94 Ranger STX Longbed

[BeefStew42791]

well..I'm still not selling the truck, my crazy side is still alive and so I set aside 2 hours this morning to dig into it. I'm a little puzzled by what I found though..

For starters, I definitely had something go bad, because this crap definitely wasn't there before

as I went deeper though, I found carbon build up in the intake..huh?? I mean yes the thing has over 165,000 miles but still..what??

When I took the lower intake bolts out I was surprised at how easily they released something tells me they should have been tighter, and they will be. Anywho, this is what they looked like when I took them out..not so nice imo

then when I took the intake off that also gave way unexpectedly easily, and this is what was underneath it all..

then underneath that though, it was all rather amazingly clean, less a little bit of carbon build up

so I definitely had a bad lower intake gasket/pan, and I need a new one of those. I'm also gonna look for a place to see if the intake is warped or not considering how bad things looked above the gasket..not to mention a good clean up.
I'm wondering though if I truely actually popped a headgasket. I mean there's no signs to signal that it in fact did go.. I'm leaning towards just putting a new intake gasket on and then keeping an eye on it rather more then usual to see if any problems continue. But for now there's no milkshakey oil or anything. thoughts?

 

[BeefStew42791]

ok well I FINALLY got my lower intake gasket, I swear usps is the worst cross country mail service in the entire nation. Unfortunately it didn't fix my problem, I still have the rather large steam clouds coming out of the exhaust. SO I guess that means I either popped head gaskets or cracked a head or two, which calls for engine overhaul time! And I'm going for boost too..heh heh heh heh.

 

[BeefStew42791]

alright I finally got time to tear it apart yesterday and sure enough its a cracked head, driver's side.

unfortunately though, circumstances have changed and I can't afford the downtime that a major overhaul would cause. What I do obviously have to do now though is get new heads (thats the easy part..https://www.alabamacylinderhead.com/productdetail.php?id=168) but I'm contemplating getting the works done on them by supersix or morana. I know its a lot but I figure by the rule of $100 a horse maximum, and I'll probably get more then that, its not all that bad. Plus if there's not all that much of a power difference between morana's stage 3 & 2 heads I'll probably go for the stage 2's just to save that large chunk.

 

[BeefStew42791]

well, seeing as how apparently niether morana nor supersix want my business I decided to go ahead (after much research and then even further discussion with my own car guru's) and do my own porting & polishing. So thats exactly what I did; I bought heads from Alabama Cyl. Heads, the porting and polishing kits & an air grinder from summit and went at it. I know I obviously wasn't gonna do as good of a job as a professional but it was just like the statement made in the pdf article in the tech library. I can now use that $600 I saved for something else. Plus I don't think I did a half bad job either, especially for a first time. Here are my results, they all were about the same turnout. Oh and sorry about the crappy pics, the flash on my camera kept screwing things up because it'd reflect off the machined surfaces...

Nasty black casting slag...

the intake I'm not completely 150% satisfied with, because the porting kit summit sells no longer has 40 grit rolls, so imho the 60 laid down too fine of a finish, but I worked with it I hope..

the exhaust though OMG is the stock port tiny..and so many sharp angles!! It takes quite a while to get through it but once you can open up that lip thats closer to the valve right as it curves..er, cuts towards the exit it really gets a lot roomier and straighter..

and don't worry, I followed the rule for this engine. I barely touched the actual size of the intakes, and the exhaust was where I focused my efforts. So they're on the truck now, all I need is intake and valve cover gaskets and I can put it all back together and see how well she breaths.

 

[BeefStew42791]

I drove the STX 8.5 miles today.. How I missed my ranger!! and it runs soooo beautifully too. I'm so glad I did that porting work!

 

[Flash Gordan]

How much metal did you really take out to do the porting work? The before and after pictures almost are identical except for the polishing work. I'm just curious as to why you didn't knock down the bumps in the exhaust ports.

 

[BeefStew42791]

How much metal did you really take out to do the porting work? The before and after pictures almost are identical except for the polishing work. I'm just curious as to why you didn't knock down the bumps in the exhaust ports.

Believe it or not, quite a bit of metal had to come out to help the flow on the exhaust side. As far as the intakes went I followed Bird's advice I found on another thread to not touch them other then to take out slag so yes not much was taken out on them. The exhausts also look the same pretty much due to..well one I couldn't get a very good pic cuz of the flash screwing everything up, but also because the actual size of the port's end is fair enough.
I don't know if you have or not, but if you haven't and you ever get the chance to look at the exhaust ports of a 4.0 head you'll see that the real restrictions are closer to the valve side of the head. Its rather crowded, there's a lot of sharp angles, and when the gases leave the cylinders the first place they go to in the head is something that appears to me to be somewhat of another cylinder that cuts sharply into the rest of the port. A lot of the main focus was getting that lip down so that the gases can have a much easier time entering the ports. I should have taken pictures before I put the valve back in, but I simply hadn't thought of it.
As far as the "bumps" go, I also noticed that on some (and I must say some because I have to be honest and say I didn't make absolutely sure that it applies to all of them) of the ports, those bumps appear to be inline with different threaded holes for bolts. Since this was my first run at it I definitely was paranoid about going too far and ruining the heads. I did knock them down though quite a bit as it is, just not all the way.

