2.3 intake manifold and carb options?

[DrewNukesEm]

another carb that some of the guys run with that intake is a motorcraft 350(343)cfm.cheap,plentiful and the jets from the Holley will work.You can get a smaller one than that,I think around a 280 something.same bolt pattern

Awesome, thank you very much for your info, I really appreciate it man! Is the Motorcraft carb that you are talking about also known as the 2100? I have heard great things about those, especially for off road use, and simplicity.

Is the Holley 350 the most common “up-grade” carb for these 2.3’s?

Are there any modifications that need to (or should) be done to the 88-89 FI intakes besides plugging the injector ports?

Just 88-89? Or up to ’94?

Is this the one you are talking about?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/88-94-Ford-Ranger-2-3L-Lower-Intake-Manifold-/380380789319?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item5890763a47&vxp=mtr

Do you have any knowledge about the OMC marine intake manifold? I’ve read a little about those that they work awesome?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/OMC-2-3-intake-manifold-/260964876250?pt=Boat_Parts_Accessories_Gear&hash=item3cc2b7ffda&vxp=mtr

If he does POST some pic's! O n 4 got about S.U's.

It’s been a while, but when I hang out with him next, I’ll try to remember to get a pic. He got them off a ’93 CBR 900RR.

Yeah, SU’s are common with Datsun guys.

 

[upnsmoke]

I have an off the shelf 350 Holley- link. I have an Innovate wide band O2 setup that tells me what my fuel mixture is. I also have an Edelbrock L.E.D. display that stays in the truck and uses the same O2 bung as the Innovate. I have verified the accuracy of the Edelbrock unit with the Innovate, so I have a way to monitor fuel mixture all the time. Anyway, the only adjustments I have made to the Holley since I installed it were to the idle mixture and float height. I have found otherwise that the fuel mixture is close enough to where I want it under all conditions that I have driven it in. Even the accelerator pump was spot on. It pulls smoothly at every rpm and any throttle position with nary a bog or hiccup. Even when you snap the throttle open from idle or off throttle, it revs nicely. The only thing it does not do as well as a smaller carb, such as the solex I used to have, is idle as well at as low an rpm. When you let off the gas quick after giving it a lot of throttle it acts like it wants to stall sometimes, especially before it is fully warm. The UPS man should be bringing me an MSD ignition box tomorrow that I hope will improve this condition. That said, there is also a Weber setup available that sounds like it works well.

 

[4b316]

Thats a 93-94 intake,the adapter from walsh won't fit on that,you have to find one from 88-89.The boat one will work also,my buddy ran one of those on his race truck till he got caught and DQ.Sometimes the carb will work right off the shelf and sometimes you have to change things.A 350 isn't as bad as the 500,s in the power valve area.

 

[upnsmoke]

Agreed. The only 500 carb I know of is an Edelbrock, which uses a metering rod. I have heard good things about metering rods as opposed to power valves, and would have used an Edelbrock carb if they had something smaller than 500. I have played with my Holley since I installed it, but so far have found the motor to run best with the carb in mostly stock spec. My pop had a 650 Holley on a 302 that was a little rich out of the box. It definitely varies.

 

[DrewNukesEm]

I have an off the shelf 350 Holley- link. I have an Innovate wide band O2 setup that tells me what my fuel mixture is. I also have an Edelbrock L.E.D. display that stays in the truck and uses the same O2 bung as the Innovate. I have verified the accuracy of the Edelbrock unit with the Innovate, so I have a way to monitor fuel mixture all the time. Anyway, the only adjustments I have made to the Holley since I installed it were to the idle mixture and float height. I have found otherwise that the fuel mixture is close enough to where I want it under all conditions that I have driven it in. Even the accelerator pump was spot on. It pulls smoothly at every rpm and any throttle position with nary a bog or hiccup. Even when you snap the throttle open from idle or off throttle, it revs nicely. The only thing it does not do as well as a smaller carb, such as the solex I used to have, is idle as well at as low an rpm. When you let off the gas quick after giving it a lot of throttle it acts like it wants to stall sometimes, especially before it is fully warm. The UPS man should be bringing me an MSD ignition box tomorrow that I hope will improve this condition. That said, there is also a Weber setup available that sounds like it works well.

