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TRS 20th Anniversary Trail Ride - Southington Offroad Park - Ohio


Bird76Mojo

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He seems like a nice guy. When you meet him face to face, it's not as easy to be mean.
Well, I've never once tried to be mean with my 2.9 hatred towards @PetroleumJunkie412

It's not about him. It's about the defective engine design that cost me well over $10,000 in just a couple years trying to correct Ford's bad decisions.
 


deathbypsi

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is that all the pix? Jim did you get any vids?
 

fastpakr

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It's about the defective engine design that cost me well over $10,000 in just a couple years trying to correct Ford's bad decisions.
How?
 

fastpakr

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is that all the pix? Jim did you get any vids?
I think Jim took at least some video. Hopefully we'll see more posted over the next few days as people finish getting home and unpacking.

Hope you're feeling better.
 

Bird76Mojo

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Cracking half a dozen heads on 2 different blocks..
Warped blocks.. (cylinders were out of round and not parallel with one another, also had several obvious hot spots)
Uneven cam journal wear (cam bearing holes in block were all out of line with each other) that a machinist has never seen in another engine..
One block cracked around a head bolt.
A brand new Jasper rebuilt longblock that didn't last any longer than the previous engines.
One wrist pin walked on me due to a cracked piston pin bore.
More heads and torque to yield bolts replaced than I can count. Even ARP hardware was tried..
Several radiators and water pumps replaced trying to cure the head cracking problems..
A couple oil pumps replaced while we already had the engine out.
Tanker loads of coolant wasted.


The list goes on..


Ford built a shit engine that cracked tens of thousands of heads. This much is known. Bad head design. Bad enough that an aftermarket manufacturer stepped up to build a new head casting, which should have been Ford's doing...

Bad block design also. The 2.9 was packaged too tightly in my machinists opinion. It was cast too thin in many locations according to him.


This is all I can remember right now. I'm sure I've forgotten a lot of it over the many years since I owned a 2.9
 

PetroleumJunkie412

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@Bird76Mojo has a point.

Some of the blocks were sh*t from the factory. Many of them had to be decked 0.020" at the factory due to bad/warped castings.

Keep in mind though, there were at least five versions of the blocks, but I know there's at least a sixth if not a seventh. Still doing research. The BOA and BOB were the 24v cosworth blocks.

The 12v blocks were the ARC, BRC, and BRV. There's rumor that there were one or possibly two American-cast blocks as well. The ARC was a 2.4l euro motor. Not sure if it was ever here.

The BRC was supposed to be the "good" non-head breaking engines. Easiest way to tell nowadays is look for any 2.9 that has original 86tm heads at 150k+ miles. The BRV block was the German/UK high compression engine (9.5:1) that did make its way into the US and was used in one of the RBV assembly plants in 85 and 86. Still researching this one as well.


I'm going to wind up with a mountain of these things before the end of this...
 

racsan

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but yet the 4.0 was a “streached” 2.9, by almost a full liter. and that was a very good engine. Id sooner have the older ohv over the ohc version. sure its less horsepower, but it makes its power at a lower (useable) rpm. no timing chain issues, and the one bank of a ohc has the chain on the backside of the motor, requiring it to be pulled. Im sure the head design changed.
 

PetroleumJunkie412

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Give 'yer balls a tug. Fight me.
but yet the 4.0 was a “streached” 2.9, by almost a full liter. and that was a very good engine. Id sooner have the older ohv over the ohc version. sure its less horsepower, but it makes its power at a lower (useable) rpm. no timing chain issues, and the one bank of a ohc has the chain on the backside of the motor, requiring it to be pulled. Im sure the head design changed.
Oh man. There were SO MANY versions of the Cologne V4/V6...

 

85_Ranger4x4

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but yet the 4.0 was a “streached” 2.9, by almost a full liter. and that was a very good engine. Id sooner have the older ohv over the ohc version. sure its less horsepower, but it makes its power at a lower (useable) rpm. no timing chain issues, and the one bank of a ohc has the chain on the backside of the motor, requiring it to be pulled. Im sure the head design changed.
2.8 was very similar and was a pretty solid little engine aside from the emissions junk Ford hung on it in the 80's.

In my mind, here's the author of that page:




Us Swedes take no credit for German Ford engines!
 

racsan

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2WD / 4WD
2WD
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235/70/16
My credo
the grey-t escape
I drove (1) 2.8, it was in a bronco II dad had bought as a secondary vehicle (to save miles and gas usage from the big bronco he had at the time) the little bronco was well-wore and had little power, my 2.3 felt more powerfull. Ive not drove a 2.9, I have drove a 3.0 (diffrent engine altogether,I know) it seemed doggy in the ranger chassis, but to be fair they put 3.45’s in it and that engine needs more like 3.73/4.10’s to be not lugging. In a taurus chassis (92) the 3.0 was fine. dad didnt have the little bronco very long, he ended up going to S-blazers for awhile, now he has a jeep grand cherokee. I laugh cause he was so anti-chrysler back in the day. And of course, jeep is now chrysler owned.
 

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