Project Street Sweeper

Swamp_Nut14 · Aug 7, 2016

Hey guys. I got this ranger for free to work as a project and hopefully be my daily driver by next year.
This is a 1990 2.3l 5spd ranger. The plan is to build a daily driver that can get up and go.

Swamp_Nut14 · Aug 7, 2016

This is the truck

Swamp_Nut14 · Aug 7, 2016

The heart of this beast will be a 2.3l turbo engine out of a 1984 mustang svo.

I plan on porting and polishing the intake, tubular header, 70lb injectors, a camshaft (not sure which one, or what parts would go along with it), a turbo upgrade and a front mount intercooler, single 3 inch exhaust

The engine did not come with a wiring harness or ecu so any help in this department would be helpful.

Any suggestions

Enemy · Aug 8, 2016

Swamp_Nut14 said:
The heart of this beast will be a 2.3l turbo engine out of a 1984 mustang svo.

I plan on porting and polishing the intake, tubular header, 70lb injectors, a camshaft (not sure which one, or what parts would go along with it), a turbo upgrade and a front mount intercooler, single 3 inch exhaust

The engine did not come with a wiring harness or ecu so any help in this department would be helpful.

Any suggestions

Nothing better than a free project truck! :icon_thumby:

Quite the herd of turbo Rangers rolling out of garages these days lol

For harness and ECU, if the funds are available, I would go with a Stinger Pimpx and the harness they have built through Ron Davis wiring. Possibly just a couple pin mods depending on what ignition you decide to run.
http://stinger-performance.com/
If the 2.3 in the truck now is the Ranger Roller cam (not sure what year they started using that cam..), you already have a pretty good cam right there for a swap with an adjustable pulley to retard the timing a few degrees to pick up some top end. I really enjoyed the bottom end it produced in my old motor, good daily driver cam.

Be sure to check out their forum and Q&A section at Stingers site, a wealth of info there.

Swamp_Nut14 · Aug 8, 2016

Enemy said:
Nothing better than a free project truck!
Quite the herd of turbo Rangers rolling out of garages these days lol

For harness and ECU, if the funds are available, I would go with a Stinger Pimpx and the harness they have built through Ron Davis wiring. Possibly just a couple pin mods depending on what ignition you decide to run.
http://stinger-performance.com/
If the 2.3 in the truck now is the Ranger Roller cam (not sure what year they started using that cam..), you already have a pretty good cam right there for a swap with an adjustable pulley to retard the timing a few degrees to pick up some top end. I really enjoyed the bottom end it produced in my old motor, good daily driver cam.

Be sure to check out their forum and Q&A section at Stingers site, a wealth of info there.

Yeah I am thinking about saving the money for the pimpx ecu and wiring harness. What ignition would you suggest? MSD?

I think the 2.3l in the ranger has a roller cam so I would be able to swap all the cam and the rocker arms.

Swamp_Nut14 · Aug 8, 2016

I am torn between keeping the truck at the height it is know or going to a djm 3/4 kit.

OkayKafka · Aug 9, 2016

I believe they started using the roller cam in 89. I think that you can grab a roller cam, lifters, and rockers from an 89-93 ranger (someone correct me if I'm wrong. I know that not too late after that you need to open the rockers up ever so slightly 95 or 96) and you can have a nice upgrade to that svo if it doesn't already have a roller cam.

OkayKafka · Aug 9, 2016

Looks like you can pull one from an 89-95 ranger and have no issue.
I have a camshaft setup from a 96. I don't mind opening up the rockers the small amount . Just haven't figured out exactly how I want to do it. Will probably just use a file.

http://www.route66hotrodhigh.com/2300Cams.html

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Swamp_Nut14 · Aug 9, 2016

OkayKafka said:
Looks like you can pull one from an 89-95 ranger and have no issue.
I have a camshaft setup from a 96. I don't mind opening up the rockers the small amount . Just haven't figured out exactly how I want to do it. Will probably just use a file.

http://www.route66hotrodhigh.com/2300Cams.html

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thank you so much for the info. Will be pulling the one out from the 2.3l engine currently in the ranger and the lifters and rockers

Swamp_Nut14 · Aug 9, 2016

Will the stock ranger 5spd hold up? Or should I change to a transmission out of a mustang?

