Buying an 85' with 2.8L

[Sweet-85']

I'll be purchasing an 85' with the 2.8L 108,000 mi, 4x4, 5 spd next week. I was wondering if any of you had any tips or tricks for the 2.8L. Will advancing the timing on the 2.8L give me any more horsepower? On my cutlass I got about 10-15 horse from it but I'm not sure about the ranger, is it even a good idea?

 

[Original_Ranger84]

I wouldn't think that it would help... You could Duraspark it or convert to fuel injection, port and polish the heads to match the intake manifold, mild cam, headers and stuff but that could get expensive quickly... Another possibility would be swapping in a 4.0L sense it would bolt up to the TK5 and the trans could take it.

 

[BeaterMan]

i just rebuilt my carburetor and wow! theres throttle responce and its not all sluggish anymore. not a bad lil engine but not the best either. i had mine hangine next my buddies turbo yota. were sure the turbo has not been working properly tho. lol

 

[Original_Ranger84]

i just rebuilt my carburetor and wow! theres throttle responce and its not all sluggish anymore. not a bad lil engine but not the best either. i had mine hangine next my buddies turbo yota. were sure the turbo has not been working properly tho. lol

Yeah, a properly maintained carb will do wonders, I can't remember when my was rebuilt... i'm not even sure it was, but I put a non feedback 1250 and wow! Ass kickin power, now I just need the 4.10s so it will keep up at highway speeds with my 31's

 

[Nipplechops]

I was wondering if any of you had any tips or tricks for the 2.8L. Will advancing the timing on the 2.8L give me any more horsepower?

Depending on how it currently runs and if your area requires a visual inspecition when it comes to emissions, swapping out the severely flawed EEC feedback system in favour of the older but much more reliable Duraspark ignition and non-feedback carb would produce the best results. Outside of that, there isn't a whole lot you can do without spending a lot of cash.

Advancing the timing on either system won't produce much more than a symphony of engine knock and inevitable engine damage. A 2.8L is a reliable, underpowered and slow engine. That can be remedied via massive cash injection and some serious machine work, but in the end you will only learn the same lesson I did: for the same cost I could have built three V8's or swapped in two 4.0L V6's.

'Tis sad, but true.

 

[B2RBust]

85 Ranger 2.8L/TK5

I also own an '85 Ranger with the 2.8L and it has NOT been converted to Duraspark. As Ranger-84 mentioned, you are prone to have difficulties with this type of system. When mine started acting up, it would run fine for quite some time, and suddenly begahn backfiring, loading up on fuel, and would eventually die. It just happened again this afternoon, at 70mph out on the highway. In the process of sifting through the information on TRS to find out HOW to complete this conversion. I thought I was lucky as I have driven this truck all around locally, but as soon as I hit the highway, it's all over. Not to steal the thread, but if there is anyone watching this thread and would be able to offer some advice on this subject, please drop me a PM or continue here. I'm certain this will end up being a situation encountered time and time again Thanks a million!

Jeff (Louisville, KY)