2.9L V6 Engine enhancements

[franklin2]

If someone were inclined to look for the 12 valve heads, what vehicle might they find some used ones on? I have a 2.9L that I would love to experiment with.

You mean 24 valve heads? All 2.9's had at least 12 valves.

 

[PetroleumJunkie412]

If someone were inclined to look for the 12 valve heads, what vehicle might they find some used ones on? I have a 2.9L that I would love to experiment with.

The 2.9 ohv in ranger and rbv, merkur, capri, granada, etc is a 12 valve

The 24 valve is a DOHC/quad cam engine designed by Brian Hart and Cosworth, and perfected by Geoff Kershaw, was available in European markets only. A single used head is between 800-1200, will need rebuilt, and you're looking at 100-200 for shipping each. Plus 24 valves, four cams, etc. Etc. You'll also need the cam drives, and many, many other parts.

Your block will work if you drill it for the extra stabilizer bolts, though.

 

[Ranger101]

Thanks. I appreciate the replies.

Being new to this, what could I bolt on or replace on the 2.9 to boost the horsepower? Not trying to create a street rod, just move faster when I press the gas.

 

[franklin2]

Thanks. I appreciate the replies.

Being new to this, what could I bolt on or replace on the 2.9 to boost the horsepower? Not trying to create a street rod, just move faster when I press the gas.

Not much you can do, the stock computer is going to hinder you with anything you do.

 

[PetroleumJunkie412]

Not much you can do, the stock computer is going to hinder you with anything you do.

Please don't interpret this as agression or me being a d*ck, but you are dead wrong.

See the first post of my build thread, and look under modifications. Every single mod is discussed in a post in the thread, or another post on the forum in the FI or 2.9 section.

1988 Ranger Restoration - Keeping a Promise

Ok, so just a forewarning, this post is going to be heavily edited, re-written, and changed throughout its construction. This is being written as a post to document the restoration of a truck that was a terrible candidate for restoration, and to offer explanation to others that read my posts...

www.therangerstation.com

Kunz's Korner in the tech section is a good starting point. It's how I got my start.

Electric fan, porting your intakes, electronic power steering conversion, headers, etc. will let you pick up ponies without too much trouble.

3g alternator swap will be necessary to run the electric stuff. Always get the highest amp one you can fit, the bigger the alternator, the less stress on the engine when under load.

94/95 3.8 windstar was my alternator and harness donor. Best $50 you can spend on a first gen(30 for junkyard alternator, 20 for a chevy bracket and bolts).



Also, strongly recommend upgrading as many bushings as possible to polyurethane, and get a hold of B2 front and rear sway bars. Will let you control the truck with greater precision, which means easier to put power to the road.

 

[Ranger101]

Do Members call you Petro for short?

Thanks for the great advice and sharing the link to your 1st Ranger build. I have always respected a man that understands his limitations. After viewing your build, I can honestly say that I can never see my level of automotive mechanical expertise matching yours.

That being said, be prepared to be continually tapped on the shoulder for advice. My local truck pick and pay yard just sent me an email that a 85 B2 just landed. I’m hoping the sway bars are still on there tomorrow.

Is the harness from the donor Windstar difficult to install? Where could I find technical direction/guidance for that harness swap? Would it matter if I made the alternator upgrade before the other electrical upgrades?

In your thread, you mentioned that the JBA headers were ‘reversed’. What did you mean by that? Headers and a 2.5” exhaust are a short term upgrade I’m considering now.

Do you suggest putting a 4.0 radiator in along with the electric fan? I’ve read that upsizing the rad will help the trans.

Aftermarket cold air intake or modify the stock box to allow more air in and install a K&N filter?

I replaced the ABS unit under the master cylinder/near the steering column but the light on the dash is still on. New brake lines, wheel cylinders, fluid, pads, etc. Brakes work fine. The pesky light is still on.

I won’t monopolize your time but there is more to come. Thanks again for your input.

 

[gaz]

If someone were inclined to look for the 12 valve heads, what vehicle might they find some used ones on? I have a 2.9L that I would love to experiment with.

89 or newer heads are the newer casting. I have an extra rebuilt set if your interested.

 

[Ranger101]

89 or newer heads are the newer casting. I have an extra rebuilt set if your interested.

Thanks gaz for the info and the offer but I’m not at that point yet. I’ll keep your reply and consider you a source when I get there.

 

[gaz]

8788:

I'm a little confused why you need more power. Is this the engine that you rebuilt or are you looking into what to do so that your rebuild had more power.

If you are planning the rebuild, here is the Natural Aspiration formula I selected:

-2.8L flat dome Pistons, yields 1 point increase in comp. ratio
-balanced bottom end, yields a 10% improvement in hp/tq that does not go away
-flow benched port/polish the intakes/heads = solid 15% improvement in efficiency
-multi° valve job
-taper hone a 86-87 stock T/B, 3hp across the range
-headers, 20hp.
-2¼"-2½" mandrel bent exhaust
-hotter ignition
-free floating rocker arm spacers, better oiling, less weight up top
-remote oil cooler
-electric fan, big power loss to the crank shaft driven fan
-Explorer automatic dual core radiator
-ensure that you tire size has you engine in it's ideal power band
-Hypertech or JET CHiP

 

[franklin2]

Please don't interpret this as agression or me being a d*ck, but you are dead wrong.

