Building a 2.9l engine for my 88 ranger. Is it worth it?

[OldNBeautiful]

Just picked up this single owner 2wd 4 speed custom ranger and have been debating rebuilding the 2.9 for some xtra performance. Taking into account costs, is it worth it? Or would I be better off just swapping the engine. If that’s the case, again keeping cost in mind, what would be the best swap? (Least amount of fab work)

 

[gaz]

OldNBeautiful:

When I 1st faced this decision my first thought was to drop in the 5L H.O. but 2 costs quickly kabashed that idea; the expense of the actual swap and the subsequent fuel economy.

I looked at crate engines costing around $2,200 and decided to do the rebuild with that as the the budget limit. Here is what I was able to accomplish.

-Assembled World Heads
-Flow bench p/p to heads and intake with multi ° valve job
-0.03" mill on heads
-JBA headers, triple nickle platted
-2.8L flat top pistons
-Peened rods
-ARP rod bolts
-new Clevite bearings throughout
-crank polish
-complete bottom end balance
-melling oil pump/pickup
-gates water pump, belts + hoses
-Cloyes timing set
-free floating rocker arms
-high lift rockers
-Sealed power lifters, push rods
-custom cam
-felpro gasket/seal kit

It was absolutely worth doing. The combination of the 2.8L pistons and the 0.03" mill made for a great compression boost which the port work, cam and improved exhaust made good use of. Having the complete bottom end balance results in a 10% improvement in efficiency, that never goes away. I also recommend deleting the crank driven fan for a 16" electric fan (CORRECTION 15"); this frees up a lot of engine power wasted twisting that heavy fan/clutch.

The results are something like this:

20hp, port/polish
20hp, cam
20hp, headers
12hp, +two points of compression
+10% for the bottom end balance
-the heaviest load removed (crank fan)

This rebuild has proven to be a GREAT improvement in efficiency as it increased my highway fuel economy while towing by 6.5 mpg and overall drivability is incredible!! Don't think twice, just DOit!

 

[rusty ol ranger]

Check out @PetroleumJunkie412 2.9....

 

[Ranger850]

What @rusty ol ranger said. @PetroleumJunkie412 has done a lot of research and development for the trusty 2.9
It's worth rebuilding.

 

[PetroleumJunkie412]

'Sup

Absolutely worth it. I've been trying my best to post everything I figure out as I go. Jim and the mods have been good enough to met me leave threads scattered all over TRS with build info for the 2.9.

2.9 reference links, euro and american

Please guys, no replies unless to add link only. Sites I use to do homework on engine and euro stuff, and all cologne family. Welcome to the rabbit hole... http://forum.merkurclub.com/forum/index.php?sid=f02b0da0967e40619e73d24071700c26 https://www.rpmrons.com/index.html...

www.therangerstation.com

Have a read.

More importantly, check out the YouTube clips.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

I was trying to do a basic boost to my 2.9 that I decided to keep...

MAF conversion, gasket match port, headers, free-float rockers...

Then I met PetroleumJunkie and well... we shall see where it goes after I get my Ranger back up and going... he has really made me reconsider goals.