Awesome man, thank you this is exactly the type of information I am after. Have you been able to get that MSD ignition box in yet? Did that fix or help the idle? What type of gas mileage do you get with it? What intake are you running? What Weber are you talking about, a 32/36 or a 34? Can you share the link for the Weber setup you are talking about? Do you know of any other links for adapter plates for the 2.3?

Thats a 93-94 intake,the adapter from walsh won't fit on that,you have to find one from 88-89.The boat one will work also,my buddy ran one of those on his race truck till he got caught and DQ.Sometimes the carb will work right off the shelf and sometimes you have to change things.A 350 isn't as bad as the 500,s in the power valve area.

Okay, yeah that’s what I was thinking; it didn’t look like it would work. The 88-89 intake you are referring to looks like this right? (Minus the port work and price tag).

http://www.bo-port.com/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=18

There is a pretty good deal on one of the OMC boat intakes on Ebay right now. What carbs bolt on to those? Are there adapter plates made to use on them, or do they have the same bolt pattern as any other intakes that have plentiful adapter plates?

In your opinion, between the OMC and the FI what is a better intake?

I haven’t really thought about it much, but would my stock “E4” (I think?) intake be a decent choice for any carbs besides the stock one? If so I could save some money that way…

Is anyone running an Autolite or Motorcraft 2100? Are there any known adapter plates for the 2.3 to use them? Or is one needed?

Thank you everyone, I really appreciate you guys letting me pick your brains and giving me good info.

 

[flaminranger]

http://www.therangerstation.com/forums/showthread.php?t=100708
try this, I like the carb but its a little hard to tune

 

[upnsmoke]

Awesome man, thank you this is exactly the type of information I am after. Have you been able to get that MSD ignition box in yet? Did that fix or help the idle? What type of gas mileage do you get with it? What intake are you running? What Weber are you talking about, a 32/36 or a 34? Can you share the link for the Weber setup you are talking about? Do you know of any other links for adapter plates for the 2.3?

I plan to fire up with the MSD box tomorrow afternoon. I was working on my mother's Accord all day today. I am not expecting anything dramatic, but I do expect a noticeable difference, especially since I am starting out with a Duraspark II. I am running a 2.0 carb intake with a lot of metal removed. I get about 18 mpg with mixed highway/ stop and go driving. Actually I should say that I have gotten that. I enjoy driving the truck too much and typically run the piss out of it, which nets me under 15 mpg. Should I ever manage to consistently drive in a sane manner for a significant period of time I expect I would see over 20 mpg. The Weber setup I speak of is Flamin's, the one he linked to. It is probably what I would do if I had to start over.

 

[DrewNukesEm]

http://www.therangerstation.com/forums/showthread.php?t=100708
try this, I like the carb but its a little hard to tune

Awesome setup man! I like it. I have a few questions for ya-

What adapter plate is that you are using with the weber?

With your shorty header, did you use your old exhaust manifold bolts or get new ones?

I plan to fire up with the MSD box tomorrow afternoon. I was working on my mother's Accord all day today. I am not expecting anything dramatic, but I do expect a noticeable difference, especially since I am starting out with a Duraspark II. I am running a 2.0 carb intake with a lot of metal removed. I get about 18 mpg with mixed highway/ stop and go driving. Actually I should say that I have gotten that. I enjoy driving the truck too much and typically run the piss out of it, which nets me under 15 mpg. Should I ever manage to consistently drive in a sane manner for a significant period of time I expect I would see over 20 mpg. The Weber setup I speak of is Flamin's, the one he linked to. It is probably what I would do if I had to start over.

Cool, thanks man, I’m eager to hear how it turns out.

I like Flamin’s weber setup as well. I am going to look into that for sure, but still not sure what I will decide. I definitely want something more around that size though; I know lots of Toyota and Datsun guys run those. I am going to keep doing research and probably asking questions, haha. I have some time to decide though, still have lots of parts to install and wake this 2.3 back up!

