2.5L ('98-'01) Turbo build - 2.5 sohc - need some help

[Ben Horrom]

Yep ive looked there, they don't seem to have turbo pistons for the 2.5 But they have a lot of good parts besides that.
On summit racing, I found some I like - except they aren't forged - they are made of some Hypereutectic material... not sure how those handle power

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I feel like if i swap over to the 2.3 crank/rods it would make this build a lot cheaper and easier to find parts

 

[89Twincharge]

Yep ive looked there, they don't seem to have turbo pistons for the 2.5 But they have a lot of good parts besides that.
On summit racing, I found some I like - except they aren't forged - they are made of some Hypereutectic material... not sure how those handle power

FORD Silvolite 3168HC.STD Silv-O-Lite Hypereutectic Pistons | Summit Racing

Free Shipping - Silv-O-Lite Hypereutectic Pistons with qualifying orders of $109. Shop Pistons at Summit Racing.

www.summitracing.com

I feel like if i swap over to the 2.3 crank/rods it would make this build a lot cheaper and easier to find parts

Hyper pistons are no good for boost...if I remember correctly you can use turbo coupe engine for the rods and Pistons and get different bearings for rods and it will work...if I can find my old notebook I'll look it up.... Boost is addictive so prepare for more boost now. Also check out stinger performance they have many parts you may need

 

[Ben Horrom]

Ah, so if i get a 2.3 crank that has the same journal sizes to fit my block, would the turbocoupe rods/pistons work? But thanks for that, I'll look into the bearing size thing you're talking about. I'll look up the stinger now

Also heres some pics of the truck, most of the things i've done to it involve the quality of sound... lol. Header, thrush muffler, full 2.5inch exhaust and a decent stereo system. Nothing to brag about, but all the body panels are solid w/no rust. Can't wait to give it some more oomph

 

[Ben Horrom]

I just found a post on https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/fords-2-0-2-3-2-5-litre-engine-family-guide.317117/ --> it has some really good specs and comparisons that helped me out
So ill try to find some earlier ranger - (1990+)? 2.3 crank/rods to use. I hear that the stock rods will take a decent beating so maybe ill use those. I'll hopefully find some stock turbocoupe or SVO forged turbo pistons on FB marketplace. And another 2.5 head to replace my cracked one lol. Why didn't i just but a stock 2.3 instead of a 2.5

 

[Ben Horrom]

I found a complete 2.3L ranger engine (from a 1996) that I'm gonna buy next week. (same person i bought the 2.5 from) I plan on stealing the crank, rods, and head to use on my 2.5.
I've been reading up as much as I can and I haven't found a reason why I can't run stock turbocoupe pistons on the N/A 2.3L rods from the ranger... If anyone has any info about how this might be a bad idea please let me know, thanks

 

[Ben Horrom]

Well I tore that 2.3 down and took the crank out of it. I bought a set of preowned turbocoupe rods/pistons for $170 too. So next step is new bearings/rings/hone the cylinder [and save money for more parts ]and whatnot. Trying to make sense of how to measure the ring gap/bearing clearance; still kind of fuzzy on the reason why it matters...

 

[Ben Horrom]

Can I just buy stock size rod/main bearings and put them in or do I need to do a clearance check or something...? I

 

[Blmpkn]

Check tolerances on everything, twice.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Bearing clearances matter for control of oil flow and pressure. The factory has given a clearance range that you need to be within. You can use "plasti-gauge" to find clearance. Put a tiny strip of plasti-guage on the journal (with bearings installed) and torque the bearing caps down to spec. Then remove the caps and measure the squish. That will give you the clearance.

Ring gap matters for compression and oil control of the cylinder. Again the piston manufacturer will give you a range you need to be in. Put the ring in the cylinder and use an old piston to push it down a bit. Measure with feeler gauge. Then go to near the bottom and measure again. You are checking for taper. Too much taper and the rings won't last.

 

[scotts90ranger]

There's several ways to go about things.. there's several stages of what might matter to you... checking ring gap is super easy, so might as well... and as said above is a good tell on checking bore taper, being an N/A block it likely doesn't have much taper... as for what is right and what will work it depends on if you are going for something that will put out the maximum power for the maximum amount of time or something that will run pretty good for an unknown amount of time before the oil pressure and oil consumption go up... when I put my last 2.3L turbo together I took the best of the parts I had on hand between the blown up engine and one of my two spare blocks, added new rings and bearings and new oil pump and some other stuff and went for it... sure it could run better but it runs decent... and the Lima's don't normally have oil pressure issues so I wasn't worried about bearing clearances much and it worked out, I have 25psi hot idle and 50psi hot cruise so the bearings are fine... Is this the right way to go? not really, but it'll work ok, my turbo ranger isn't my daily driver anymore and it's gotten like 8k miles on it since I did that about 7 years ago...

 

[Ben Horrom]

thanks for the advice, guys. Another thing im worried about is the crank. All the journals have grooves in them that i can feel with my fingernail... do i need to take it to a machine shop to get it fixed? And if i do that will i need bearings that are thicker to compensate for the lost material on the crank? Also if the ring gap/bearing clearance is to much/to little... what then? Will there be a special type of bearing/rings i need to buy or will any type bearing/ring work be better for this build? Another thing, should i check the rod bearing clearance as well? Sorry about all the questions I just dont want to make a dumb mistake because i rush

 

[Blmpkn]

Feeling things like that with your fingernail is no bueno. I'd say a trip to the machine shop would be the right thing to do.. then yeah you'll need to get the proper i.d/o.d bearings.

A good idea would be for you to purchase a book on engine building.. read it twice, then read it again. Rushing is not something that you want to be doing. Success here requires perfection.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Buy the book and read it like suggested. Then measure and write down as much as you can about your engine. Then take it to the machine shop and ask them to check it out and teach you a bit about what they look for. Treat it as a learning experience and expect you WILL make mistakes.

 

[scotts90ranger]

Those crank journals would be a bit beyond my comfort level... that's abnormal wear, in my defense from my statements earlier the only abnormal wear on the parts I used was the taper in the bore, everything else was close to what it was supposed to be (short of using plastigauge... I didn't get that fancy).

 

[Ben Horrom]

I just put an order in for an engine building book and a engine math book for all the calculations of an engine under the sun. I'll try to read the books before I do anything stupid. Thanks for the tips though!

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I'll try to get in touch with another machine shop for some pricing. The one I called said it'd be about 2 months before they could get mine in.