I had a friend who was a fat lazy stupid redneck (no offense to the rednecks out there) who managed to do a CA smog legal 5.0 swap. look up Advance Adapters on google, they'll have a manual and the parts you'll need.
If you want to go fast without paying high insurance just get a crotch rocket. That way you'll be faster than anything on the street and insurance is low because you can really only kill yourself on one of those. You could also just have some cheap daily driver for when it rains and snows. Yeah, this isn't great advice, but I agree with cltgt, insurance fraud is not the way to go, there are many ways you could get royally screwed over with this option and I highly advise you to pursue a different avenue. Also I think you are going to run into some costly problems if you drop a 5.0 in a ranger. I don't know if the tranny could handle the power, I really doubt it, not for very long anyway. Secondly, there is no way you're going to be able to transfer that amount of power to the rear wheels in a vehicle as light as a ranger without modifying the whole rear end. Then you'll have to modify the exhaust, then get new wheels, cause you can't put a 5.0 on 14's. Maybe you could give us an idea of how much you can spend on this project? Then we can give some better advice.
I originally wanted a bike, but my parents wont allow it. THere is also the fact that in FL you can only have a real crappy one (very low on the cc's cant remember how much) if you are under 18. I can get my parents to help me enough to get near a $7000 car. I think though they would rather help with less. What I plan to do is to save up money over the summer for modifications. I can probably make about $4000 in the summer for modifying something.
Look into a mark VIII, priced on edmunds is a lincoln mark 8, a 96 goes for $6,223. Its going to have a cobra motor and be faster than anything else u can prolly afford in it prices range. It gets decent mileage as you can see, and i heard that insurance is cheap because alot of old people buy them. plus if u live in florida look around older people tend to get rid of their cars every few years and they are babied the whole time they are owned plus they are in mint shape!! The only downside i could see if that its an automatic.
Performance
Base Number of Cylinders: 8 Base Engine Size: 4.6 liters
Base Engine Type: V8 Horsepower: 280 hp
Max Horsepower: 5500 rpm Torque: 285 ft-lbs.
Max Torque: 4500 rpm Maximum Towing Capacity: 2000 lbs.
Drive Type: RWD Turning Circle: 37.2 ft.
Fuel Data
Fuel
Fuel Tank Capacity: 18 gal.
EPA Mileage Estimates: (City/Highway)
Automatic: : 18 mpg / 26 mpg
Range in Miles: (City/Highway)
Automatic: 324 mi. / 468 mi.
Well i went to the insurance company today and the premium for the markVIII and the Ranger was more expensive than the mustang, ($250+). So I guess that means I am going to get a stang. I am going to try to find an antique though because someone told me that antiques have the same premiums as family cars. Plus I like the styling of them better anyway. Thanks abunch for all the tips.
I think you'll have more fun working on an old one anyway. My first car was a beat up '74 Maverick with 2 doors and a 302. It was ugly as hell, but I learned a whole lot. Its eaiser to work on with out all that wiring for the computer, good luck.
want to go fast, have cheap insurance AND own a mustang? Get a SVO or do a 2.3 turbo engine from a Tbird into a 4 cycl mustang. www.turboford.org these guys are hitting high numbers with a little bit of money. Hell you could get an svo for like 5k. Or get a 2.3 mustang for like 2k, and a tbird engine from a junkyard for like 500 dollars. A bit of work and a bit of $ and you have a 5.0 crusher.