 

[flaminranger]

the adapter is home made. I built it using the phenolic spacer that was under the stock aisin 2 barrel. if you read the post you will see I beveled it back using a bridgeport but it can be done with a air grinder. it was easy!
as for the header it is off a 93 mazda and I unbolted the factory manifold and bolted the header on with the stock bolts for the head. for the pipe I had to cut my bolts to get it off the manifold so I bought new bolts and bolted it back together. there was a egr(air injection) hole under each exhaust port. I threaded the holes and put in a short pipe plug in each one.
in all the header was swapped in about 4 hrs but I had my youngest son helping me so it took a little bit longer to do.
Duane

 

[upnsmoke]

the adapter is home made. I built it using the phenolic spacer that was under the stock aisin 2 barrel. if you read the post you will see I beveled it back using a bridgeport but it can be done with a air grinder. it was easy!
as for the header it is off a 93 mazda and I unbolted the factory manifold and bolted the header on with the stock bolts for the head. for the pipe I had to cut my bolts to get it off the manifold so I bought new bolts and bolted it back together. there was a egr(air injection) hole under each exhaust port. I threaded the holes and put in a short pipe plug in each one.
in all the header was swapped in about 4 hrs but I had my youngest son helping me so it took a little bit longer to do.
Duane

I'm not sure what that spacer is made of. In my experience phenolic actually cuts more similar to wood than plastic, though it dulls tools very quickly. The spacer that came with the truck was very easy to cut. I managed to crack mine, and made a replacement out of what I am sure is phenolic. I originally forgot those air injection holes on my motor. Surprisingly the header gasket never leaked around them. I did eventually plug them though.

 

[DrewNukesEm]

there was a egr(air injection) hole under each exhaust port. I threaded the holes and put in a short pipe plug in each one.

Good call man, thank you! I might have ended up overlooking them upon install of my header.

 

[Mark_88]

Hmmmm....what years had holes in them? Mine came from a 94 (I think) and it didn't have holes on the under side...unless that noise I hear isn't supposed to be that loud...lol

 

[DrewNukesEm]

Autolite/Motorcraft 2100 carburetor info

Alright, so I’ve been doing some research on different carburetors, and one that has sparked my interest that I think would be a great fit (and I’m sure has been done) for the 2.3 is a Autolite/Motorcraft 2100. They will bolt right up to the OMC intake, or there is an adapter available from summit for cheap (link at the bottom of post). They are widely available, affordable, easy to rebuild, and extremely reliable. I’m sure this information is somewhere on here, but I thought I would put all the good information I found altogether.

Formula to find ballpark carb CFM:
Max RPM/3456 X Displacement (in ci) = Ballpark CFM @ 100% volumetric efficiency

For a 2.3:
6000/3456 X 140 = 243.06

Breakdown of the 2100 CFM ratings:
Bore CFM
0.98 190
1.01 240
1.02 245
1.08 287
1.14 300
1.21 351
1.23 356
1.33 424

Some engines to get a 2100 from:
AMC 304, 360
Ford 302, 330, 350, 360, 351, 390, 400, 429.

Look for Ford/Mercury vehicles from the 60's and 70’s:
Bronco, Comet, Cougar, Maverick, Meteor, Montego, F-250, Econoline, Falcon, Fairlane, Mustang, Torino.

Carb adapter (larger 2 barrel to smaller 2 barrel):
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/TRD-2086/?rtype=10

 

[Mark_88]

Good info...I was just thinking about how nice it would be to have a carb sticky showing what carbs fit what intakes and all that...as well as adapter part numbers...and breather specs...it would be nice to have pics too...

We've had a run on carb questions lately and some very good information has come out that I wished I had six years ago when I was looking for a good carb/intake combo...I guess I was fortunate to find what I did because it has been a big difference compared to the stock setup...

 

[bigpanda]

I just paid $60 for that same damn adapter, except it's made by Holley. I was even on Summit's site trying to find a spacer and that didn't show up!!!! WTF