Project Two Face Freed Up Space With Borgeson Parts

Ladies and gentlemen, I know that this isn’t exactly the time to be in the shop putting an LS in Project Two Face. It’s springtime. We should be racing, right? Well, you know how things go. You’re waiting on parts, you’ve got work, life, etc. Now that manufacturing is starting to come back around and we’re getting some free time, we’re finally starting to make some headway on this project and something exciting is next on the docket.

One issue that I’ve worried about from the beginning was header clearance. Obviously, we’re stuffing a larger 5.3-liter V8 engine into a ’92 Ford Ranger. Although it resembles an S-10, it isn’t the same and is a little tighter under the hood. Rummaging through the LS Ranger pages on Facebook, it is a known issue that the factory steering shaft came with a bunch of extra covers and bushings that were going to be a problem come engine insertion time.

My dad and I had the engine in and out multiple times to check and measure because I cut out The factory engine mounts. We wanted to make sure when we were welding in our new engine mounts, the angle of the engine and drivetrain would be correct. The result was spot-on fitment. The engine comes in and out with ease and cylinder heads have room to spare; without headers that is.

What Do We Do Here?

Looking at different configurations, I had a couple of choices when it came to exhaust routes. I could twist and turn piping to get the exhaust on the outside of the frame rails and run out the back, or, use forward-facing turbo headers and shoot it out of the fenders. Since this is a street/strip build, I’m guessing you think we’re going out the back. Wrong.

I did my best to keep the headers where they needed to be, but with the factory steering shaft still installed, the header bolts would not line up. There was physically not enough room for this header to fit. Thankfully, that is about to change.

For the exhaust, I wanted something rowdy. I’ve got room in the engine bay to put a resonator on each header, so why not go crazy? But, here’s the problem. I purchased some polished turbo headers for the truck off eBay. and once they arrived, they fit marvelously on the passenger side. The driver’s side, not so much. Sure enough, the factory steering shaft was never going to this combination to work.

Because I’ve used Borgeson Universal Co. in plenty of project vehicles, I knew that they could help me out with my issue. Sure, I could’ve gone to a…