Can I squeeze any more power out of it?

[Rogue_Wulff]

Power brakes, air conditioning, and AM/FM cassette was about as fancy as they got back then. I don't think power steering was even available until the next (86?) bodystyle came along. Heck, mine was just a 4 speed stick. Would have liked a 5 speed, prolly would have gotten even better MPG.
Power steering really isn't needed on a truck this size. My 95 B2300 doesn't have it, nor my 83 RX7, and I don't miss it. The RX7 even has wide tires/wheels, but it's so light PS isn't needed. My nissan truck has PS, and it really doesn't need it, in my opinion.

 

[flaminranger]

I am running a weber 32/36 dgav weber and my mileage stayed about the same if not better and I do not drive it like granny. I understand it is a different engine but even if it does get worse I woudn't think it would get much worse.
http://www.therangerstation.com/forums/showthread.php?t=58074
here try this for a cam I don't know if they can help but they do all kinds of cams. from dirt bikes to model a's.
Duane

 

[Rogue_Wulff]

If memory serves me right, the cam is held in place with the head bolts on this particular engine, so a cam swap would require removing the head to replace the gasket. The head is aluminum, so it can warp very easily from simply untorquing the head bolts. It's also prone to warping if the engine gets hot. I had a head gasket failure, due to the engine getting a bit warm (dealer added A/C), and I found out the hard way about the head warp issue.
When I had the head in the machine shop, which was also a well known speed shop, they couldn't locate any kind of aftermarket cam for the mazda 2.0. They thought they did, but it turned out to be for the Ford 2.0.... Of course, that was nearly 30 years ago.

 

[stegomon]

a supercharged and nos 460 swap is always good for power

 

[BlueChariot]

If i do a swap on this truck it will be after I find a project Ranger and have my savings built back up. I'm keeping this as a DD, I only want it to have a bit more kick to it.

And thanks for the info, flaminranger.

Rogue, I still couldn't find cams, or anything else for it. Thanks for the wanring about the aluminum warp issue.

Cheapest NOS kit ever:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Hond...47?pt=Other_Vehicle_Parts&hash=item4a999a32fb

Found a Weber conversion kit on eBay, does this seem like a fair enough price?-
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Mazd...zda|Model:B2000|Year:1984&hash=item4cf6b0e87b

 

[Rogue_Wulff]

That's the exact carb I was talking about, and I see it even comes with the needed adapter plate(s) and the air cleaner.
Price is a bit higher than I remember, but that was 30 years ago. Seems pretty reasonable by todays standards.
I promise you, installing that will not leave you disappointed, especially if you drive the truck a couple weeks before making the swap.......

 

[BlueChariot]

Sweet, looks like I've got a kit to save for. I'm just unsure about what to do with the exhaust now. it's a very small engine and I'm not sure what size pipe would be ideal. I have a picture of a chart, but it doesnt go below 2.5 liters.

Onviously, stock exhaust manifolds suck, but unless I get a custom one made I can't do much about that.

 

[Rogue_Wulff]

I was just gonna add that a free flowing exhaust would maximize the gains from that carb swap.....

What I did on my 80, was used the stock twin outlet manifold, and ran true duals with 2- 2" OD pipes thru 2 24" glasspacks, exiting behind each rear tire. Probably overkill, but it sounded pretty sweet to my teenage ears. Kinda like a pair of harleys running in unison, but not quite as loud.
A buddy had a 79 courier with the ford 2.3, and he built a dual outlet header, then copied my exact exhaust setup. Didn't sound quite same, nor run as good, since he still had the factory carb.......

Neither truck sounded "Ricey" like a honda with a "Fart cannon" either.

 

[Rogue_Wulff]

Just for kicks, I found an old pic of the truck and scanned it. Here it is just days after getting a fresh paint job. If you look close, you can see the tailpipe just behind the rear tire. Had one just like it on the other side as well....

 

[BlueChariot]

Besides sound, did the flow output of the dual exhaust seem to help the overall flow? I know that balancing flow is important, so I had assumed on such a small engine duals might hurt rather than help. Also, do you know the CFM of that Weber?

The one I'm getting looks essentially like this-

 

[Rogue_Wulff]

Hard to say really. The exhaust was done before the carb, and it seemed to make a lot of difference. Of course, the factory cat was rather restrictive to begin with, and was beggining to plug up. Since it used a dual inlet/single outlet cat, I just cut it off and had an exhaust shop build the system. I wanted them to use the stock pipe size (1.5-1.75") but they didn't have anything smaller than 2" OD, so I just went with that.

Other than a long bed and different grill/headlights/turn signals, that's almost exactly what my truck was. Mine started life as a generic white with steel wheels and dog dish hub caps. I saw it as a "Clean canvas" and proceeded to make it what I wanted......

 

[Rogue_Wulff]

Oh yeah, about balancing the flow. The factory manifold joined cyls 1&4, and 2&3 into seperate runners. with the firing order being 1-3-4-2, it fired into each pipe in turn, giving it a very balanced sound. I think that had a lot to do with the lack of the ricey sound.

 

[BlueChariot]

I'm not sure any shops around here would build me an exhaust without a cat lol. Even though that little engine can't produce all that much harm. I think if I steal your idea I'll go dual 1.75 inch if they have it. Idk about glasspaks, I've heard very mixed opinions but you did say from first hand experience they gave it a nice sound.

Also, thats good to know, maybe the stock manifold isn't as useless as I thought lol.

What kind of front suspension do they have? This is an engine thread, but I want to leech as much useful info from you as I can lol.

 

[Rogue_Wulff]

Glasspacks might be a bit over the top, but ~30 years ago, they were about the only option besides stockers.....

As for the front suspension, it's got upper/lower A-arms, kinda like chevies and newer fords use. The only real weak link, is the idler arm. The stock unit came with replacable bushings, and they are a pain to deal with. There is a moog upgrade idler arm available. I went thru several sets of idler arm bushings. I wish I knew about the improved design moog part back then. I only know about it now due to the RX7 using the exact same steering gearbox and idler arm as the B2000/Courier.

 

[BlueChariot]

Could you link me to the exact part? Since bolt on upgrades are sparce, I want to go ahead and compile a list of things I can do to it without going big with an engine swap or something.