Newbie question. 2.3 turbo swap

I'm beginning the process of prepping a 2.3 Lima turbo motor to put in my 1990 Ranger. Question...Will the 90 ranger's alt./power steering pump/tension pully bracket bolt on to the Lima block, and can I use the aforementioned components for this build? I'm doing this build on a budget, and would prefer not to have to buy a TC bracket, alt, pump etc. Any advice and/or guidance to previous threads that address this are greatly appreciated. Thanks.

The '90 bracket will bolt to the turbo engine, but the 4 bolt pattern pad under the alternator was a 3 bolt pattern on the older engines, and not the 3 bolts you need. Fortunately you can drill and tap for the other bolt you need (I did, and it's been fine like that for 5 years now...). If it's in the cards, use as much of the stock Ranger engine as possible (IE head, intake, throttle, ignition system) with the turbo injectors and it will look more stock and save some of the headaches I dealt with... Use the DIS ignition since your wiring harness is already set up for it, the only modifications to the engine that need made are drilling/tapping 3 holes for the crank sensor bracket and notching the original front seal housing a little.

Ask away, that's pretty much what I did 5 years ago, I took the best parts I could find and used them on what I put together, hind sight is 20/20 and taking the head off intimidated me (it's not a big deal as I later found out) so I went with 4 plug ignition (still DIS) but lost my tach, and I no longer have my original engine so don't have the parts to redo it...

Thanks a bunch. I haven't pulled the Ranger motor yet so can't really see what's going on bracket-wise. My replacement turbo motor is on a stand in my garage getting cleaned and tweaked. (Winter project) It does not have a bracket, alt, pwr steering pump etc, and I noticed a significant difference between the two brackets and steering pump positioning after comparing it to my 88' Turbo Coupe...Started to worry. I really must swap blocks; the Ranger block has 375,000 miles on it, cracked head, worn valves etc.. (It still runs! LOL) Also want the forged pistons in the TC motor. I'm afraid I'll have to take the long road. Salem OR, huh? Beautiful country. I often work around Grants Pass, Cave Junction area. Can't wait to get back there. Thanks again. Any additional advice would be appreciated. BTW, Nice truck you have there!

Like he stated, if you use your head it will work. All you will need is a little re pinning of the ecu plug and a tc ecu, tc vane air meter, and injectors.

Mikel89us said:

Like he stated, if you use your head it will work. All you will need is a little re pinning of the ecu plug and a tc ecu, tc vane air meter, and injectors.

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What if I use the Lima head? I'm hoping to find it as Mike described. (Drill, tap, bolt in.) I can deal with that. My stock 8 plug head is truly shot, as is the block (375,000 miles) or I would use it for simplicities sake. I see plenty of threads about the Lima swap, but none seems to address the use of the stock Ranger alt. pump and bracket. I'll track down a TC bracket, but only if there is no other way. Salvage yards think their stuff is solid gold around here.

scotts90ranger said:

The '90 bracket will bolt to the turbo engine, but the 4 bolt pattern pad under the alternator was a 3 bolt pattern on the older engines, and not the 3 bolts you need. Fortunately you can drill and tap for the other bolt you need (I did, and it's been fine like that for 5 years now...). If it's in the cards, use as much of the stock Ranger engine as possible (IE head, intake, throttle, ignition system) with the turbo injectors and it will look more stock and save some of the headaches I dealt with... Use the DIS ignition since your wiring harness is already set up for it, the only modifications to the engine that need made are drilling/tapping 3 holes for the crank sensor bracket and notching the original front seal housing a little.

Ask away, that's pretty much what I did 5 years ago, I took the best parts I could find and used them on what I put together, hind sight is 20/20 and taking the head off intimidated me (it's not a big deal as I later found out) so I went with 4 plug ignition (still DIS) but lost my tach, and I no longer have my original engine so don't have the parts to redo it...

Click to expand...

Could you clarify what you said about the bolt pattern? Here is a pic of my Lima block. (3 holes as you stated) Do you mean none of the three holes line up with the Ranger bracket, or simply drill and tap an additional hole to make it work?

Sorry, been a busy week... I think I was in Vegas for work when you emailed me...

On that 3 bolt pattern, picture a 4th bolt in the area over the fuel pump hole, the Ranger bracket uses a bolt there and it will need to be drilled and tapped, that's what I did and it's been working for a long time and I haven't been using a support from the power steering bracket to the intake like I'm supposed to... Other than that it bolted right up. Here's some pics of my engine compartment:




You might be wondering about the air filter box... I used the stock lower part but the upper part from a 2.9L Ranger without a MAF sensor and got the intake tube from it too and trimmed it to fit in that way, there is a piece of PVC inside the hose to hose clamp spot, that works much better than my previous attempt, also made a bracket to hold the VAM to the battery tray (there's one random bolt hole tab on that corner of the tray, I used it).

