cobbled together POS..

[cody93]

got a 2.x round port head today for 40$ the cam looks good, needs new valves more than likely, 1 is chipped and the intake and coolant passeges need to be clean out.. i think it is an early 2.3 (83-85) but will have to measure to make sure. tommorow i take it to the machine shop.

 

[cody93]

Frankenranger lives! got her to start up for the first time in 3 months today, she sounds mean! heres what the end results are
2.3 FI block
2.0 head, rebuilt
2.0 2bbl manifold modified to fit a weber 32/36
converted to GM HEI igniton
EGR delete
98-01 exhaust manifold

new timing belt, hoses, gaskets and such.

What i bought...

tore down..

rebuilt

 

[Mark_88]

Looks good!

Did you attach the engine ground to the valve cover? Never saw that before...mine goes to the last stud on the intake...but it was a pItA to remove this time around due to over tightening the nut...

And that exhaust header looks good...how much did that weigh?

 

[cody93]

half of the original cast iron one it seems like, as for the ground, thats how i found it, ofcourse, it had alot of hands layed on it before i got it...

 

[Mark_88]

Might want to change that if you find electrical issues...the VC bolts are just too short and are prone to vibration loosening...and they get soaked with oil (under certain circumstances)...I like the intake stud for that purpose...if you can find one they are easy enough to swap out...

Less than half...that's about what I found with the metal headers...but I just noticed mine had quite a bit of rust on it since the last time I looked...so I may end up replacing that soon enough...

What did you use for fuel pump? Can't really see much from those angles...I mouhted mine just under the master cylinder so it is easy to access and keeps it out of the oil/slop from road spray...

 

[cody93]

this thing has an electric fuel pump that a PO stuck under the frame rail, i'll need a fuel pressure regulator and i'll probly relocate it and wire it better. not too woried about the ground at the moment, theres always the negitive bat wire on the starter... plus it was a bitch bolting down the carb, i had to partially remove some the carbs linkage to get at it so i cant imagine intake manifold bolts being pleasent to get around now...

 

[cody93]

its alive! needs throttle cable, fuel pressure regulator, fuel lines and fix the ignition switch wiring and its road worthy, kinda.. then its tuning time.

 

[96fordranger]

if i could make a suggestion it would be to move the gm ignition module away from the engine you cant keep them too cool

by the way is the ford brain box still hooked up?

and that is a sweet little build by the way. i would bet you may have gotten both sides of the coin probally a little more power and a little more economy

 

[cody93]

the ford brain box is all gone, just need 12v to + on the coil and its alive, so stupid simple with the gm hei. i'll get a pic off all the spagetti i removed later.

 

[96fordranger]

yeah i did the gm module on my full size truck when i got rid of the tfi ignition it works great

you should have a hot from the key in the system just use a testlight to see witch wire it is from the harnes that goes from the body to the ford brain box there should be two in it just unhook the coil wire and test one will run the starter without the key and one will run it with the key

 

[Mark_88]

If you have time to do a write-up about that it would probably make the Tech Library. There have been quite a few people on here over the years trying to figure that mess of wires out and everyone says it is easy to get rid of it but nobody has ever provided an easy to follow guide for doing it.

I was going to attack mine this summer when I did the wires for the lights but I got side tracked and it is still there...

 

[coleboy11]

Nice man! Yes, in the 2.3 efi, there are more wires than there are stars in the sky. Any information about cutting some of that stuff out would indeed be valuable!

 

[96fordranger]

just take your time and run everything down i dont know a whole lot specific about these older trucks, but if they are like a full size it should have had a feedback carb on it origanally, if so then it has a computer that ran the carb if it didnt have the original carb on it check to see if it had an o2 sensor if it had the computer remove it and its wiring because it should do nothing anymore


by the way you dont have it too bad cleaning up under the hood you should see my 86 f150

 

[cody93]

ok, heres an update, ive driven the thing 100 miles and there still bugs needing worked out. the biggest one is the carb backfireing and the major hesitation.

im not 100% clear on timing with these things. i have it set at 10 degrees BTC with vacuum hooked up using a timing light, seems a little too advance as im get carb backfires. tech libary said 2.0's are 6 degrees BTC but it seemed to run a little rough imo. do i set it to 10/6 degrees with the vac advance hooked up or plugged off?

will it matter if its a 2.3 instead of a 2.0? with higher compression?

 

[Mark_88]

The timing should be set with the vac line plugged initially. I set mine to about 8* BTDC and it runs fine but required a bit of dizzy adjustment to get it to run right.

You should back off the idle screw a bit initially because turning the dizzy will cause the idle to go up or down depending on the direction (clockwise makes it drop and counter makes it rise).

It will take a bit of adjustment on the A/F mixture also. Carb backfires can be caused by too rich mixture and there should be two adjustments...one for primary and one for secondary...The primary is usually about one full turn out from fully closed...the secondary is usually only about a quarter turn out from fully closed...at least it is on the 5200 and it looks exactly like yours except it has the pointed end on it towards the front of the vehicle.

If you do have two adjustments then the primary is on the outside of the carb away from the VC...the secondary should be on the inside towards the VC...

However, you might want to check out the EBCHOST site for a picture of the carb and the breakdown of the parts...this will lead you to the A/F mixture screw locations...

Turning the dizzy may get rid of the backfire if it is not an adjustment issue.