Ford ranger diesel

[jackelope]

It's the transmission/transaxle that makes it FWD though, not the engine. The engines are mostly just transversely mounted. There are some Chrysler fwd cars where the engines ate mounted straight forward rather than sideways. 

[coachcw]

you will need a serious gear change inless you want to max out at 50mph. a sprinter set up would be cool  this doesn't sound like a good project if the budget is tight . nowa ls would be bad arsse !

[bearpaw]

I've known of a lot of guys who had tranny problems with the 5 speed tranny's in the 90's models. Are the newer 2000ish and newer 5 speed trannies any tougher than the 90's models?