Yet another turbo Lima

[TheLoneRanger88]

88 XLT Ranger. 2.3 5 speed, 103K miles.

Looking to turbo it so it can be my summer play vehicle.
Not on a time crunch for it as I have a bullnose truck that’s already at 250hp with the 300i6 and my fiancés ricered out scion tc, so I have transportation. I have my ASE 1-9 and am a current GM technician so feel free to talk dirty to me.
What I’m thinking - Ball hone, Forged pistons and rods. Head studs.
Plus the other mechanical turbo stuff.
What I’m not familiar with is what all I have to do to make it run well for daily use. If I want 10 psi do I need to run a standalone computer? Or can I get away with just the rangers? I want to know how far I have to go down this rabbit hole. I’ve read a lot of forums and know most of my options and just want to know if you guys can point me in a better direction than parts cannon.

 

[MT_PLS]

@scotts90ranger should chime in, he's pretty knowledgeable about boosted RBVs.

 

[scotts90ranger]

It all depends on expectations and what you can find parts wise... If you can find a SVO mustang or turbocoupe engine and wire harness/computer it'll get you miles ahead unless you want to just add money and probably get better parts and running...

For physical parts head studs and fancy head gaskets aren't necessary until you get near 20psi boost I think... I'm running 14psi and have for years and have no issues... forged pistons aren't easy to find last I looked (been a while) unless it's circle track stuff and then they don't recommend forced induction for them. The rods and crank can handle like 350hp from what I've heard so you're fine there too. while in there I would port the head on the intake side (well both while there...), that's the known restriction, don't bother gasket matching (I was going to try but the gaskets and ports don't match well and it would cause turbulence) just smooth things up

From what I've heard the Ranger computers can't handle more than about 5psi with upping injector size and stuff and still run ok. The stock turbo computers can handle more but then you have to find a vane airflow meter as well and move some wires around (and get some brown top low impedance injectors too). I think you'd be better off going aftermarket, but I don't have any experience in that as I'm running a stock '85 computer and parts...

 

[JoshT]

From a tunability stand point alone, I'd go with an aftermarket EFI system. As scott pointed out, you're going to be limited in what you can do on stock tune. Unfortunately the top supplier of tuning equipment for these older ECUs (Moates) is no longer in operation and their equipment can be hard to find second hand. IMO it costs more, but you are better off going to a third parts ECU like Megasquirt if you are going to need to do tuning, especially if trying to DIY tuning.

 

[TheLoneRanger88]

Alright thank you guys a lot, trying to not pour a lot of money into this engine as I have some rust to fix and rims to throw on but it’s already burning ool and it’s slower than molasses in Antarctica. Does anyone know how much punishment the M5OD can take? It’s got a healthy rear end and suspension so I’m not too worried about that. But I’m going to look into a megasquirt but if i do that would I be able to leave most of the factory gauges on it?

 

[scotts90ranger]

The only stock gauge that has anything to do with the engine stuff is tach, oil pressure switch is standalone so is the coolant temp...

I've been running my turbo 2.3L on an M5OD and it's handled it fine, I had a main shaft tapered bearing go out but that was probably a bad bearing...

 

[JoshT]

The only stock gauge that has anything to do with the engine stuff is tach, oil pressure switch is standalone so is the coolant temp...

You'd have to look at wiring diagrams, but I'm pretty certain that the tach doesn't need the ECU either. It might get its signal from there in stock form, but I'm pretty certain that it can be wired to another ignition source.

I tried looking in my '85 WDM, but I can't even sem to find the Tach in it.

 

[bobbywalter]

88 2wd. lima is definitely the easy button. maybe a blow thru carb setup.

Aerosol Billet Carburetors - Page 1

not cheap but different. since you are willing to build it you can do really good.


the stock efi, the old stuff isnt worth it for me unless i ran into a pristine setup for pennies. for a run about it might be fun sometimes. or just suk from limitations..

haltech has some real nice stuff in the diy price range now. low enough to threaten the ultra low price the aces and fuel tech can offer.


if you had a newer truck, the mazda engine is a gorilla, but not install friendly in the old school chassis as you will have to deal with a whole powertrain swap..

i like the 2.0/2.3 ecoboosts but the cheap window has come and gone for them.

 

[JoshT]

if you had a newer truck, the mazda engine is a gorilla, but not install friendly in the old school chassis as you will have to deal with a whole powertrain swap..

...or maybe not? I'll admit that while I like and want to keep the TIB in my 85, the AJE K-member conversion has been tempting me recently. The company offers mounts for bolting in the 4 & 6 cylinder ecoboost engines to their k-member. I may be wrong, but I think that 4 cylinder mount would cover both the 2.0/2.3 EB and the Mazda 4 cylinder engines.

If we're talking crazy swaps, why limit it to just the engine? I'm not there yet, but the idea has started to float around in the back of my head.

 

[Blmpkn]

A Tweecer RT will allow you to do whatever you want with the stock computer&harness with full tuneability.. turbo.. blower.. nitrous.. all three at once..

The unit itself costs 450$ and the tuning software is free. Tweecer offers remote tuning as well if you don't wanna mess with it yourself or can't find a local tuner who wants to mess with it for whatever reason.

 

[Blmpkn]

@scotts90ranger are factory turbo pistons drop-in for the N/A motors?

A quick Google found me some dished aftermarket forged pistons.. but they're not exactly cheap.. all 700+$

 

[JoshT]

@scotts90ranger are factory turbo pistons drop-in for the N/A motors?

Yes, assuming that stock bore works. Crank and rods are same between NA and turbo. Pistons are obviously different. Block is different in that it has oiling provision and for the turbo.

 

[scotts90ranger]

Yes, assuming that stock bore works. Crank and rods are same between NA and turbo. Pistons are obviously different. Block is different in that it has oiling provision and for the turbo.

The only difference in the block is the oil drain back port which is easy enough to get around, the stock oil supply line for the turbo engines leaves from the oil pressure port and is basically a stainless brake line.

 

[Blmpkn]

Yes, assuming that stock bore works. Crank and rods are same between NA and turbo. Pistons are obviously different. Block is different in that it has oiling provision and for the turbo.

Right on. That was my assumption but wanted to be sure.

 

[JoshT]

The only difference in the block is the oil drain back port which is easy enough to get around, the stock oil supply line for the turbo engines leaves from the oil pressure port and is basically a stainless brake line.

That's what I said isn't it?

Block is different in that it has oiling provisions for the turbo. Oil drain back port is part of the oiling provisions for the turbo. Nothing about that is intended to suggest that it can't be added or otherwise worked around