 

[BeefStew42791]

Even though it ran really well when I started it and drove 10 or so miles the other day, now about 50 miles later its almost a 180 degree turn, and its slowly getting worse unless it somehow has a "good day" every once in a while. I'm thinking its one of my oxygen sensors, and so I took them both out this afternoon to bench test them with my propane torch. I got out my dmm and the one tested fine (even though its full of antifreeze), it did show voltage when in the middle of the flame and showed a varying amount of voltage depending on how hot the flame was. As for the passenger's side though, I can't get any voltage reading no matter what. I could be about ready to melt the stupid thing and it won't read any voltage. Oh yea, and my mm is on the lowest possible voltage reading setting too, just so that point is covered. So I'm thinking I'm gonna go ahead and order a new oxygen sensor, if anybody disagrees or can think of anything else I should test please share cuz I'd love to hear whatevers on your mind.

 

[BeefStew42791]

got my tires installed.. I hope I didn't rush it, I only bought them back in FEBRUARY!! man time flies.. The stx also got its first alignment, tracks straight and true now
I just grabbed this while the backs were gettin balanced cuz I'd never seen it in this position before lol.

 

[BeefStew42791]

heh..been a while, forgot to update. I replaced the o2 sensors (both banks) & tested the new ones when they arrived. Both tested ok, and so I put them in. Truck runs better and better each time I get in now AND my fuel mileage is a LOT better too. Next up I'm replacing the front rubber brake lines. Slow leaks have developed in the dryrotted sections at the top, so when it gets a few degrees warmer its time to fix those too.

 

[BeefStew42791]

no it hasn't gotten any warmer but I'm going boarding next weekend so I'm fixin the lines today. What I really wanted to tell you guys is somebody actually stole my driver's side exhaust tip. Now I'm not too upset about it because they were only temporary anyway, they were a cheapy pair I got off amazon to make it through the winter and I'm getting stainless steels in the summer (more money available this time). And it was disgustingly rusted up. Honestly it makes me laugh because of that, and that they only took one..probly for their single exit riceburner.. Anyway, so it seems I'm gonna be riding tipless for a lil while.

 

[ForOffRoadDriving]

havent stopped by in a while, but im glad to hear you decided to keep the stx and get it going again. bummer about the exhaust tip, it sucks that people think they can just take what ever they want off your car cause you werent looking. i had someone break my door handle off my truck while it was at my gfs house, but the wierd thing was that it wasnt left laying on the ground. i think they were after an empty pack of cigarettes in the center console, but the doors were locked so i think they settled for a busted door handle instead? pissed me off at any rate cuz i had just replaced them a month prior. keep up the good work man!

 

[BeefStew42791]

ugh man you know it..a broken door handle?.. seriously? what the heck are they gonna do with that?? I hate stupid people.. Thats why, even though I don't really have anything of value in my truck (even the aftermarket sony deck is a on the higher end of cheapy) I lock it anyway just because you never know what some psycho is gonna want.

On to the latest though, I took a trip down to Allentown, PA this past saturday and I (imo) got HORRIBLE mileage..11-12mpg. Now yes, you can blame it on the 33's, the age, the fact that these engine's aren't made for pulling 75 uphill in 5th or even 4th gear, but to me especially for a v6, thats unacceptable. So I broke down and bought a new code reader (cheapy model made specifically for ford obd1).
On the koeo tests I got codes 114 and 522, ACT sensor low & neutral pos. sensor, respectively. Then I also got continuous memory rich and lean codes but I also forgot to clear those codes back when I replaced the o2's so I just ignored and erased them..I'll see if they come back later. Anyway though, I thought my act was bad and since that doesn't involve crawling through 8" of snow, I went at that first. Turns out, the sensor worked fine. In fact it appears someone replaced it sometime ago because when they did, they dumped a buttload of grease in the plug. So much was in there that it actually kept the sensor from making contact, and with a simple cleanup it got rid of that code
The nps though never went away no matter what I tried, short of jumping wires so that got put right at the top of my to do list. It seems simple enough, so I might do it over the weekend if I feel polar bear enough.

 

[BeefStew42791]

Alright today I had a spare moment so I decided to go after the neutral position sensor (koeo code 522). What I found literally shocked me.

Apparently this sensor had given the owner some problems before, so its not like its a brand new issue. The following I am about to share proves that you absolutely can't fix stupid..
The way he went about repairing this is, instead of replacing the sensor, after breaking the plastic part of the sensor off, the wiring was cut and stripped and then soldered to the base of the sensor. Then to 'seal' this beauty of a job, some kind of white rubbery puddy was applied to the area that was soldered. I don't understand..whats wrong with actually FIXING the issues with vehicles??
Anyway, the part of this that kind of concerns me is apparently, all of the sensors I've found online are for the A4LD's because none of them, even at the base, look like this one that came out of mine. I'm gonna keep looking but if someone knows where I can get one that costs short of an arm and a leg I'd appreciate it.

 

[BeefStew42791]

Fixed the switch.. I ended up using a switch made to fit an early 80's mazda b-series pickup since apparently ford decided it would be nice to halt production of it themselves. Since mazda made the tranny though, I figured it would work..and it did. I also completed a more permanent fix for my fuel filler neck. Where there once was sheet metal there is now rubber fuel hose holding the hardened rubber vent hose to the metal neck. I had to change it out because whenever I'd go to fill my tank, all of the fumes that normally signal the pump to shut off would vent right out around the rusted metal. Now though it works fine with a good tight seal.

The next thing on the list will be trying to work out my 4wd. The general consensus is that its a missing c-clip but the only way tobe sure is to rip it all apart. Fun fun funfunfun fun.