I cant decide which engine to use

[cody93]

long story short, im thinking of buying another ranger to fix up and practically build from the gound up. now im having a hard time picking a motor, i only want inline motors, dont ask why.

Now, a 225 slant sounds good, pre 76 ones came with forged internals and they are very reliable. unfortunetly i cant find one for under 500$ used.. With gas prices soon to reach 5$ a gallon, im thinking of getting a 2.5 lima out of a 98 ranger and swaping the head on it with a 4 plug. Im not sure how durable the 2.5 is compared to older 2.3s with 4 plugs.

im also thinking of other inlines, the ford falcon 6s (144/170/200/250) sound like a good motor and 7 main bearings sounds nice, but suffer from crappy manifolds and cant breath.

now, dont be biased, but theres also the AMC 258 motors and jeep 4.0s, i wonder how good/reliable these are.

im not building a race car, just something i can count on incase extreme situations come up. besides the 2.5, which is the shortest I6?

 

[Psychopete]

you are all over the place on this thing.. lol building from ground up, money must not be an object? I would go with the combo that is going to work well for your end goal. That is the most important thing about any project, what is the goal? What are you trying to accomplish, what are you trying to fix that is better than what you have now?

 

[rockin86ranger]

Get the rare aluminum block slant six, it was only used for one year. or how about a model t 4banger or a john deere 2 popper then you can hand start it if the need arises.

 

[dangerranger83]

Cummins 4bt or ford inline 300.

 

[dangerranger83]

More info on the slant six..

http://www.allpar.com/slant6.html

 

[matt167]

Ford 170-250 is a good engine, but the integral manifolds do hinder performance. Classic inlines does have an alloy head for the mere sum of $1,500. I'v built 1 and they make a fun build, but I don't think I'd do another.. $$$ for any kind of performance. The 170 and 200 also use a unique bellhousing pattern
225 /6 is a great engine, have been known to break 350hp+ on a turbo, forged are very strong, but finding that pre '76 is kinda hard.
300 is a great engine also, but it's long, and you would ither have to 'adjust' the firewall or the core support, and by 'adjust' I mean, ither 1 needs to be reconstructed. IIRC there+ 9" to a 302 V8 in length

258/4.0 is probably the swap I would do in a Ranger with the engine compartment so short.. 4.0L's are as common as scrap Cherokee's and all you need after that is a '72+ AMC TF 904 or TF 727 auto, or you could find the manual trans bellhousing from a 258/T4 Eagle and use the bell to mate a Ford T5 to the engine. Jeep AX-15 ( manual ) or an early AW4 ( auto ). There also short enough, it's probably only a few inches over a 302 V8. I never stuck a tape measure on 1

 

[Twister]

You seem to fairly open to mix n matching, have you thought about a chevy straight 6 motor (ducks to avoid flying ranger part ). I don't know their power output, but the 250 and 292 were fairly reliable.

 

[rockin86ranger]

Lol not gonna get any crap from me, i have no issues with brand swapping (When swapping brands you can get the best of all worlds) with one exception, a SBC in anything that wasn't with one is a big no no and makes you pathetic.

But the 250s are good motors but they are harder to find now, because they've all been melted down after someone swapped a SBC in there place.

One i really considered was a flathead i6 plenty of them, unique, but parts are iffy to find in a pinch.

Have you looked at inline mercedes diesels, they are plentiful cheap, parts are available, and you have a turbo diesel. Plus if you go with mechanical injection pump they are EMP proof. Haven't heard anything bad about them but haven't dug into them much.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

john deere 2 popper then you can hand start it if the need arises.

Extra cool points if you can pull that off... crankcase is part of the trans.

For did use the 9N four cylinder in some early Ford pickups though...

 

[adsm08]

Stay away from late build Jeep 4.0 blocks. About 2002 and up.

I heard a story from a guy I work with who used to work for Chrysler. Said he went to class one day and there was a stripped down 4.0 on a stand in the class room. Instructor said "OK, I'm gonna show you guys why these things have so many problems with knock."

Then he stuck a drop light down cylinder 2 and you could see the light in cylinder 1.



Personally, 302 straight-8 with fluid drive trans. Sure it runs off a side-draft carb, and it's a tree-shift trans, so you gotta swap the column, but can you say BA?

 

[cody93]

no, i dont have $$$ coming out my A$$, so it will have to be a slow slow build. As much as i like 300s, there just to danm long to be practical. The end goal is to have something super simple to work on and maintain that will last a long time, something i dont need small hands to replace parts on or can be fixed on the road with basic tools. something that will be used as a DD when completed and not bad on gas. personally i wish i could afford a V8, but it would rape my wallet and i dont make much by doing sidejobs... speed is not an issue, im shooting around 200ish HP/Trq max for an I6 and 150 if i decide to go with a Lima i4. i dont wana deal with turbo systems or anything else, if i decide to use EFI, i will wire my own harness, but id rather use dual 1-2 barrel carbs..

 

[racsan]

stay away from the jeep 258-I-6 i had one and it was a complete dog, my '88 ranger with the 2.3 could run circles around it. it was the last year 2.3 with 1 plug per cylinder, the old pinto motor basically, with e.f.i. , realistaily a g.m. 4.3 is a pretty darn good motor, will fit lengthwise easy, can be gotton with a marine intake for carb usage if you dont want e.f.i., and can be had with either a marine points distributor or a couple of diferent h.e.i. setups, i hate to admit it, but my wife's '97 blazer (which is 5,00 pounds, a full 1,000 pounds heavier than my ranger) will get better fuel milage than my ranger, uses less oil between changes than my ranger, and is more horsepower than the ranger. and the blazer is nearing 200,000 miles, the ranger is at 145,000. it can be had with either a auto or manual trans, and there are plenty out there in yards.

 

[matt167]

AMC 258 is no slouch if you tune them up.. like most I6's of the 70's, they stuck tiny 1bbl carbs on them, and had tiny cams.. even stock, the 6cyl has more torque than the 2.3, it's just not as 'fast' because theres 2 more cylinders spinning, and it has a longer stroke than it's bore, opposite of the lima 2.3

 

[badmts]

If you are determined to follow this path may I suggest the OHC 6 from PONTIAC (1967 LeMans) if you aren't stuck with the ranger just build a JEEP COMMANCHE it can be hot rodded or lots of Jeep 4x4 stuff and you can get a real cool 4.6 inline STROKER ! NOT many people like brand X body and brand Y engine -yeah the different drummer thing is cool until it isn't! good luck

 

[bobbywalter]

258....dew it..


the beamer engines are nice to....supra engines make sense too.

a lil benz diesel is ideal as well with smart shopping.











but....disrespecting the sbc is pitiful. dont get me wrong i dont prefer it over a 351 by any measure...but it is what it is man...