable up to the starter in

the alternator I went ahead and placed

this one battery here we don't have the

second battery yet we could be running

this truck with just one battery but in

the middle of the desert two is better

if one battery dies there's a higher

chance of you making it out of there

brought all this stuff from the shop

basically Motorsports grade off-road

heavyduty wiring materials truck is only

going to be as proficient as a material

used and I think that's really important

last thing we want is for the truck to

break down somewhere out there and then

point their finger at me because the

wiring failed good to

go the smallest and easiest install but

I'll take a w when I can that's

right ah a

radiator look at that starting to look

like a truck again I know fact is we're

in small stuff the little bits and

pieces that take a bunch of time this is

where the fun

begins what we have here is basically

the foundation of the truck I laid it

all out in front and I'm going to be

testing it to make sure that everything

is installed correctly because unlike a

digital setup this one is fixed meaning

once it's installed that's it there's no

changing things with uh some programming

or whatever so uh this will save me some

time in the future when everything's

installed hopefully I connected

everything correctly if I hit this

switch and the LED comes on you'll hear

a nice little click from the master

ignition switch and we have

[Music]

power

yeah nice all right let's make it look

[Music]

pretty all right so I'm going to be busy