2.3L ('83-'97) 1997 2wd 2.3 want to install 85 or 87 Turbocoupe engine. Issues?

[Mikeh]

Have a 97 Ranger 2wd 2.3 5 speed. Nice body, stepside. Lotsa miles, engine lost/broke rods. Not fixable shop said. Also have an 85 and an 87 Turbocoupe motors. Have the whole wiring harness and computer for the 85, but not for the 87. However the 85 is known good runner. Drove the car and pulled everything out of the rusty body to use for swapping into something someday.

Have had 2 Rangers. A 3.0 that I thought was the most gutless vehicle I ever drove and then later this 97 which was even worse powerwise. Both very reliable, but total slugs. Also had a couple turbocoupes that I was impressed with how strong those ran in comparison and so save the motors and some other parts.

So far I have been told that either of the 85 or 87 turbo motors would physically bolt in to Ranger motor mounts and to my stock 97 manual transmission. Electronics is where I get lost.

Should I be attempting to swap the 97 ignition system over to the earlier motor and potentially be able to use the stock 97 wiring and computer or isn't that practical with a turbocoupe motor? I did save everything including computer, harness, fuel lines, pump, gauge cluster, etc from the 85 Turbo Coupe.

Or should I instead attempt to install the early harness, computer and ignition system right along with the turbo motor into the later body?

Thanks

 

[Blmpkn]

Who has the turbocoupe truck around here? @scotts90ranger possibly?

 

[scotts90ranger]

Yeah, I've done similar... but I'm not as familiar with the '95 and up wiring since the computer is different...

I haven't dug too deep into the wiring thing but apparently the engine and vehicle harnesses are independent, unless you get new injectors and the '97 computer reflashed/tuned that whole system is near useless as the coil packs are ran directly from the computer without a DIS module that the old computer could deal with, and the old computer has a different connector I believe

You should be able to use the stock fuel lines and pump on the '97 as it should still have a return line, mine does anyway... but the fuel rail likely has different spacing and probably has different fittings...

 

[Mikeh]

So, if you were doing this (85 TC motor in 97 Ranger) the general direction you would take is to try to use the 85 computer and its entire engine wiring harness?

Remove the 97 computer and its engine harness along with the coil setup in favor of the 85 ignition system, maybe use the cam and roller cam followers from the 97 motor on 85 head?

All the fuel lines are intact on the 85 motor, so I expect I could use those with the 97 fuel sending and return lines. All clutch components and flywheels are the same with possible clutch plate spline count and linkage differences depending on trans used?

Am going to haul the truck back here tomorrow. It is presently 200 miles away, so hard to envision the wiring issues that will present or how separable the chassis wiring harness and engine wiring harness actually are.

But factory hp rating on the 85 TC motor is 142 hp vs the slightly over 100 hp of the 97 motor, and it has been really slow for all the years I have owned it. Just a spare vehicle at this point though and 5.0 swap so far looks like a little taller obstacle to give it a little more power. And if gas prices stay high, the 4 cyl seems the better bet.

 

[scotts90ranger]

Lunch was running out earlier...

Yes, use the '85 harness unless you want to go to megasquirt or whatnot which I've heard might run better... but you have the '85 stuff so... yeah, might as well throw the roller cam in, you can switch to the round tooth timing belt stuff too which apparently lasts longer. Just remember to put thread sealant on the cam bolt, it can be a real oil leaker...

While I'm remembering I mentioned different injectors because the turbo engines used peak and hold injectors instead of the normal (I keep forgetting which is the current normal, high impedance or low impedance...) so with the normal brown top turbo injectors you have to use a turbo computer unless you go aftermarket computer...

For the clutch, the T5 the thunderchickens used uses a different spline than the M5OD so you need to use a Ranger friction disc at least, the pressure plate shouldn't matter but might as well either replace the clutch or use the one from the '97. The M5OD is rated for more torque than even a somewhat modified 2.3T will put out, I've put mine through some abuse and it seems fine, I put a bearing/synchro kit in it after driving it turbo'd for a few years and the gears looked fine

I kinda wish I'd gone 4.0L or 5.0L in my '90 for some bottom end torque offroad, onroad would be better but I like where I'm at...

 

[Mikeh]

Are the (bellhousing for example) bolts metric on both the 85 and 97 engines? Or do the earlier 2.3's use SAE bolts?

Thanks

 

[scotts90ranger]

that stayed the same (pretty sure they are both metric), but some of the accessory mounting positions are different, if you wanted to use the accessory brackets from the '97 you might have issues as some bolts moved around for those, I had to drill/tap a hole for my '89 power steering pump bracket in my '86 block if memory serves.

 

[Mikeh]

Could I use all the brackets for alternator, PS pump, alternator off the 87 or 88 TC engines? Those are serpentine like the newer ones. The 85 motor has dual v belts instead. Do I also have to use 87 or 88 water pump if I do this? Or 85-88 are all the same as far as water pump length and rotation direction. Really would prefer the serpentine belt I think, but will use the dual v belt if I have to..

Have read that the 96 front setup only differs from the immediately preceeding version with the reluctor behind the balancer moving the belt position forward and so needs all the 97 motor front drive parts if that is done. But that would leave the 96 alternator hookup intact, I think.. I have PS pump, alternator, water pumps, from the 85, the 87-88 and 96 so too many options probably. Truck came with no AC so that is not an issue.

 

[scotts90ranger]

You can mixmatch things as far as I know, all Lima's have the same rotation water pump (none driven on the back of the belt). I haven't looked much into the alignment of the '95 and newer stuff so I don't know if things are shifted forward or not but I know the alternator flopped sides then too... The turbo engines I had gotten were V belt but what I know now you can just get different pulleys for stuff without issue, worst case you have to find the right belt length for your setup...