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Ok, turbo coupe 88 ——>84 ranger 2.0


neinnein_nein

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soon-to-fire up 2.3 turbo lima
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3!!
After looking at a bunch of pics, I bet the Ranger bracket will solve your issue. With a little modification/fabrication I bet you can get a tensioner in there somewhere. (y)
Hell yeah I like to hear that—going at it as soon as the rain stops over here..🤘🏼
 


neinnein_nein

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I’m really not out of the woods and god knows if I’ll get this thing to ever start but I have to say coming from a carbureted 2.0 and seeing this thing I rebuilt in the engine bay, it’s really cool to understand what does what first of all, but also how much simpler the tc 2.3 is compared to the old engine. The 2.0 had a million vacuum hoses everywhere and it was hard to access pretty much everything except... the air cleaner?
 

BlackBII

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Yeah I'll take an EFI setup over this chaos any day.



Carb's are really simple... until they aren't. Emissions, automatic chokes, vacuum advance, etc all complicate things.
 

neinnein_nein

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Yeah I'll take an EFI setup over this chaos any day.



Carb's are really simple... until they aren't. Emissions, automatic chokes, vacuum advance, etc all complicate things.
Jesus Christ!
 

PetroleumJunkie412

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neinnein_nein

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Old bracket fits perfectly—and tensioning works pretty well if you stick a crowbar between alternator and bracket, clears WAY more decisively and the oil pan is now centered instead of pushed to the right weirdly. Building a diy tranny jack and the T5 goes in tomorrow morning. Then making sure the X member is in the right place, measuring the driveshaft length, dropping it off at a shop and plumbing the fuel lines/wiring all the crap while they work on it. Starting to see the end of this!

ish
49076




49077
 

BlackBII

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Good work!

Can't wait to see this running and driving. (y)
 

neinnein_nein

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3!!
Transmission is in, new yoke fits the t5, sending it to shop for them to take 2 inches off tomorrow morning while I plan the wiring.

when converting to manual I only bought a clutch/brake pedal assembly that didn’t have any switch on it. It fit the master cylinder I bought but now I’m getting worried as I do the schematics—do I need to buy a clutch interlock relay? Kind of right?
I mean I’m sure I could jump that circuit somehow but the only old school way of having the truck only start when the clutch is depressed is to buy one, am I wrong?
 

neinnein_nein

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3!!
Driveshaft just a bit too long—going to the shop for a chop
49388



the condenser fit After butchering the tabs. She’s starting to look like a truck again. It looks cool as is, not sure why I’m planning on putting a grille on this anymore. Also not sure why my phone insists on posting this pic upside down—

AD4A2442-512F-48F3-9899-3541BC002A76.jpeg



the radiator w the fan fit snug after some cutting of the tabs and the radiator retainers. Relocating the battery to the driver side is not going that well—I have a crap $13 amazon plastic battery platform, it’s flimsy, it sucks, I wish I could mount it in the original location on the drivers side if it didn’t interfere with the air intake. Not sure what to use. I’m really bad at welding but maybe this is the moment I have to grow a pair and weld in a little battery platform...

4378E86F-B6E0-4494-A180-104379AFBE6E.jpeg
 

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BlackBII

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Looking good! Having AC will be nice with how hot it is these days.

The clutch switch isn't required. You can bypass it by jumping the two wires that interrupt the signal to the starter solenoid, which are usually pink or red with a blue stripe.

Are you adding cruise control? The clutch switch will also kill the cruise when the clutch is pressed in.

Here's the pinout from my 1992 Ranger evtm. I imagine yours will be similar if not the same.

 

neinnein_nein

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1984
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ford ranger
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soon-to-fire up 2.3 turbo lima
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2WD / 4WD
2WD
Total Lift
3!!
Looking good! Having AC will be nice with how hot it is these days.

The clutch switch isn't required. You can bypass it by jumping the two wires that interrupt the signal to the starter solenoid, which are usually pink or red with a blue stripe.

Are you adding cruise control? The clutch switch will also kill the cruise when the clutch is pressed in.

Here's the pinout from my 1992 Ranger evtm. I imagine yours will be similar if not the same.

ha! Interesting.. thanks for the diagram. didn’t think of cruise control. Maybe later? I’ll just jump the wires to starter relay for now and live dangerously.

