1996 2 door flareside TRX KILLER!

[scotts90ranger]

The later dual plug heads and intakes I believe flow better than the previous versions so I think where you are at is a good place to be but I don't think it has clearance for that valve cover if memory serves. A simple 1/2" spacer between the halves should do the trick though...

 

[Blmpkn]

The later dual plug heads and intakes I believe flow better than the previous versions so I think where you are at is a good place to be but I don't think it has clearance for that valve cover if memory serves. A simple 1/2" spacer between the halves should do the trick though...

Any idea where a guy could get one of those? Mabey I'll buy a big slab of phenolic material and a little ebay milling table and make my own lol, probably be cheaper than having a one-off made at a machine shop

 

[scotts90ranger]

You'd have to make your own... with an intake manifold gasket tracing onto something wouldn't be too bad to make... On my '90 I basically have a 1/8" spacer that's the plate I mounted my DIS module to. I don't remember what I did but considering I did it over 10 years ago it was likely done with a hand drill and hole saws...

Whether you use aluminum or phenolic or something you could go the hole saw route or pilot hole with jig saw and finish with a die grinder and carbide burr, that's what I would do...

 

[Blmpkn]

Brought it home today!

Coolant hoses tightened up, rad filled and burped, made a quickie roll pan.. stylin.

Thermostat is definitely stuck open. It was 80° today and I definitely utilized the throttle as if it were an on/off switch.. no rad fan whatsoever.. and temp needle never made it more than 20% through its sweep lol.

 

[scotts90ranger]

That's just a feature of the 2.3L and why I block off 2/3 of the radiator in the winter to get heat...

 

[Blmpkn]

That's just a feature of the 2.3L and why I block off 2/3 of the radiator in the winter to get heat...

Is it possible for the guage to not function quite properly but the ECT read correctly?

Drove it to work this morning, by the time I got there the needle had moved MABEY 3/4" off of where it sits when its not running.. but my live data was saying the coolant temp was nearly 180°


Wouldn't 180 have the needle just a little below the middle?

 

[scotts90ranger]

I wouldn't overanalyze it, the coolant temp is read through the heater port that is the coolant bypass before the thermostat so it "should" read correctly, I think my heater core is plugged in all ways so I can't prove anything yet (and I don't want to spend 4 hours changing it). Even on 100F days mine never goes over 185 and it's not to the middle of the gauge by that point... My '90 reads low but I think is in a good spot since the heater output is good but my '97 reads low and is low... might be water pump, I know it's not the radiator since I changed that and it got worse (bigger radiator, only option) but I have no idea, changed the thermostat to a Motorcraft unit and it made no difference. All these people complaining about overheating and I can't even get heater output under 50F without blocking off 2/3 of the radiator...

 

[Blmpkn]

I wouldn't overanalyze it, the coolant temp is read through the heater port that is the coolant bypass before the thermostat so it "should" read correctly, I think my heater core is plugged in all ways so I can't prove anything yet (and I don't want to spend 4 hours changing it). Even on 100F days mine never goes over 185 and it's not to the middle of the gauge by that point... My '90 reads low but I think is in a good spot since the heater output is good but my '97 reads low and is low... might be water pump, I know it's not the radiator since I changed that and it got worse (bigger radiator, only option) but I have no idea, changed the thermostat to a Motorcraft unit and it made no difference. All these people complaining about overheating and I can't even get heater output under 50F without blocking off 2/3 of the radiator...

Right on.. I'll continue to let er eat then!

Below is where my needle is at 180.

Is there a decent 'stage 1' clutch kit for these? I know it's either Luk or exedy that makes the stock ones... but I think id like to go with a slightly more aggressive setup.. slightly. Stage 0.5 even lol.

 

[scotts90ranger]

What I like is get a Centerforce stock replacement friction disc and their pressure plate with weights, drive great and stick like glue... at work now but if you look for posts from me with Centerforce I have the part numbers out there somewhere... There's no kit like that, you have to buy the two parts separate.

