I helped a guy out that did it. He got a turbo from an 84 Dodge minivan. I built an adapter for the turbo to manifold and an oiling/return line setup. The stock setup put out 20 lbs. First it blew the original manifold gasket, we changed that to a homebuilt steel one, then it stretched the headbolts and blew the headgasket.
We fixed all that with stock parts and I built an adjustable wastegate. We set it at 12 lbs max. and its been fine for 2 years and 25,000 miles.
The '83 2WD Ranger had 95,000 miles when we started. The engine was never apart before. About 5,000 miles after we got everything working right, the owner wanted to switch the 4 spd to an auto. When he did, we pulled the engine oilpan to check the bearings. The main between 2-3 had quite a bit more wear than the others.
Just a theory, but we figure he might have caused this by too much boost at the beginning. We checked the linebore and the crank, both were dead on, so.....?
He gets 35-38 mpg (Canadian) = 30-33 mpg US. He has power in the range between a stock 2.3 gas and 2.9 gas. Not a screamer, but no slouch.
He gained about 8 mpg with the turbo, but lost about 3 to the auto. With your 5 spd you really should see close to 40.
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