What did you do to your Ranger today? (Part Deux!)

[Lefty]

Funny. Some years ago, I put a little Ford 2.8 liter into my MGB. I also installed dual exhausts with glass packs. My mechanic used to laugh because that little British car sounded like an 8.

 

[JoshT]

Question. Is the two into one with a turn down just a temporary to get it on the road? I can’t imagine putting a V-8 into anything without the confirming melody that comes out of dual exhausts…

Yes, among other things. I wanted to roll my own from bits and pieces. The plan was to use the Explorer exhaust back through the rear cats (2.5" outlets), the tail pipes (also 2.5") from a cat back Ranger exhaust I pulled from the last parts truck, and put a Thrush dual in/out muffler between them.

After installing the explorer cat pipes into the Ranger frame I discovered that the rear cats didn't fit so well and were hitting the frame. Should have expected it since the explorer frame is wider there. That combined with the way pipes needed to be bent had me going to the professionals.

I wanted them to follow the same plan, but then I mentioned that I wanted them tucked high over the rear axle because of the lowering plan. Shop said hold up, get it lowered first then do the tail pipes to fit. They also didn't like the size of the muffler for the space available. I decided since it's temporary any way, why pay extra for a dual outlet muffler and two turn downs.

I'll go back after I have the suspension sorted and get it changed over to dual out (or two mufflers + crossover) and tail pipes exiting from each rear bed corner. In the mean time I might see if I can connect my stock tail pipe in place of the turn down, if it's big enough.

 

[JoshT]

Funny. Some years ago, I put a little Ford 2.8 liter into my MGB. I also installed dual exhausts with glass packs. My mechanic used to laugh because that little British car sounded like an 8.

You know what else is funny...

1) I had an 84 Ranger with the 2.8L, slightly warmed over, and it had 2.5" true dual exhaust. Generic muffler shop turbo mufflers instead of glass packs, but I liked the sound.

2) I've still got that engine 15 years after totaling the truck and looking for something to put it into. Beginning of last year I was seriously considering picking up an MGB for that. Now I'm leaning more towards building it into a Locost in a several years after I get some other projects wrapped. There are better options for that chassis, but I think the 2.8L fits the theme of those builds (low cost), as well as the era in which they were developed and popularized.

 

[Rick W]

Are you guys talking about a 2.8 v6? Did Ford make a 2.8 V8?

The Road Ranger has a stock 4.0. Muffler guy cut the driver side exhaust at the bottom before it crossed over, added a cat and ran it straight back. Cut it off the passenger side and capped it.

Minimal short glass packs right after that. Passenger straight back and bent 90 straight up behind the cab. Drivers side sloppily runs under the frame to abound the gas tank and then straight up after the cab. All that is the original 2.25? 2.5? Just above frame top, two 3” chrome stacks (3ft?) are welded on.

It sounds awesome! Not V8 awesome, but pretty close. If you think about it, it still doubled the exhaust area, and then expands in the 3”

Low priority now, but I’m thinking of duplicating it out the back of the Missing Linc 2.9.

I’m going to fix where it loops under the frame. Quickly done to get it to get to Truck Nationals.

 

[JoshT]

Are you guys talking about a 2.8 v6?

Yes. Same engine design as, and predecessor to, the 2.9 and 4.0 L. Was carbureted and came in the 83-85 Rangers. It was a carryover from the Mustang II, Pinto and several European Fords IIRC.

 

[Lefty]

Yes. Same engine design as, and predecessor to, the 2.9 and 4.0 L. Was carbureted and came in the 83-85 Rangers. It was a carryover from the Mustang II, Pinto and several European Fords IIRC.

I had mine rebuilt with headers and a Holly two barrel. I believe it had a new cam. It was hard wring even a little more HP out of it, except it ran like a top at higher RPMs. Most of all, I loved it because it weighed so little.

 

[JoshT]

I had mine rebuilt with headers and a Holly two barrel. I believe it had a new cam. It was hard wring even a little more HP out of it, except it ran like a top at higher RPMs. Most of all, I loved it because it weighed so little.

Dad did headers, ported heads, offy intake, Holley 390 carb back in the 80s. Fresh rebuild and cam cam added a little under 5k miles before totaling it.

 

[Lefty]

Dad did headers, ported heads, offy intake, Holley 390 carb back in the 80s. Fresh rebuild and cam cam added a little under 5k miles before totaling it.

I love old hot rod tech, all except the part about totaling it

 

[superj]

I had an offy and a 390 holley on my wrangler stroked inline 6. It got way better gas mileage than a stock 4.2 and better than when it was factory intake and a weber carb.


I did the offy, the holley, and ford cap, rotor, and wires with some changes to the springs and weights in the distributor and the wrangler would light up the tires all thr way across the intersection. And it was a tf999 automatic, not a stick. That stuff made such a difference

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

So @JoshT , first off, congrats on joining the club.