 

[racsan]

My 2.3’s always ran on the cool side, in winter Id completely remove the fan, block off 1/2 the radiator, put foam pipe insulation on the heater hoses and it still took a 15 mile drive to fully warm up the regular cab. And my work commute is only 11 miles. I thought about removing every other blade on the water pump impeller.

 

[Blmpkn]

What I like is get a Centerforce stock replacement friction disc and their pressure plate with weights, drive great and stick like glue... at work now but if you look for posts from me with Centerforce I have the part numbers out there somewhere... There's no kit like that, you have to buy the two parts separate.

Found the post.. perfect! I'm super thankful it's a 2wd 4cyl.. should definitely cut down on the labor cost -__- it took the garage I'm bringing it to almost 8 hours to replace the clutch in my buddys old 3.0 4x4... I'm hoping mine takes no more than half the time.

My 2.3’s always ran on the cool side, in winter Id completely remove the fan, block off 1/2 the radiator, put foam pipe insulation on the heater hoses and it still took a 15 mile drive to fully warm up the regular cab. And my work commute is only 11 miles. I thought about removing every other blade on the water pump impeller.

The last winter I had my 2010 it had a non functioning blower motor.. I was surprised how (relatively) warm the cab would be at the end of my 12 mile commute to work in the morning when the temps were barely 20°... still not fun though lol.

 

[Rick W]

My 97 temp gauge seems to read correctly from when it’s cool to when I get it warmed up. When it warms up, the needle is just below the thermometer graphic in the middle of the temperature gauge. If I get it hot when I’m pulling something or a lot of hills, the needle will run over the Temperature symbol, but it rarely rises much higher than that.

One of the challenges I’m concerned about is that it didn’t run higher than that when overheated it twice when I had the trouble with the heater control valve.

I want to do some research on the electrical inputs, use something to artificially feed the circuit and see what the needle does. I already bought a new unit unit for the top of the engine?

 

[Blmpkn]

My 97 temp gauge seems to read correctly from when it’s cool to when I get it warmed up. When it warms up, the needle is just below the thermometer graphic in the middle of the temperature gauge. If I get it hot when I’m pulling something or a lot of hills, the needle will run over the Temperature symbol, but it rarely rises much higher than that.

One of the challenges I’m concerned about is that it didn’t run higher than that when overheated it twice when I had the trouble with the heater control valve.

I want to do some research on the electrical inputs, use something to artificially feed the circuit and see what the needle does. I already bought a new unit unit for the top of the engine?

I'm sure someone around here can clue you in as to how the sensor/guage relationship really works.. but I sure can't it's definitely concerning how your guage doesn't want to tell you that your motor is getting into hot-suppah territory though..

 

[scotts90ranger]

If there is no coolant where the sender is, it doesn't know the temperature and goes off of the metal temperature it is screwed into which depending on the location usually isn't where the heat is made so will read cool...

The gauge is pretty much reading the continuity to ground, when cold there's little continuity so doesn't have much to push the gauge up, as they heat up the resistance goes down and drives the gauge higher (however that side work). If it's a one wire sender it is using the threads as a ground reference, if two pin one is ground and the other the signal... if one wire you can check the function of the gauge by simply grounding the wire.

A 4x2 4 cylinder should be cake especially regular cab so it's one piece rear driveline, 6 bellhousing bolts, 4ish bolts for the transmission crossmember, 4 driveline bolts, one connector and one quick connect for the clutch hydraulics, I've done that in a day before... On a V6 the exhaust is always in the way of getting the trans out...

 

[scotts90ranger]

Oh, a note on the Centerforce I pointed to, I'd put 13 years of mostly offroading on my last one, not a whole lot of miles as it's parked a lot but I figured it had to have some wear so replaced it when I rebuilt the trans... The old friction disc was .007" thinner than the new one...