OkayKafka · Aug 9, 2016

Swamp_Nut14 said:
Will the stock ranger 5spd hold up? Or should I change to a transmission out of a mustang?

As far as I've read it should be fine. We aren't talking about a huge upgrade in horsepower here. Mostly what you're getting is more efficiency since you're moving to a roller system.

I'm planning on doing a similar setup as yours it seems. I'd like to get a Borg Warner T5 transmission (mustang, turbocoupe swap) since I want to turbocharge the motor and add a good amount of ponies to the truck. Getting the T5 makes it safer/ easier to get parts. I've been having trouble finding parts for my TK5 that's in there. It's apparently a pretty meh transmission and no one really cares for it.

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RangerFabWorks · Aug 9, 2016

Swamp_Nut14 said:
Will the stock ranger 5spd hold up? Or should I change to a transmission out of a mustang?

The m5r1 is a light duty transmission. If you don't drop the clutch every shift it'll hold up. But if you plan to really drive the truck. A t5 would be a wise upgrade

Swamp_Nut14 · Aug 9, 2016

OkayKafka said:
As far as I've read it should be fine. We aren't talking about a huge upgrade in horsepower here. Mostly what you're getting is more efficiency since you're moving to a roller system.

I'm planning on doing a similar setup as yours it seems. I'd like to get a Borg Warner T5 transmission (mustang, turbocoupe swap) since I want to turbocharge the motor and add a good amount of ponies to the truck. Getting the T5 makes it safer/ easier to get parts. I've been having trouble finding parts for my TK5 that's in there. It's apparently a pretty meh transmission and no one really cares for it.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I was thinking about getting a t5 as well. But isn't the mustang a cable clutch and the ranger a hydraulic?

As far as the engine I was also planning on these things on top of the cam shaft:
-center mount header
-T04E t3/t4 turbo
-boost controller
-Walbro 255 lph fuel pump
- 60lb injectors
-Ported and polished intake
-3" single exhaust
-3" front mount intercooler
- Stinger Pimpx ecu
-stinger Pimpx wiring harness

too much?

OkayKafka · Aug 9, 2016

Swamp_Nut14 said:
I was thinking about getting a t5 as well. But isn't the mustang a cable clutch and the ranger a hydraulic?

As far as the engine I was also planning on these things on top of the cam shaft:
-center mount header
-T04E t3/t4 turbo
-boost controller
-Walbro 255 lph fuel pump
- 60lb injectors
-Ported and polished intake
-3" single exhaust
-3" front mount intercooler
- Stinger Pimpx ecu
-stinger Pimpx wiring harness

too much?

I honestly don't know enough to be able to say if that's going to over stress the transmission. I'll let someone else chime in on that one.
Sounds like a cool setup though. Similar to what I'd like to do. I'm just pretty far away from being ready. Apparently, these things cost money.

Think you're right. I read somewhere that the Thunderbirds t5 is hydraulic. At least from the sounds of it that's how it is. Not sure if it's dependent on the year either.

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stmitch · Aug 10, 2016

The stock T5 will move your shifter back almost between the seats, so be ready for that if you go that route. I think you can use an S10 tailshaft and get it closer to the stock location but it's been awhile since I looked into a T5. Here's a thread about swapping tailshafts: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/t5-tailshaft-swap-for-dummies-with-pictures.280529/

T5 hydraulic clutch kits are available, so that part should be doable, it's just going to add to the cost of the swap.

It might be a good idea to pop over to TurboRangerForum to see how many of those guys are still running stock Ranger transmissions. They're the biggest and best resource I've seen for the 2.3T stuff.

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