I'm running all T bird engine parts with Ranger external parts, I've heard all the horror stories about the TFI ignition and have liked the distributorless ignition for it's simplicity so I kept it on my turbo engine which like I said earlier just needed the crank sensor mounted. For the DIS I had to extend the passenger side coil bracket to avoid the coolant line to the turbo or oil cooler (or both, I don't remember). To run with just 4 spark plugs all you gotta do is ground out the outer two wires on the connector for the drivers side coil pack but like I said the tach won't work (I need to figure that out...).

Your stock wiring harness should be able to be used, you'll just need to move a handful of wires (don't forget to pull out the wire telling the computer the fuel pump is turning on, that goes to the octane switch, that was the cause of a lot of pinging on mine before I figured that out!). If you can use your stock throttle, it'll keep you from having to adapt to the older connector for the T bird throttle.

Also, the roller cam in your Ranger engine is probably still in good shape, throw that in place of the flat tappet cam that's in the turbo engine, it's apparently an upgrade...

What year is your turbo engine? I think in '86 they switched to the one piece oil pan gasket like the Rangers, unfortunately mine is an '85 and it had the trough in the rear main cap. My first attempt at fixing this so I could use the Ranger oil pan involved JB weld in 20* weather which didn't work... when I rebuilt the engine 2 years ago I made a mold out of a brake clean can and made a slug of lead and formed that to shape, works MUCH better. On mine I had to use the Ranger oil pump as the T bird one hit the oil pan...

Just as a note, it's been 4 years and 51 weeks since I started my conversion, silly me thought I could do it in one 4 day weekend, got done on newyears day... if I was to do it again I probably could get it done in one long weekend...

Oregon is very nice, I'm just north of Salem now toward McMinnville and have 5 acres of my own and a 2 car garage instead of a 14x14 garage and 1 acre...

I think you may be a bit confused about the term lima block, all 2.3/2.5l motors from the 70's to the last year in 01 are all lima motors. They get that name from the assembly plant in lima Ohio where they were built. They are basically the exact same motor save the bolt patterns for the accessory items and the intake, and the oil pump was moved in 96.

That being said, the biggest problem you will have, is the upper mount for the alternator. The bolt pattern for it is different from the four plug to the eight plug heads. You can buy a new head from a guy on eBay for $150 I think. The bottom (power steering) bracket will fit, no problems, you just leave the one bolt out, because it does not have the hole drilled and tapped.

You're right mike, I thought the Lima name applied to the TC motors specifically. I'm taking the crash course on these things because I didn't discover how cool these motors were until I bought an 88' Turbo Coupe with a spare motor about 5 months ago. Now I'm suddenly ass deep in these suckers! Fuel economy, mods galore and V-8ish hp has a hold on me! Didn't know what I was missing. lol

Haha, true story! I have 98% of the parts to do a turbo swap in my mustang or ranger, I just haven't done it yet.

Scott, I have a pretty solid plan now, and your advice has really helped a bunch. I think my turbo motor is an 87' or 88'. ??? It does have the one piece gasket. I'll post a pic. I like the idea of using the roller cam from the Ranger, and added it to my to do list that keeps getting longer. LOL.

Yep, that's an '87 or '88, if you have the LA3 computer for it you have the best they put out there...

Well, I've made some progress. Have all the alt/steering pump and heater box issues worked out. (I built a steel plate to allow the alt. bracket to bolt up to the TC head. works really good!) Going to install the Ranger roller cam set-up next and then the "Fun stuff" (not really lol) Wiring, computer, sensors and such. I posted a question on forced induction today regarding the use of the stock computer/MAF for minimal amounts of boost. I'm moving to Oregon this summer and would rather finish the job there. Parts are WAY cheaper and more plentiful than they are here in TN.

Where in Oregon? If close to Salem I could probably help out...

If you use the stock Ranger fuel injectors and computer and keep your foot out of it (limit to say 5psi, so keep a boost gauge on it or get a boost limiter) you could run with the stock setup without doing the wiring changes, but the wiring isn't really a big deal if you figure it out, probably an afternoon project...

Thanks again Scott. Cave Junction, OR...Just a little south of Grant's Pass down Redwood Hwy. Just love that little town.