Driveshaft is in, almost done plumbing the fuel lines w braided an fittings and hoses (inline filter feed, inline filter return), started hooking everything up to the harness and trying to find a good spot for all the relays. I have a tendency to put amber shellac’d 1/2 plywood everywhere around me and I’ve toying with the idea of building an entirely new interior with wood cup holders, wood shifter plate, maybe a 2din slot with carplay radio (shifting climate controls down to where the ashtray is) and wood dash with the new gauges I’ll need (oil press, water temp, boost, fuel gauge that works, etc).
Some pics from today:

190106A9-F072-4C57-B93F-10EE31CAE310.jpeg



52649892-C4F7-4701-8B6A-76272D62BB7E.jpeg



93C805E1-F80C-410E-A658-F9D434ECEF54.jpeg


One of the many power distribution bars that’s going in without there being a real plan for where I’m going to actually need power..
these things are great.
F283659B-194F-4316-B836-F7A6F5A0C5C9.jpeg


And this is how the driveshaft sits now. Might have have cut too much 🤔🤔🤔
The transmission is tilted to the left for some reason. I’m hoping it’s the suspension throwing everything off balance and that this and the non-connecting steering shaft issues get resolved once the wheels turn a bit.

61EDAE14-75A1-4413-B152-16A58CD45E5E.jpeg


Cab before I managed to install the tremec shifter w a black ball. The thunderbird dash probably isn’t staying, although it would be very cool to just have all those gauges fitted in. Still juggling ideas on that front. Shiny single stage urethane custom wood dash would be cool too, but pricey given the amount of gauges I’d have to get (mechanical speedometer?! Custom turn signals). and getting the cuts right the first time including the vent and climate/radio area... 🤔🤔🤔

I also got a cheap $28 power door kit off eBay, not sure but I think it was inspired by your build Blackbll.
of course, it would also rock to fish wires through the roof into the little hole by the rear view mirror and power... anything really. Switches, a radar detector, maybe... a dash cam?

“possibilities”
-joe biden
055863DA-AF64-45EE-BE51-E97CE3004476.jpeg
 
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neinnein_nein

Active Member
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116
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28
Location
new york
Vehicle Year
1984
Make / Model
ford ranger
Engine Type
2.3 (4 Cylinder)
Engine Size
soon-to-fire up 2.3 turbo lima
Transmission
Manual
2WD / 4WD
2WD
Total Lift
3!!
installed a starter from a 93 mustang I had a lying around. Not a good idea. Sparks flying, cranking slow, installed ranger starter, cranks normally but won’t turn over. good news is there seems to be good oil pressure. gas leaking from my braided steel fuel lines. Have to redo them, maybe that’s the problem.
clutch still not bled, praying that goes well.
Shifter seems to clear the bench seat thanks to the double bent 16” shaft. Not very sporty!
intercooler sits awkwardly because of the flip flanges, really wondering how to configure it so it can sit square where it looks good and I can fab a basic bracket for it. It would be cool to prop it up higher (more room for hoses to end around and get to it at the right angle) and have it protrude out the hood, and weld on a scoop.

not sure my fab skills are up to the task.

another option I’m warming up to : no hood

50516


50517

50518


50519


50540
 
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neinnein_nein

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Location
new york
Vehicle Year
1984
Make / Model
ford ranger
Engine Type
2.3 (4 Cylinder)
Engine Size
soon-to-fire up 2.3 turbo lima
Transmission
Manual
2WD / 4WD
2WD
Total Lift
3!!
fuel lines are good and it cranks but it doesn’t start. for some reason I only get a momentary 12v at the fuel pump when I turn ignition on. In start it has 0v and in run it goes back to 0v after a 12v spike. It’s not normal right? I suspect it’s not starting because the fuel pump doesn’t get constant power, does that make sense?
First time EFI also, always been carbed so I don’t know anything about electric fuel pumps..

I understand the initial fuel pump coming on when you turn the key is to prime it, but no power in crank is abnormal, correct?

update: it gave me one little knock! a sign of life.
I may have cut corners when wrapping up up the wiring—everything works but when I engage the left turn signal, there’s no blinking and the left parking light and rear turn signals are dead, left arrow on dash is on solid—maybe a bad ground or short circuit somewhere potentially related to fuel pump not getting power during crank?

Sorry I’m thinking out loud, I’m excited for this thing to start!!
 
Last edited:

scotts90ranger

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If the fuel pump is wired like factory it should prime for a few seconds at key up, but once the computer sees engine speed (from the TFI module on the side of the distributor I think) it should turn the fuel pump back on when cranking. Some of that is a guess since I've never ran a 2.3L with a distributor (I switched to the distributorless setup like on my '90 originally) but the engine computer deals with the signal the same whichever system is used.

The wiring gets confusing at times, Ford switched the chassis wiring all the time... when I did my chassis swap between an '89 and a '90 (even though the '90 was built late '89) the chassis wiring to the fuel pump and tail lights was different even though they were the same connector! Different wire colors and everything...
 

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