See the first post of my build thread, and look under modifications. Every single mod is discussed in a post in the thread, or another post on the forum in the FI or 2.9 section.

1988 Ranger Restoration - Keeping a Promise

Ok, so just a forewarning, this post is going to be heavily edited, re-written, and changed throughout its construction. This is being written as a post to document the restoration of a truck that was a terrible candidate for restoration, and to offer explanation to others that read my posts...

www.therangerstation.com

Kunz's Korner in the tech section is a good starting point. It's how I got my start.

Electric fan, porting your intakes, electronic power steering conversion, headers, etc. will let you pick up ponies without too much trouble.

3g alternator swap will be necessary to run the electric stuff. Always get the highest amp one you can fit, the bigger the alternator, the less stress on the engine when under load.

94/95 3.8 windstar was my alternator and harness donor. Best $50 you can spend on a first gen(30 for junkyard alternator, 20 for a chevy bracket and bolts).



Also, strongly recommend upgrading as many bushings as possible to polyurethane, and get a hold of B2 front and rear sway bars. Will let you control the truck with greater precision, which means easier to put power to the road.

Do you think you picked more than 20hp from all those mods? Of course I know you don't really know, I am sure you picked up some horsepower but it's not going to be significant. Isn't that the reason you got rid of the stock computer system?

 

[PetroleumJunkie412]

Do Members call you Petro for short?

Thanks for the great advice and sharing the link to your 1st Ranger build. I have always respected a man that understands his limitations. After viewing your build, I can honestly say that I can never see my level of automotive mechanical expertise matching yours.

That being said, be prepared to be continually tapped on the shoulder for advice. My local truck pick and pay yard just sent me an email that a 85 B2 just landed. I’m hoping the sway bars are still on there tomorrow.

Is the harness from the donor Windstar difficult to install? Where could I find technical direction/guidance for that harness swap? Would it matter if I made the alternator upgrade before the other electrical upgrades?

In your thread, you mentioned that the JBA headers were ‘reversed’. What did you mean by that? Headers and a 2.5” exhaust are a short term upgrade I’m considering now.

Do you suggest putting a 4.0 radiator in along with the electric fan? I’ve read that upsizing the rad will help the trans.

Aftermarket cold air intake or modify the stock box to allow more air in and install a K&N filter?

I replaced the ABS unit under the master cylinder/near the steering column but the light on the dash is still on. New brake lines, wheel cylinders, fluid, pads, etc. Brakes work fine. The pesky light is still on.

I won’t monopolize your time but there is more to come. Thanks again for your input.

Line by line:

PJ412 or PJ420 depending on the time of day

I am not, nor do I have it within me to ever be a mechanic. That's far beyond my level. I've only gotten this far by listening to my father and the guys here and their combined centuries of wisdom. I'm humbled, but still just a hippie computer nerd that ****s with obscure and widely misunderstood engines

You'll get a lot less flack nowadays on working the 2.9 game. You have to fix a few things the factory ****ed up, mostly cooling system, castings, etc. There's a lot of room for serious modernizing as well. They are high maintenance, but every 80s motor is. If you have your original 86tm heads on, you have a good one. If you don't mind, can you get me the date and code off the back of the block? Flat spot, passenger side deck, right under distributor. Printed upside

Absolutely grab those ****ing sway bars! Duuuuude b2 has sooooo many good ranger parts. Go. Over. That. Thing. Especially if it's an Eddie Bauer in tan. Some of us drool over that 80s plastic haha

Windstar harness is a cinch. Just follow and carefully cut open the harness as far as you can go. Be patient, take your time, get all of it. You're only ****ing yourself later if you hack it. All of us here have learned thst lesson.

Reverse headers face forward, allows for downpipe to be brought across the core support for turbocharger flange.

Not sure about the radiator. I didn't go with a big Rad. I flushed the hell out of my block, ran the smallest Rad rock auto had, and a massive stack of electric fans and the biggest bore thermostat I could find. I went the high flowing route and used fans to increase efficiency instead of big Rad and meh efficiency. Big thermostat means more effective coolant exchange, plus fails open so cheap insurance. Mechanical fan is a parasite. E fans and properly chosen thermostats in your lower Rad hose makes a world of difference. Don't be dumb like I was and out the thermostat in the upper. Weird stuff happens.

Have manual trans so no idea. Automatics are the devil.

Stock box, but need to screw with mine more. No maf, so k and n is OK, tight weave oil free like an air hog, green, afe etc better. Factory pickup looks restrictive to me, need to see if there's an advantage of a fender cut or pickup tube modification. 2.9 MAF is a joke if you modify your engine. Even my blown out cam engine hated it die to crappy size. Don't run the pos in line filter like I have. Ask any of the guys at the trail ride.

Merkur intake is worth doing. Makes it snap on the throttle.

