1989 Ranger 2.9l - What can i do performance wise?

[Daven]

I am looking to get more power out of my truck. It doesnt seem to have very much, which seems to make me wonder how bad the smaller engines are lol. My truck is a 1989 Ranger STX 2.9l 4x4 standard, black with the factory red decals i guess.

Anyways, i have thought alot about having the v8 swap done, but i dont know much about any mechanical stuff and no one i know has the stuff to do it. Then comes on the mechanic having to do it on top of trying to find a good engine that fits. I have also been told by someone that it could (and probably would) wreck other things since the other stuff wasnt made for that much power. I live in saskactchewan (canada)... Any ideas on a price or way to do this?

So then i figured maybe just beefing this engine up a little bit. What can i do to add power to it? I would like to try to stay cheap, but i know how this usually goes lol. I am a student so i have quite a bit of spending money since i keep all of every paycheck. So what would my options be? Like i said, im not really much of a mechanical genious, but i have a few people that are kinda backyard mechanics so they can help. Is it worth it to do this to this engine, or should i save for a v8?

And excaust... What should i do? Currently only running the stock 2" pipes. My friend was bugging me to put on his cherrybomb glasspack so i let him do it for now to see how it sounds. He had to cut off the old muffler because it was rusted on over time so we currently just have the excaust ending after the glasspack lol. Pipe we need is 30 bucks for just a little part of it to complete. Is it worth it to buy to 2" part, or will i be wantig to upgrade my pipes to a larger size? what size? The glasspack isnt really that great of a sound and is un-neededly loud all the time lol. What muffler should i use that will sound the best on my truck? I am looking for a deep rumble kind of sound thats loud, but not just made to be loud. Basically im looking for a good deep powerful roar (tipical teenager )

What about some kind of computer work? idk if the truck is new enough, but are there chips out for it? Is this a good idea? From what i understand from these chips is that they take your engine and boost the power by tuning it (etc) to take the make potential out of it. I dont really know anyone that has done much to a vehicle performance wise.

Currently im just the stock engine, except for my buddy had a cold air sitting around so we hooked that up instead of the airfilter. Then we have the glasspack set up untill i figure out what to do and get more money to do it.

Thanks for taking the time to read this, didnt mean for it to be so long. Im just dumping my questions on what i should do to my truck to make it better. Any info on either category is apreciated, but i would like to see about what i can do with each area. Please let me know if u know of something to do that i left out or dont know of. Pricing and places to get the parts would be awesome. Thanks again

 

[Mike Tonon]

I have been told an electric fan is an easy way to gain some power.

port and polish intakes and throttle body
cold air intake
cat back exhaust

Those are fairly simple.

 

[Acepilot1023]

As far as exhaust goes, if you don't want it too loud, but you still want a powerful rumble, I would gut the cat and slap on a Thrush Welded. My buddy did that to his and it sounds great. I personally think "the louder the better" so mine comes out of the manifolds and goes straight to the ground.

As far as performance goes, try taking out the fan (Previously mentioned) and swapping it over to a electric, and take out the A/C (You're in Canada, you don't use it anyway...) to take some stress off the engine. If you want to keep A/C incase you want to resell it, just take off the compressor. Anything that is belt driven on a vehicle is a power hog.

CAI systems usually boost you about 10-15 more HP, so that's a worthy investment.

Yes they do make chips, but they are not very economical to buy (~$400 for a good one).

VERY GOOD PLAN: Rebuild your engine, polishing all your internals and porting your head. You can hear your engine purr after you do it. Plus it will help you eliminate mechanical problems in the future.

Good luck mate, cheers!

 

[Daven]

As far as exhaust goes, if you don't want it too loud, but you still want a powerful rumble, I would gut the cat and slap on a Thrush Welded. My buddy did that to his and it sounds great. I personally think "the louder the better" so mine comes out of the manifolds and goes straight to the ground.

As far as performance goes, try taking out the fan (Previously mentioned) and swapping it over to a electric, and take out the A/C (You're in Canada, you don't use it anyway...) to take some stress off the engine. If you want to keep A/C incase you want to resell it, just take off the compressor. Anything that is belt driven on a vehicle is a power hog.

CAI systems usually boost you about 10-15 more HP, so that's a worthy investment.

Yes they do make chips, but they are not very economical to buy (~$400 for a good one).

VERY GOOD PLAN: Rebuild your engine, polishing all your internals and porting your head. You can hear your engine purr after you do it. Plus it will help you eliminate mechanical problems in the future.

Good luck mate, cheers!

I am getting used to the loudness now actually... lol which excaust sounds the best? not as throaty, but a deep powerfull rumble?

And the fan thing makes sense. But what about the a/c? Since i may want to re-sell someday, would i be able to just cut the belt off and therfore have the same thing without actually taking it out? lol also seems easier

What is a CAI system?

And as for the chips, i was just looking at the ones on ebay for like 30 bucks. The ones that supposedly just gets cliped on and boost performance and mpg a bit.

