93 Ranger 4x4

[alwaysFlOoReD]

I picked up this 94 Ranger a few years ago as a potential DD. I paid $500.00 to a Transmission shop that was closing down and was clearing out all their crap. They told me that they had put in a new clutch. There was no battery so I never heard it run and they towed it to my place. I got it running but it had a miss and leaks oil a lot. Yesterday my Neon decided that it has had enough and decided to overheat and I cooked the rings driving home. So now I need to get a new vehicle. I could buy a used neon motor for $300.00 and swap motors. They get good mileage,about 30 mpg. But I'm cash poor. So I've decided to swap in the spare motor I was saving for my race truck. It came out of a 91 Explorer that a neighbor had rolled. I also paid $500.00 for it. I actually drove it to my place across some fields and it ran good. That was 4 or 5 years ago. The motor has been sitting under a tarp for a year since I pulled it. So now I've got a plan and have started on pulling the motor out of the 94. I pulled the wiring off the motor and have it off to one side except for one sensor wire. It connects to what I would think is an oil level sensor on the side of the oil pan. I can't figure out how to disconnect it. Can someone enlighten me?

 

[ksack]

Looks to be one of those ones that just pull straight off.

 

[RonD]

The whole black section pulls out with the wire.

Sensor image here: http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTIxNlgxNjAw/z/lL8AAOSwHnFVpDz~/$_1.JPG

Wire image here: http://ebayapi.loc8apartltd.netdna-cdn.com/00/s/MTAxNlgxNjAw/z/UkYAAOSwyQtVpDNu/$_1.JPG

 

[JoeCanada]

I tried to remove it on my parts motor - broke it doing so. Fortunately, I had the one on the original motor still, so I ended up swapping oil pans and just cut the wire and added a single-terminal weatherpack connector to it. Less hassle, really. YMMV

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

I've decided to do the cut and crimp. I have the tools to do that with adhesive lined heat shrink and then there is no chance of breaking it.

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[alwaysFlOoReD]

crap

This thing is being a bear. Yesterday I spent most of my time trying to get the exhaust bolts off the manifolds. Impact gun did nothing....Crap. Granted it's only a Mastercraft electric as I don't have air out in the field where I'm working. I decided to dig out my oxy-acet and after setting it out found the acetylene tank reading zero psi....CRap. I drove down to Praxair and they told me that would be normal for being stored outside at 0C/32F. I decided to buy a propane tip for the cutting torch in case I ran out of acetylene. They only had Victor style in stock and I couldn't remember what style torch I have, I bought it anyway. Get back and my torch is a Smith....CRAp. I have a toolbox of misc O/A that I've collected over the years and finally find that. Open it to discover the flux on some aluminum rods has disintegrated into the bottom of the box, covering the handles with a gu-ey white mess....CRAP. And the other torches are Pur-ox....CRAP. I bought some candle wax as I've heard that it will creep into the threads of rusted bolts and make it easier to remove. Well, no such luck for me....I got one bolt out and then busted the next....CRAP. I cut the last two bolts and packed it in for the night. Today I will drill out the bolts and heli-coil them. In order to get the right angle I bought an another engine stand as all mine are in use....at friends houses....CRAP!

Maybe today will be better.....

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Today isn't better.

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[alwaysFlOoReD]

Some pics,

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[alwaysFlOoReD]

It took me until just now to finally helicoil the last of the broken ones. Two were easy to get to, the last was crowded by the ears for the bellhousing. I finally went and bought a 31/64" bit that was an inch longer than the 12.4mm that came with the helicoil kit. I hope not being able to drill straight doesn't affect that bolt up.

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[alwaysFlOoReD]

Having had problems in my racetruck 4.0l with pinholes in the core plugs [frost plugs], I now change them as a matter of course. There was a lot of gunge behind the plugs so I took the motor to the carwash and pressure washed inside the block as best I could. Lots of brown came out. All but the cam plug were replaced and I used pipe thread sealant to help seal the new core plugs. I was going to use silicone but Mike [at Ladwigs Machine Shop in Red Deer, AB.] suggested otherwise. Mike has helped me out a lot on questions I have.

The following two pics are regarding the same gray 2 pin plug. What's it supposed to hook to? As you can see, someone has covered the end with a red plastic cap.

I straightened the metal plate that goes between the engine and trans. It is made so that you could conceivably push it into place from underneath while the motor and trans are together but not bolted tight. Well....without me noticing the damn thing slipped down a bit on the starter side and I had to play around for quite a while before getting the starter to bolt into place. I wonder if that might have anything to do with the starter problems on the 2.9l engine?

A little history on the motor I'm swapping in. It came from a 91 Explorer that was rolled by a farmer about 5 years ago. It ran fine and I drove it across the fields to my place where it sat until I pulled the motor for a b2 swap that I never did. It has sat outside under a tarp for several years until now.

And saving the worst for last, I decided to do a compression test on the motor before putting in the sparkplugs. Going from 1 thru 6; 140, 135, 80, 65, 55, 55. Shit! My battery died before I could do more than one cylinder after adding oil, and it came up to 65 from 55. I'm really hoping that something will work free after I fire it up and the compression comes back. Otherwise the racetruck engine will get swapped in and I'll do a ring refresh on this motor over the winter and put into the racetruck in the spring.
I really wish that ford had made the starter mounting part of the block....

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Looks like I'll be swapping motors again....

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

It goes a hell of a lot quicker when you've done it before. It took me about an hour to undo everything from the top of the motor. It'll probably take me another 1/2 hour to undo the trans and exhaust. The racetruck motor shouldn't take too long to pull either. I'm feeling positive about having this done late today .....maybe tomorrow

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Got the engine back out of the ranger and have the racetruck motor disconnected. I should be able to get the 94 running tomorrow.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Got it installed and turning over. Very hard starting and revs really high before I shut it down. Going to sleep on it and look at it fresh tomorrow morning.

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[alwaysFlOoReD]

YEAH.....It's running! The idle is at 1200rpm which is a little high. Vacuum is steady at 18 psi, which I think is good for my altitude. All lights work except reverse. No stereo. It's a plain jane model but does have cruise, which I don't know if that works yet. The push button 4x4 doesn't work. And the trailer wiring is a mess and needs fixing. But that's expected with a $500.00 truck I bought for parts.