2.8 liter TBI swap

[dangerranger83]

Thanks, I'm glad you dug this out of pile of threads.

I just got a job and hope to be driving my truck within the next month and hopefully this summer I'll have the money to do my SAS.

 

[dangerranger83]

Well the day has come, I finally got the money to plate and insure my truck for the road. Now I just need to get the money to fill up the gas tank all the way, so I find out what mileage it has.

Now to start saving up for my SAS, body work will be the last thing, but the first thing I need to do is get rid of all the scrap steel in the bed of the truck.

 

[dangerranger83]

Just took it on its first small trip, got it up to 55mph. I think its leaning out, safe to say I need to fine tune the fuel sytem, need to get exhaust system gaskets, there are 2 leakes, one before the CAT the other is after it, makes it loud where you dont want it to be, in the cab. But for right now it will get me back and forth to work, not going to be going over 40mph anyways.

Need to probably get a new throttle cable, mine was for a 2.3 and is a bit long meaning now it does a tight circular turn and whatnot before it gets to the TBI, meaning I have to apply more force then needed to get pedal to go down and when it goes down I mean it goes down, hard to make it go just a little.

Other then that drove smooth for me, more to come soon.

 

[dangerranger83]

Well this morning found out that it was leaking oil but didnt have time to look, had to get to work. After work got home and found the oil coming out the dipstick tube, but my PCV and oil fill cap are working correctly the vent the engine so it might just be over filled.

Also got the throttle responce working better and the idle to be better, had to unplug the throttle accuator so that I can set the idle and not the computer.

And from the looks of it I'm going to have to be getting a new battery soon as after 10 seconds grand total of cranking it just couldnt turn my engine over, the alernator is charging but my battery is pushing 6 years old and 2 of those years it wasnt used much.

 

[Twister]

Hey man. How's the ranger going. I had a question about the wiring for the TBI. Do you take the wole wiring harness from the thunderbird or whatever and use that. Do all the connnectors fit or do you have to splice them?

 

[dangerranger83]

Take the wires that hook to the computer and the sensors (use the Thunderbird sensors on the ranger). There were 2 black plugs that hooked into the harness going into the driverside fire wall (pictures of them are in my dads build thread). One thing that was a PITA was getting the emissions relay setup out of the car and from around the A/C hoses that were on the firewall. I just cut the vacuum hoses to make life easier. The only splicing I remember were the 3 wires from the ranger driverside harness to the TFI module wires on the Thunderbird harness.

As for my truck its running great and so is my dads. I dont know my mileage ATM due to not filling up the tank to full yet. But it can shit and get, I will say that.

In other news got a Jeep track-bar for my SAS, $20 from the JY, I'll put up pics. of it later. Thinking about doing a long arm set-up, easier to do and I think i'll have the money to do it plus cant have the truck off the road to long. Just need to find a good set, aka, research. And got my gears back, I'll take the pinion to a shop to have them change my pinion bearing, bro in law is to busy to be able to do it.

Remember the SAS is on page 12!!!!!!!

 

[dangerranger83]

Sweet, nothing better then freebies!!!!!!!!!!!!

First one is my new to me bed storage box, needs some work but will come in handy for hunting season.

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Next is the Craftsman torque wrench, only problem is the twisting part (lock) to set the amount to torque doesnt work, so a quick trip to Sears should fix that due to having a lifetime warrenty.

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I can thank my brother in law for these things, he knows he can get a free replacement on the tool but says he has 2 already.

 

[dangerranger83]

Well ordered a set of belltech 6400 shackles, cant wait for them to arrive. They will be put on after my SAS, I know Im going to have to get a set of 63 or 64 inch Chevy leaves to help raise the rear of my truck after my front axles is put under.

I still need to call around to see who can change a pinion bearing.

 

[dangerranger83]

New parts came in from Summit they wont go on my truck till after I get my SAS done.

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I think next is to get 63 or 64 inch Chevy leaves, wont know until after the front is installed and these new rear shackles are in and see if it needs more lift or not.

 

[escort_gts]

Have you thought about changing the pinion bearing yourself? Not to hard to do.
The Chevy leafs wont give you that much of lift but will make it ride alot better and give more flex. I had to use 4" blocks on the rear of mine with the 6400's to get it to sit right. I hate using that much block but it would look wrong if I used 2" blocks.

 

[dangerranger83]

I'm not flipping the rear shackle hanger so the other way will give lift but if its not enough then I will get the leaves re-arched.

As far as changing the pinion bearing myself, I dont have the tools to take it off or put it back on. I know people cut there bearings off with cut off tools but that still leaves me with how to put the new one back on. All I'm going to do is take the pinion gear into the place and see if they can change it real fast.

As far as using 4 inches of blocks, I would think that would give some axle wrap you wouldnt want.

 

[escort_gts]

Yes it wraps awful. I hate it but it works for now. I might look into getting them rearched, or maybe an add-a-leaf or something.

 

[dangerranger83]

When it comes to how much lift I wanting out of my SAS, I'm looking at 4 inches maybe a bit more. This truck isnt going to be an off roader or much of anything like that, just a DD. The only thing with lifting it I see is having the money to get bigger tires, I'm going to be running 3.73 gears and looking at putting 31 inch tires on it, along with some better rims, mine need replaced and I dont like the look of the factory ones to much either.

Hopefully Monday I will know what my gas mileage is, thats my dad off work, gives me time to go fill up the tank, get parts to hook up my oil pressure guage, the rest of my exhaust gaskets, etc....

Still thinking about a different way to help regulate the fuel flow and pressure, but I dont know the milage yet so I'm not going to mess with that yet until I do know.

More to come soon.

 

[dangerranger83]

New pictures of gears installed and track bar on page 12, post 170.

 

[escort_gts]

You should of tried to get an adjustable track bar. It will make adjustments easier.