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- Joined
- Oct 31, 2018
- Messages
- 7,825
- City
- Dirtman's Basement
- Vehicle Year
- 1988
- Transmission
- Manual
- My credo
- Give 'yer balls a tug. Fight me.
Very easy all-in. Probably cheaper to have staples print and bind the pdf VS finding the book at this point.
2.9 and 4.0 bottom ends do not die. Like, unless you abuse the sh*t out of it, they do not die. One of mine was run with two cracked heads and no oil for a few hundred miles. Piston bores are shot, but bottom end is trustworthy after new bearings IMO.
Most of the modifications done to Colognes are focused on their weaknesses: cooling, and intake runner flow. Most of them have sh*tty exhaust ports as well - euro 2.8i has siamese rear ports, American 2.8c has rear twin ports, and 2.9 and 4.0 have far too big of ports.
Other problem is coolant flow. 2.9 and early 4.0 have glass heads due to bad exhaust manifolds and thin castings. 2.6 and 2.8 just don't flow coolant to their heads. Pruett actually recommends drilling the heads and block with a drill to let coolant flow. I'll be punching my gaskets out on my rebuild for the same reason. Does it work? Dunno. If I post that my engine shot six pistons through the pan, or doesn't, we will know.
Were I you, I'd get it running perfectly first.
Next, I'd see if I had 86 or 89tm heads. If you have 86tm, I'd start hoarding parts - high volume oil pump, cloyes timing set, aftermarket heavy duty heads (have them ported - Pruett gives awesome instructions), stainless valves, double stack valve springs, 89tm rocker assemblies and have spacers made, merkur intake (SO MUCH BETTER THAN RANGER), catch can, new cam and spin-proof bearings, JBA headers, kemso 340lph fuel pump (more of a reliability thing), shot peened and deburred factory rods, deburred pistons, etc etc. And slide an aftermarket ecm in there somewhere.
Do a ton of research on cams and lifters. That's a big failure point for all colognes.
Flow your heads, port and polish your intakes, remove egr wart from exhaust ports, assemble as a deep breathing engine, and let it run its ass off to do everything - they're happiest working hard at mid to high range rpm.
2.9 and 4.0 bottom ends do not die. Like, unless you abuse the sh*t out of it, they do not die. One of mine was run with two cracked heads and no oil for a few hundred miles. Piston bores are shot, but bottom end is trustworthy after new bearings IMO.
Most of the modifications done to Colognes are focused on their weaknesses: cooling, and intake runner flow. Most of them have sh*tty exhaust ports as well - euro 2.8i has siamese rear ports, American 2.8c has rear twin ports, and 2.9 and 4.0 have far too big of ports.
Other problem is coolant flow. 2.9 and early 4.0 have glass heads due to bad exhaust manifolds and thin castings. 2.6 and 2.8 just don't flow coolant to their heads. Pruett actually recommends drilling the heads and block with a drill to let coolant flow. I'll be punching my gaskets out on my rebuild for the same reason. Does it work? Dunno. If I post that my engine shot six pistons through the pan, or doesn't, we will know.
Were I you, I'd get it running perfectly first.
Next, I'd see if I had 86 or 89tm heads. If you have 86tm, I'd start hoarding parts - high volume oil pump, cloyes timing set, aftermarket heavy duty heads (have them ported - Pruett gives awesome instructions), stainless valves, double stack valve springs, 89tm rocker assemblies and have spacers made, merkur intake (SO MUCH BETTER THAN RANGER), catch can, new cam and spin-proof bearings, JBA headers, kemso 340lph fuel pump (more of a reliability thing), shot peened and deburred factory rods, deburred pistons, etc etc. And slide an aftermarket ecm in there somewhere.
Do a ton of research on cams and lifters. That's a big failure point for all colognes.
Flow your heads, port and polish your intakes, remove egr wart from exhaust ports, assemble as a deep breathing engine, and let it run its ass off to do everything - they're happiest working hard at mid to high range rpm.
