Dane Lauritzen likes building project cars and he likes taking his finished projects to the slopes or long stretches of open road where he can hear his machines at work.

Lauritzen, a senior at Powell High School, is working on transplanting the V8 engine from a 1998 Ford Explorer Eddie Bauer Edition into a 1993 Ford Ranger. Not only that but he is also taking the leather seats, dash and center console, as well as other interior parts. That’s not all — he also wants to put in a transmission from a 1980-1990 Ford Mustang because “it has the gear ratio I want.”

Lauritzen grins like a mad scientist when he explains that the two cars don’t need to be mashed together. 

“I have my Bronco out front. So I don’t need to do this whole project and this truck ran perfectly fine. It didn’t need to have all this done,” Lauritzen said. “It’s just something I wanted to do, because it seemed like something fun to do and the idea of a V8 in such a small truck.”

Lauritzen has recently been spending three to four hours daily on the truck which he said has turned into a frame up restoration. This means that he will be stripping the truck down to the frame, coating the frame and “replacing things that should have been replaced a long time ago.”

Lauritzen will also paint the Ford Ranger similarly to an Eddie Bauer Edition, he even rendered the end goal on Photoshop to display ahead of completion.

Dane isn’t afraid of the DIY work and is even prepared to fabricate his own motor mounts. In school Lauritzen is making a model of the Ranger’s transmission.

“I don’t know why but something about how the transmission works and how the rear differential works kind of made me want to make a model of it,” Lauritzen said. “So in school, I’ve been learning just about the  different geometry of gears and how they work. And then drawing up my own gears, learning how to make different types of gears and eventually working up to get to the point where I can make a whole model of how the Ranger runs and drives after the swap.”

Lauritzen first began working on cars when he bought his first Ford Ranger at age 15. He said after he turned 16 and got a driver’s license he had more motivation to interact with cars. 

“I pulled the engine on (his first Ranger) because it was having some issues,” Lauritzen said. 

Lauritzen drove that until he traded it for his Ford Bronco. He has ideas for work on the Bronco too, but not quite yet. 

While some of his projects are larger in scale he said he thinks it is important to know how to do basic repairs.

“I think the amount of time and effort it takes to unscrew two things, let your oil drain and screw them back in and put new oil in is much more worth it,” Lauritzen said. “And that little bit of mechanical know-how can come in handy later. I think that’s much more worth it than going to someone else and paying them whatever it costs to change your oil.”

Lauritzen has had about four project cars including his current Ranger. He said that the work hasn’t needed to be done but he enjoys doing it. 

Lauritzen said that he hopes to have the car drivable by the end of the year but “all the little things,” may take time. Some of the parts he needs can’t be bought; they have to be sourced directly from parts vehicles.