Don't have RABS. No idea.

Aftermarket heads are usually superior to factory. I have promaxx. Cheap and heavy. They're OK. Worlds if you can find em.

Post, ask questions, it's why we're here.

@rusty ol ranger and the mafia grows....

 

[PetroleumJunkie412]

Do you think you picked more than 20hp from all those mods? Of course I know you don't really know, I am sure you picked up some horsepower but it's not going to be significant. Isn't that the reason you got rid of the stock computer system?

Not sure. There's others here that have driven it and laughed their asses off over what it was capable of. Amazed me that the cam was dead. But yes, megasquirt was all the difference in the world.

Your only hope with a speed density eeciv is to maximize your volumetric efficiency, reduce parasites, and cheat the system where you can with resistors, etc. Gazs build is a damn fine example of just that.

 

[franklin2]

Not sure. There's others here that have driven it and laughed their asses off over what it was capable of. Amazed me that the cam was dead. But yes, megasquirt was all the difference in the world.

Your only hope with a speed density eeciv is to maximize your volumetric efficiency, reduce parasites, and cheat the system where you can with resistors, etc. Gazs build is a damn fine example of just that.

I have mentioned before the stock 2.9 I had in my ranger had good power. I can see why people would want to modify it, sort of like the old 5.0 engines, which ran pretty good stock, so lets see how much more we can get out of it. But like Ford cylinder heads,, the EECIV system seems perfectly fine for a stock engine, but is hard to modify it to get real power.

You left a link in one of your posts to your megasquirt stuff, but it was only your fueling and timing charts. I thought maybe you had a series of posts somewhere on the actual installation and wiring/mounting of the megasquirt unit. I want something I can actually hook a laptop to and troubleshoot. Something were I can go in and set the idle speed, not being locked in to what Ford programmed in.

 

[PetroleumJunkie412]

I have mentioned before the stock 2.9 I had in my ranger had good power. I can see why people would want to modify it, sort of like the old 5.0 engines, which ran pretty good stock, so lets see how much more we can get out of it. But like Ford cylinder heads,, the EECIV system seems perfectly fine for a stock engine, but is hard to modify it to get real power.

You left a link in one of your posts to your megasquirt stuff, but it was only your fueling and timing charts. I thought maybe you had a series of posts somewhere on the actual installation and wiring/mounting of the megasquirt unit. I want something I can actually hook a laptop to and troubleshoot. Something were I can go in and set the idle speed, not being locked in to what Ford programmed in.

Megasquirt to the letter. I have a DIYPNP v.1.5, so it was a matter of connecting jumpers to the header board, and plugging it into the factory 60 pin connector. So installation for me was literally a 10mm bolt. Annnnnnd.... not much else.

I got lucky and found an unfinished one on eBay. IIRC, they discontinued that exact one, but the MSExtra forums have tons of info on how to get around it.

There is a tuning shop out by Philly that sells jumper harnesses for the 60 pin connectors as well. Makes a MicroSquirt plug-and-play. The only difference between the Microsquirt and the DIYPNP v.1.5 is the case, header to connect to the harness, and a few in/out relays. Otherwise, a micosquirt readily fits in the floorwell, and can even be made to fit into a gutted factory EEC-IV case. Couple jumper wires and a soldering iron, and you got yourself a DIYPNP fo' the cost of a JY EEC.

The MS version of TunerStudio is free to download and mess with. Idle speed is Level 0 stuff for that suite.... Not even funny the levels of control that it gives you.

As far as diagnostics are concerned, it is unparalleled IMO. Others will disagree. That's ok. I handle Data Logs all day, so the MS format is natural to me. OBDII is not.

 

[franklin2]

Megasquirt to the letter. I have a DIYPNP v.1.5, so it was a matter of connecting jumpers to the header board, and plugging it into the factory 60 pin connector. So installation for me was literally a 10mm bolt. Annnnnnd.... not much else.

I got lucky and found an unfinished one on eBay. IIRC, they discontinued that exact one, but the MSExtra forums have tons of info on how to get around it.

There is a tuning shop out by Philly that sells jumper harnesses for the 60 pin connectors as well. Makes a MicroSquirt plug-and-play. The only difference between the Microsquirt and the DIYPNP v.1.5 is the case, header to connect to the harness, and a few in/out relays. Otherwise, a micosquirt readily fits in the floorwell, and can even be made to fit into a gutted factory EEC-IV case. Couple jumper wires and a soldering iron, and you got yourself a DIYPNP fo' the cost of a JY EEC.

The MS version of TunerStudio is free to download and mess with. Idle speed is Level 0 stuff for that suite.... Not even funny the levels of control that it gives you.

As far as diagnostics are concerned, it is unparalleled IMO. Others will disagree. That's ok. I handle Data Logs all day, so the MS format is natural to me. OBDII is not.

I looked into it a long time ago. I remember you had to run a vacuum line to their MAP sensor that was mounted on their board, and then you had to have all these auxilary boards for driving the ignition coil and the injectors. Sounds like it has advanced a lot over the years.