Exhaust is a bugger in these, especially with true duals. There’s a custom hot rod exhaust shop in town here. They’ve pitched a fit both times I’ve had them build one of these out. It’s kind of amazing how tight it gets with dual 2.5” pipes. I think it’s worth it, but it’s a fuss. I actually had to have the shop tweak things and add some extra hangers because hard cornering would cause the muffler to rub on the driveshaft or bang against the frame when they first put mine together. I didn’t have a spare under mine when I had the exhaust made which may not have been my smartest move because I’m not sure a tire will fit with the way they ran the exhaust. Of course, I’m also not sure I could get a spare under there without jacking up the back of the truck so it may be sort of a non issue.

On dad’s we used the Explorer pipes to the cats down by the transmission. Exhaust shop made everything after that, used a Magnaflow crossover muffler, stainless steel 2.5” dual in and out and they angled the exhaust out both back corners. I wanted the same on mine, but what I ended up with was the exhaust tucked under both back corners, kinda stealthy like. My donor was minus the cats so I just cleaned up the stubs off the manifolds and put them on the headers and when I went to the exhaust shop I handed them a pair of stainless aftermarket high flow cats and the Magnaflow crossover muffler, I believe it was the 18” one, but I’d have to check. I was debating on a 16” or 14”, but I’m glad I didn’t because it’s a bit loud for a true sleeper. She makes herself known for sure. I need to get some video footage put together and uploaded soon.

 

[Lefty]

The man who installed mine didn't even use hangars. He used a pair of welding rods at regular intervals instead and welded them to the pipes and to the frame. I was a little skeptical at first but it's proved to work out well with no rattles down under.

Actually I take that back. There is a proper hanger at the very end of the line, but otherwise he welded rods directly the the pipes. Maybe this
is close to what the manufacturer intended. BTW Rustoleum makes a very good paint for exhausts. This is 2 years old.

 

[superj]

He meant your exhaust to be permenant, ha ha ha.

My ranger took my oldest son and i to pull a part for sway bars this morning

 

[Uncle Gump]

The man who installed mine didn't even use hangars. He used a pair of welding rods at regular intervals instead and welded them to the pipes and to the frame. I was a little skeptical at first but it's proved to work out well with no rattles down under.

Actually I take that back. There is a proper hanger at the very end of the line, but otherwise he welded rods directly the the pipes. Maybe this
is close to what the manufacturer intended. BTW Rustoleum makes a very good paint for exhausts. This is 2 years old.

View attachment 107923View attachment 107923


View attachment 107922

You might want to look again.... those look to be the factory hangers welded to the new pipe and placed through the factory rubber insulators.

 

[sgtsandman]

The man who installed mine didn't even use hangars. He used a pair of welding rods at regular intervals instead and welded them to the pipes and to the frame. I was a little skeptical at first but it's proved to work out well with no rattles down under.

Actually I take that back. There is a proper hanger at the very end of the line, but otherwise he welded rods directly the the pipes. Maybe this
is close to what the manufacturer intended. BTW Rustoleum makes a very good paint for exhausts. This is 2 years old.

View attachment 107923View attachment 107923


View attachment 107922

Those look like the factory mounting locations. They make pre-bent hangers that are intended to be welded to the exhaust. Those appear to be them and the rubber isolators appear to be OEM equipment, new replacements but factory.

 

[JoshT]

What they said, basically looks like the rubber insulators that were on my 99's factory exhaust. On what they did for me they weelded a new mount to the crossmember at the front of the tank. Not what I wanted, didn't want any thing welded to the frame, but forgot to mention that when dropped it off. Still rubber insulated and should be easy enough to remove with the next round.

Today I basically wasted a day. Determined last night that my AC clutch wouldn't kick on due to the low pressure switch, it worked when switch bypassed. Narrowed it down to either a bad switch or no pressure in the system. Swapped the low pressure switch for the one on the old 4.0L AC system, still didn't work. Last night on the way home I rented an AC vacuum pump. Also decided that it it was that low on refridgerent then I would do things semi properly, so went ahead and picked up new receiver dryer, o-ring kit, and oriface tube.

This morning we confirmed no pressure in system to close the low pressure switch. Replaced the components I bought last night. Orifice tube was a bit concerning, but PAG oil drained out of the receiver was clean. Proceeded to vacuum down the sytem and discovered that the rented pump would only get it down to 16 in/hg and the system wouldn't retain vacuum. Started hunting the issues, eventually figured out a way to pressurize the system, and found that one of the high pressure manifold hoses was leaking. With that side disconnected and closeed it shot right back down to 14 in/hg and we've left it there for the night. If it holds we'll try again with the rented pump in the morning, and I'll buy a stronger pump from HF tomorrow if necessary.