• Welcome Visitor! Please take a few seconds and Register for our forum. Even if you don't want to post, you can still 'Like' and react to posts.

2.9 Turbo Project


PetroleumJunkie412

Official TRS EV Taunter
Supporting Member
TRS 20th Anniversary
TRS Event Participant
Joined
Oct 31, 2018
Messages
7,826
Reaction score
6,565
Points
113
Location
Dirtman's Basement
Vehicle Year
1988
Make / Model
Ranger
Engine Size
2.9l Trinity
Transmission
Manual
2WD / 4WD
4WD
My credo
Give 'yer balls a tug. Fight me.
I run the merkur upper on mine - is better than ranger one. Linkage is hard to come by, though.

Theres three types of lower as well - standard, high strength, and merkur. Merkur has extra coolant ports.

Timing on dohc is 2.4 meter chain iirc. Good luck lol

3g alternator is worth it.

I forget why I didn't go with the mr2 pump... I think it was availability. Epas conversion on mine was somewhere around $150 all in.
 


kodogtwh

Member
Joined
Mar 1, 2021
Messages
94
Reaction score
61
Points
18
Location
North Carolina
Vehicle Year
1989
Make / Model
Ford Ranger
I run the merkur upper on mine - is better than ranger one. Linkage is hard to come by, though.

Theres three types of lower as well - standard, high strength, and merkur. Merkur has extra coolant ports.

Timing on dohc is 2.4 meter chain iirc. Good luck lol

3g alternator is worth it.

I forget why I didn't go with the mr2 pump... I think it was availability. Epas conversion on mine was somewhere around $150 all in.
I have two merkur uppers, one is on my Scorpio lol. And screw that linkage, I just made a bracket that accepts the bare cable after I trim the end off of it to expose it. Still need to figure out the ratio between the pedal and the throttle, but it should be easy to just adjust it on the manifold end. And what is this 3G alternator I keep reading about? Like what applications were they on? I was just gonna buy one for a mustang from jegs or something and wire up the exciter and the charge warning light to it, but apparently this 3G is a better fit.
 

PetroleumJunkie412

Official TRS EV Taunter
Supporting Member
TRS 20th Anniversary
TRS Event Participant
Joined
Oct 31, 2018
Messages
7,826
Reaction score
6,565
Points
113
Location
Dirtman's Basement
Vehicle Year
1988
Make / Model
Ranger
Engine Size
2.9l Trinity
Transmission
Manual
2WD / 4WD
4WD
My credo
Give 'yer balls a tug. Fight me.
I have two merkur uppers, one is on my Scorpio lol. And screw that linkage, I just made a bracket that accepts the bare cable after I trim the end off of it to expose it. Still need to figure out the ratio between the pedal and the throttle, but it should be easy to just adjust it on the manifold end. And what is this 3G alternator I keep reading about? Like what applications were they on? I was just gonna buy one for a mustang from jegs or something and wire up the exciter and the charge warning light to it, but apparently this 3G is a better fit.
Mine came off a Windstar van with a 3.8. I think.

Bigger alternator that adapts easily.
 

kodogtwh

Member
Joined
Mar 1, 2021
Messages
94
Reaction score
61
Points
18
Location
North Carolina
Vehicle Year
1989
Make / Model
Ford Ranger
Finally, something went wrong. Head gaskets blew. And it wasn't even from boost. Someone in the past couldn't keep half-decent coolant in it, corroded the compression rings and started consuming coolant and putting combustion gases into the cooling system.
PXL_20230601_041206951.jpg
PXL_20230601_041203082.jpg
PXL_20230601_191753772.jpg

In the process of doing it, I pulled the timing cover to replace the chain & guide set and pulled the cam & lifters to inspect everything, all seemed well. However since this engine has been apart before (fel-pro head gaskets coming off) I can't tell which way the cam retainer plate is installed. It clearly has a path for oil to flow, but the plate covers two galleys, so I don't know which galley gets the path, and which gets covered completely. I also read about installing it upside-down to remedy oil pressure issues. So which way is it? or, does it even really matter? Also, with it being a possible 'bleed point', with oil pressure and no gasket, same with the tensioner & oil pump, would some thin paper gasket material help at all with any bleeding? Or is it best that I don't bother, and just put it back together as it came apart... No issues before, I can't imagine any that could develop, at least in the near future.
 

BlackBII

Ranger Custom
Article Contributor
OTOTM Winner
TRS Banner 2010-2011
Truck of Month
Joined
Aug 14, 2007
Messages
7,896
Reaction score
982
Points
113
Location
UT
Vehicle Year
1989
Make / Model
Ford
Engine Type
4.0 V6
Transmission
Manual
2WD / 4WD
4WD
Total Lift
5
Tire Size
33
Might be able to use a universal trigger wheel?

