2.3 turbo with blown head gasket, to buy or not to buy?

[ericlerouge]

i'm looking around to find a turbo engine for the ranger. there is a merkur for sale (pretty rare) with low mileage BUT the headgasket is blown. 70 thousands miles on it.

I don't have details about what happened...

is there a way i can check if the engine is still good?

it doesnt really bothers me to chase for a head (if it's cracked)

the bottom end is what's important to me. I'd rather pass on this one if i can't make sure BEFORE i buy that it didnt affect it.

i read alot, but i'm stomped on this one.

If the engine turns over with the starter, does it means the coolant didnt do any damage?

if the car has been ran after the headgasket damage for a long period, is the compression will absolutely goes to crap?

is checking the oil consistancy is a good enough pointer?

is there a test i can do? without tearing the engine apart?

thanks guys, i'm learning here!

 

[scotts90ranger]

since these things crank heads before blowing gaskets normally I would assume that's what went on, and in that case it just blows coolant out the exhaust and probably blows the coolant out the overflow which is fine for most things as it's probably running cooler... If you check the oil level and it's high and or milky, the bearings could be bad, but if you're changing the head anyway, might as well put bearings in it...

 

[ericlerouge]

So it might not be that bad.... thanks for the input. I'll go ahead then.

 

[scotts90ranger]

You'd want to use the ranger cam anyway, so if you just put the 8 plug head on you can use the stock intake and fuel rail just swap in the turbo injectors, will look a little more stock that way. You'll have to do a little toying with things to put the crank sensor in but the DIS system is a little more trouble free when working properly than a TFI system.

 

[ericlerouge]

thanks, i'll put this page in my favorites, that way i won't loose the information. winter is coming here, so i won't make the swap before springtime (if i get the donor, still unsure)

 

[turbo_steve]

The bottom ends are usually stout, but the heads do crack and warp. Usually from overheating. Don't spend too much on it, but it could be a good bottom end.

 

[ericlerouge]

finally bought a 1988 thunderbird t/c engine with 195000 kms on it...i'll start gathering parts and know how this winter...

 

[mikhelee]

Hey guys would it be possible to take the Turbo off of a powerstroke and turn it down to reasonable amount of boost that a 2.9 could handle?