'88 Merkur XR4Ti whole donor

[jcastilow]

I have a '94 2.3 ranger. I have been reading a lot of turbo forums and build threads but am having trouble getting the "complete picture".

Near me in Columbus, OH is a 1988 Merkur XR4Ti, LINK HERE. I understand this has about ~135 hp and for some would be a less desirable swap than the turbocoupe swap. Hopefully, the price is negotiable and it has the added bonus of having the whole donor car.

Now, my question is this: with the whole donor car and wanting to make the swap as easy as possible (but still being quality). Can someone provide a brief rundown of what would need to be done? Then, I can explore those topics in depth on my own.

Could I simply take the engine, computer, and wiring harness out of the merkur and use those? I have zero problem deleting the AC out of the ranger - it doesn't work and hasn't in years. Also, I see the clutch may need changed because of an issue with splines?

I just see lots of info on re-pinning the EEC, LA3 this and that, manifolds, headers, etc. But with the whole car does any of this apply to me?

I appreciate any help. Thanks in advance,

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Free bump.

 

[scotts90ranger]

I don't have experience with XR4TI engines, but I think the bones are the same... if anything I think the power is from a different turbo or something.

For wiring and front end accessories I would keep the Ranger setup, it'll all bolt on and serpentine is nicer to deal with than V belts... The Ranger wiring will work fine except the ignition system, you either need to repin for a distributor or drill/tap the block for the crank sensor. From there it's swapping the pigtail from the MAF to the one for the VAM and a few other things (there's a pinout for a '91 in the tech section, same as yours and I believe diagrams for both big and small VAM turbo computers), study both to find what to repin, I think there's around 10 wires that move. If the Ranger harness has a fuel pump verification signal thing going to the ECM remove that wire, it is the same location as the octane switch and can cause a lot of pinging...

As far as clutch, use a stock Ranger clutch for now, might as well go new at first to save time. If you want to put a little more money into the clutch so it will last for a LONG time and hold very well get a Centerforce stock replacement friction disc and the pressure plate with weights, it's around $350 as opposed to around $120 for a stock replacement but well worth it, more so on my 4x4 going offroading than a 4x2 street truck but still...

The custom parts are exhaust, modifying the heater box to get away from the turbo outlet, and figuring out the air filter.

 

[jcastilow]

Thanks for the help, Scott. Good to know it's all about the same.

 

[scotts90ranger]

You can mix and match all sorts of stuff just off of the two engines you have, for instance the Ranger roller cam is a reasonable upgrade for the turbo engine, I've heard the twin plug heads flow a little better... intake manifolds don't swap between the heads though...