 

kodogtwh

Member
Joined
Mar 1, 2021
Messages
94
Reaction score
61
Points
18
Location
North Carolina
Vehicle Year
1989
Make / Model
Ford Ranger
Might be able to use a universal trigger wheel?
If I had a lathe, yea. Pretty easily, actually. I'd have send-cut-send make one with a certain id & od and turn a face onto the back of the damper to locate it and then weld it on. Hell, I'd start making them and produce a kit to convert a 2.9 to eec-V, using a 4.0 cam sensor. Would make a 2.9 run super smooth.
 

kodogtwh

Member
Joined
Mar 1, 2021
Messages
94
Reaction score
61
Points
18
Location
North Carolina
Vehicle Year
1989
Make / Model
Ford Ranger
Just found this thread. Thought you might be interested in what I'm doing....
I'm assuming you're using EDIS6, hence the lack of need for a cam sensor. I actually used stinger performance's cam trigger. Pops onto the factory distributor and works well with my microsquirt. Reason I used it is because Im too lazy to fabricate an entire serpentine belt setup just to use the 4.0 damper. Good to know that they will drop in place of eachother, though. Means if I want to convert to a 4.0 in the future I can keep the electrical setup identical.
 

DPDISXR4Ti

Active Member
Joined
Aug 2, 2019
Messages
126
Reaction score
33
Points
28
Location
New York
Vehicle Year
1989
Make / Model
Ranger
Transmission
Manual
I'm assuming you're using EDIS6, hence the lack of need for a cam sensor. I actually used stinger performance's cam trigger. Pops onto the factory distributor and works well with my microsquirt. Reason I used it is because Im too lazy to fabricate an entire serpentine belt setup just to use the 4.0 damper. Good to know that they will drop in place of eachother, though. Means if I want to convert to a 4.0 in the future I can keep the electrical setup identical.
Correct, EDIS-6, so need or use for a cam sensor input. I actually contacted Shannon about building a 36-1 for the distributor rather than the 24-2 that you have. He indicated that it would need to be too heavy and he wasn't comfortable with slinging that much weight around. It might work fine, but he didn't want to risk finding out the point at which it might fail and be sent flying.

I'm staying v-belt, and yes, that made this more challenging. What solved it for me is when I found someone who abandoned this project... (I now own the important bits)
ChucksEDIS29-1.jpg
 

kodogtwh

Member
Joined
Mar 1, 2021
Messages
94
Reaction score
61
Points
18
Location
North Carolina
Vehicle Year
1989
Make / Model
Ford Ranger
Correct, EDIS-6, so need or use for a cam sensor input. I actually contacted Shannon about building a 36-1 for the distributor rather than the 24-2 that you have. He indicated that it would need to be too heavy and he wasn't comfortable with slinging that much weight around. It might work fine, but he didn't want to risk finding out the point at which it might fail and be sent flying.

I'm staying v-belt, and yes, that made this more challenging. What solved it for me is when I found someone who abandoned this project... (I now own the important bits)
View attachment 101901
Did someone machine teeth into a factory damper?

And a 36-1 wheel at camshaft speed wouldn't work for EDIS. It needs to be crank-mounted
 

DPDISXR4Ti

Active Member
Joined
Aug 2, 2019
Messages
126
Reaction score
33
Points
28
Location
New York
Vehicle Year
1989
Make / Model
Ranger
Transmission
Manual
Did someone machine teeth into a factory damper?
No, the back side was machined a small amount to interference-fit an off-the-shelf (low volume) 36-1 trigger ring. There's a few different vendors that fabricate them such as this one...

And a 36-1 wheel at camshaft speed wouldn't work for EDIS. It needs to be crank-mounted
Ah, right. I never got far enough along with that idea to even consider that it wouldn't have worked!
 

Sponsored Ad


Sponsored Ad

Staff online

Today's birthdays

Member & Vendor Upgrades

For a small yearly donation, you can support this forum and receive a 'Supporting Member' banner, or become a 'Supporting Vendor' and promote your products here. Click the banner to find out how.

Truck of The Month


Shran
April Truck of The Month

Recently Featured

Want to see your truck here? Share your photos and details in the forum.

Follow TRS On Instagram

TRS Events

25th Anniversary Sponsors

Check Out The TRS Store


Sponsored Ad


Sponsored Ad

Sponsored Ad


Amazon Deals

Top