Also, i was wondering if any of this was going to limit what i can do with my truck? Like, I heard from someone that putting on a better muffler increases hp, but lowers tourqe a bit because of less compression? i have no real clue about this stuff yet so i thought i''d ask lol Thanks

 

[Daven]

These are some of the chips i was talking about. Mainly the first one but the second one i found and is on sale.

http://cgi.ebay.ca/PERFORMANCE-CHIP...89|Make:Ford|Model:Ranger&hash=item2c583ad75b

http://www.gfchips.com/fordranger.aspx

 

[holyford86]

those chips are a worthless joke, they do absolutely nothing except remove money from your wallet.

 

[adsm08]

4.0L swap.

Your truck already has a true cold air system. I wouldn't mess with that.

Also run some SeaFoam through it and change your O2 sensor. Those can make it run like a dog with no other highly noticeable symptoms.

 

[disciplerocks]

 

[Daven]

those chips are a worthless joke, they do absolutely nothing except remove money from your wallet.

So they wont do anything at all to increase performance? I kinda find that hard to beleive since they are still out in the market...

4.0L swap.

Your truck already has a true cold air system. I wouldn't mess with that.

Also run some SeaFoam through it and change your O2 sensor. Those can make it run like a dog with no other highly noticeable symptoms.

Why the 4.0l swap? If i was going to do a swap, why not just go all the way with the v8? And would the o2 sensor make it run rough because it has been idling rough and i was thinking it was spark plugs since i know they need to be changed. Seems as if it was missing every other spark or something, but idk for sure. Would i replace the o2 sensor if there is no reason to do it? Or leave it until there is a symptom again that could match it (assuming that spark plugs work)

 

[Daven]

Ok so my plan for the truck from what i have heard is this...

Currently i have Just the cold air and glasspack on it. It seems to be running with a bit more power now, could be because it was sitting a little while before i bought it as i got the cash and i've gone through over a full tank now.

And i am going to cut the belt off the a/c probably tomorow since i really dont need it and it makes perfect sense to do so. My next check i will be buying some bosch platinum spark plugs and looking into whatever i can afford after i plate my truck for a few months.

After this i plan to get the electric fan, and most likely go with a catback exhaust system (any links to a good one?) or possibly going dual exhaust if i can find a way to not have it cost a fortune. Can i do a "fake" dual exhaust by just running a y pipe after the muffler and having it go out the sides into 2 tips or would that work? I could do a true dual exhaust at home? how much?

I am thinking i most likely will not do a swap because it will cost alot. Instead do a bunch of little things like getting rid of un-necessary belts and increasing air flow, spark plugs, etc. Please let me know if there are any other things i can do to increase power at all that i havent mentions/am not aware of.

As for tires, i am definately going to upgrade eventually, probably soon since snow is coming :'(... I was thinking something along the lines of 28-29" a/t ones. I dont want it to be too freakishly big, but i want them to grab snow/dirt/mud good. I'm not really going to be doing too much offroading anyways since theres not much more to do here then fool around in the winter and go mudding in the summer lol. Probably a few inches lifted up later on depending on how tires fit. Any suggestions for tires or lift kits would be great

Please let me know if theres anything else i can do to beef up my truck. If you know of any parts that are good that i can use and order. Or even if you know of a few ways to make the truck look cooler lol. Also... supercharging...even in the question and whats the general price i would be looking at? How long do these rangers usually last for kilometer wise as mine has 290XXX on it now. Thanks

 

[disciplerocks]

I love people that ask for advice, then criticize you for your input.

 

[Daven]

I love people that ask for advice, then criticize you for your input.

I was not criticizing any input, just trying to get things straight by asking questions. If i didnt try to look more into things i still wouldn't have a clue where to go from turning the engine on...

 

[gaz]

Electric fan/water pump

"Daven",

The electric fan will free up quite a noticable amount of power... unfortunately, your water pump is used to the crank driven fan (LOAD) and will fail shortly after you install the electric fan (the way I understand it the bearings grow accustomed to the weight of the fan and when it is gone it is takes them out or "balance" persay). So when you install your electric fan replace the water pump also.

 

[gaz]

Exhaust recommentdation

"Daven",

This is my opinion:

I have found that the sound of the Borla muffler is my favorite. It sounds very performance oriented (people always ask if I installed the V-8 or if I paid to have it done), deep and properly tuned. It constantly draws compliments. As far as reliability, I have had a Borla Turbo on my Ranger since 1994, still performs the same but has that heated stainless steel look (kind of bronz).

In regards to tubing size, I have used both 2.25" and 2.5": the 2.25" resulted in a quieter and better gas mileage system. The 2.5" resulted (used with a completely built engine) much more power and torque but with poorer gas performance.

I will continue to use the 2.25" system with my new 2.9l build and will provide the results upon completion.

 

[Daven]

"Daven",

The electric fan will free up quite a noticable amount of power... unfortunately, your water pump is used to the crank driven fan (LOAD) and will fail shortly after you install the electric fan (the way I understand it the bearings grow accustomed to the weight of the fan and when it is gone it is takes them out or "balance" persay). So when you install your electric fan replace the water pump also.

Ok, thanks for the input. So for the water pump issue, i need to replace it for sure? Like what will i be replacing? It sounds like the system was based around the current fan from what u said. Is it even worth doing if i need to spend that much on just parts?