need inprovement 96 2.3l

[remington115]

hey im looking to get the most of my 4banger i want a turbo but i am high schooler and cant afford those kind of mods, any help? but i dont want to half ass it and do stuff that will hurt my engine. i want to do it the right way. I have an exhaust and a kn filter. I have a new rear end a 4.10 and have 31inch tires i herd this will help with highway speed. and have a 2.5l engine out of a 2000 ranger i don't really know what to do. but i know that every thing should bolt right up. what about the computer stuff will i have trouble with this or will all the electrical hook right up to the newer engine.idk help

 

[Wicked_Sludge]

i would have gone 4.56's with those 31's. a little more RPM at highway speed means more power and better economy.

you can haul that 2.5 to the nearest junkyard and see what they'll give you for it. your talking a 5 HP difference...not even worth the hassle involved in a swap.

HP costs money, theres no two ways about it. forget all youve heard about "cold air intakes" (your trucks already got one), and cat-back exhaust systems...none of these are going to help. you want to lay down some better numbers? you need to pony up for some decent mods: a P&P, larger TB, real header, racing cam, increase compression (unless your planning on doing a turbo on this motor down the road), a tuner, ect.

 

[4b316]

check out some of the other post in searching for 2.3 power.The swap to a 2.5 is well worth it in my opinion,easy swap,one big saturday should do it if you have things ready.use all your 2.3 stuff.If you can talk to Doug at Bama chips he can help but costly.Turbo is cheaper in the long run dollar for power.Should be able to sell that 2.5 crank and stuff to a racer and get most of your money toward a turbo setup.Have one on ebay now

 

[phatcap]

try using the search function. these things seem to be covered on a weekly basis...

 

[tylerh]

i just did a 2.5 swap in my ranger last month and i have noticed more power and torque. It is fairly straight forward just use the 2.5 block head and OIL PAN (if you read the other posts you will under stand why that was caps). Now use your 2.3 exhaust manifold and intake with your sensors wiring ect. Then reinstall its really that simple its just like changing a 2.3 with a 2.3. Mine fired first shot did have some idle and oil problems but worked them out. Now as for hp for your buck well the extra 5 isnt much but the extra 14 in torque is good and its already free. Its just your time to do it. If you have the spare time then go for it then do all the other mods like true cold air (down and behind your bumper) chip, exhaust, cam ect
if you have any more questions hardwareman has done this swap as well and we should be able to help
good luck

tyler

 

[Wicked_Sludge]

true cold air (down and behind your bumper)

the stock intake is already cold air. it draws ambient air from behind the headlight...you cant get colder than ambient.

 

[remington115]

well my 2.3l is getting old and tired has a ton of miles on it but it still seems to run strong and no engine check light; so should i swap the block head and oil pan or do you guys think i should do the hole engine. and i got the 4.10 rear end from the same ranger the 2001. what happed was my dad drove my truck and hit a tree but engine and rear end and just about everything but the front of the truck is good. we were going to fix it but found the frame rails were bent ;(... so he got me another ranger danger.and also do you think i should put in a cam when i already have the thing half apart. THANKS

 

[remington115]

o yeah if you need some interior and or doors, windows or thing like that just ask and ill see what i can do its from a 2001 ford ranger xlt white. but i get the engine and drive train

 

[Wicked_Sludge]

so should i swap the block head and oil pan or do you guys think i should do the hole engine.

that IS the whole engine. if the 2.5 has considerably less miles than the 2.3, then it might be worth it from a reliability standpoint if nothing else.

i would put a cam in the 2.5 while i was at it...heck a good cam in the 2.3 would make a bigger difference than just a 2.5 swap.

 

[PFC Laird]

you can always remove the intake muffler inside this piece of your intake

all it takes is a flat tip screwdriver and some patience, i noticed a difference after.

after this i noticed the intake for my airbox was behind me headlight. I went down to autozone and bought some universal intake duct (basically like a giant bendy straw) and i ran my intake in from the bottom of my bumper. i noticed a difference after this also. my catalytic converter is also gutted and i have a flowsound muffler.

there are some other mods i've heard of that's i'm not entirely sure that work, i'll list them.

zip ties (or fishing weights) to take the slack out of the throttle cable; you can check if there is slack in your throttle cable by pulling the intake off of the throttle body and having a friend (while the truck is off) push the gas to the floor, if the butterfly valve isn't opening all the way then you have slack. there is a picture out there of this, i've seen it but don't remember where.

blocking the EGR valve with a metal plate. (what sense does reintroducing exhaust gasses after the air/fuel mixture has already been determined??)

running higher octane gas and a synthetic motor oil (my truck loves the synthetic)

BONUS- it's entirely up to you but i happen to have the dual-coil packs setup, i went and bought some bosch platinum +4 spark plugs and my highway mpg shot up to 29 mpg (note i have over 191k miles)

 

[Wicked_Sludge]

do not disable the EGR (do a search if you need reasons why).

 

[PFC Laird]

ive heard of people making up a custom 205degF thermostat too

i know my engine can handle this because my temp gauge barely gets to N during normal operation

this guy explains how to make it (pictures included for those of you like me, YAY )

http://www.cadvision.com/blanchas/Ranger/Thermostat.html

 

[phatcap]

higher octane gas and synthetic oil won't do much of anything for performance or mpg. its a waste of money in the long run. also, i've heard nothing but bad things about using bosch plugs in a ranger. stick with motorcraft or autolite plugs.

 

[Wicked_Sludge]

ive heard of people making up a custom 205degF thermostat too

i know my engine can handle this because my temp gauge barely gets to N during normal operation

your stock gauge doesnt have numbers on it, so the little information it gives you isnt very useful. if you have a 205 degree t-stat in the truck, thats what temp your running, regardless of where your guage sits.

 

[PFC Laird]

higher octane gas and synthetic oil won't do much of anything for performance or mpg. its a waste of money in the long run. also, i've heard nothing but bad things about using bosch plugs in a ranger. stick with motorcraft or autolite plugs.

my truck has 190k miles on it and after i started with the synthetic i noticed it started running smoother, and as for the plugs i get 28-32 mpg highway now, which is still higher than my original specs, so im happy with it. although it might be just how my truck acts.