2.0L ('83-'88) 2.0 upgrades

[84dangerranger]

Hey Everyone! So i have a 84 ranger that we passed down from my grandfather, and i’m looking to give the motor a little life, i know the 2.0 is very low hp. Are there any better carbs or upgrades that can be done to give it a little more power, i know id be lucky to get 100hp out of it lol, just looking to spruce it up a bit! Thanks!!

 

[scotts90ranger]

heck you're lucky to get 100hp out of that generation 2.3L

I imagine there's some things to do, but best gains are probably going to be somewhat invasive... like pulling the head and porting the intake runners (the intake ports are the restriction on the Lima's of most years...) and maybe finding a marine 2 barrel intake manifold... other than maybe camshaft I'm not sure what else there's out there shy of putting higher compression pistons in it or something...

 

[superj]

i bet you could put a weber 32/36 on it and get a little more from her. that's a really common upgrade carb for many many vehicles and gives an improvement in power and mileage

 

[tomw]

If you have the 1-bbl, then upgrading the intake would make a bit of difference. The exhaust manifold is not too bad from the factory, with a newer factory cast iron being an improvement, and a bolt-on. I don't remember the year, but it would be 4-5 years newer. It just looks better in addition to being better.
I think you could put an 89-94 cam and roller followers in and would gain a good chunk of power. You may find a full set in a boneyard, but be sure to grab both cam and followers.
The best upgrade would be to get either a 2.3 or a 2.5, but work with what you have first to see if it is adequate. I think you would notice the cam & follower improvement immediately.
tom

 

[Shran]

i bet you could put a weber 32/36 on it and get a little more from her. that's a really common upgrade carb for many many vehicles and gives an improvement in power and mileage

Everyone I know in the Toyota/Suzuki world hates Weber carbs. I always hear the same thing - temp goes up 10 degrees, retune. Go up a mountain, retune. Summer, retune. Moon cycles, retune. They never run right, I have never heard anyone say they really like them...and these are people who have dealt with them for decades.

One of my buddies was making Toyota->2bbl adapters and using 2150 Motorcraft carburetors on 20R/22R engines. He was really happy with overall performance. A small 2bbl might be OK on a Ford 2.0, but like Tom said, a 2.3 or 2.5 would be really ideal.

 

[superj]

the motorcraft is the go to carb on jeeps too. i used the 2100 and 2150 on my jeep 4.0s a little but instead of having a gas sucking two barrel, i just swapped to a four barrel so i got the better gas mileage on the front smaller barrels and when i needed to move, i could open the back ones up and smoke the tires. i used a four barrel from an old 60s mustang on my stroker and it was the best of all the carbs i tried.

i have run and worked on all of them and not had problems with any. even the quadrajet carbs from chevy are actually really good carbs, especially for off roading.

i liked running weber on smaller displacement engines because they are easy to work on and adaptable. i ran one on my 79 bmw and it improved gas mileage over the mechanical fuel injection and i got more power.

if those guys are having temp problems, they jetted it to small. are they tuning with a vacuum gage or by ear? most carb guys work by ear and thats why they have problems.

 

[84dangerranger]

If you have the 1-bbl, then upgrading the intake would make a bit of difference. The exhaust manifold is not too bad from the factory, with a newer factory cast iron being an improvement, and a bolt-on. I don't remember the year, but it would be 4-5 years newer. It just looks better in addition to being better.
I think you could put an 89-94 cam and roller followers in and would gain a good chunk of power. You may find a full set in a boneyard, but be sure to grab both cam and followers.
The best upgrade would be to get either a 2.3 or a 2.5, but work with what you have first to see if it is adequate. I think you would notice the cam & follower improvement immediately.
tom

Thanks man!! I would really love to throw a 2.3 turbo diesel but from what ive seen they are pretty hard to find, if not that then a carbed 4 cyl and throw a small turbo on!

 

[84dangerranger]

Everyone I know in the Toyota/Suzuki world hates Weber carbs. I always hear the same thing - temp goes up 10 degrees, retune. Go up a mountain, retune. Summer, retune. Moon cycles, retune. They never run right, I have never heard anyone say they really like them...and these are people who have dealt with them for decades.

One of my buddies was making Toyota->2bbl adapters and using 2150 Motorcraft carburetors on 20R/22R engines. He was really happy with overall performance. A small 2bbl might be OK on a Ford 2.0, but like Tom said, a 2.3 or 2.5 would be really ideal.

I think thats my goal is to get a 2.3 and se if i cant find a small turbo to throw on it!