head question

[littlebrothers4wd]

i have the dual plug head and i want to put the turbo head on and its a single plug head how do i wire that up to get rid of one of the coil packs or do i have to somehow go back to a distributor

 

[88gt]

folks use that dp head on turbo applications just fine. get a flash tuner like sct and have a custom tune made for the turbo that uses both coil packs and leaves all that mess alone. or disable the second coil pack. either way a tune would be reccomended if you plan on using your stock computer.

BTW, put some information up on your setup so that it is easier to answer questions. that way we can know what computer system you have, year of truck, and a brief list of what you have done to it or plan to do to it. then we can steer you in the right direction and not send you in circles

 

[scotts90ranger]

what year operating system are you using?

on my setup with regular DIS I just removed the coil and grounded the two green wires that went to the coil, this signaled the ICM that the coil was working fine, problem with this setup is the tach doesn't work anymore. I've heard from someone that they just plugged a coil into the other side without plug wires on it and just stashed it somewhere and their tach works and it runs, when I tried this the engine wouldn't start.

 

[littlebrothers4wd]

i have a 92 i was going to put the turbo head on but im going to try to put the volvo head on if i can find one and a 3.8l ford supercharger. but i just want to run the volvo head for now.
i just dont know what to do about the other coil pack it runs fine on one but the check engine light comes on. i was thinking could i cut the wires and hook the wires for both coil packs together and then just run one so the computer thinks its still there but i dont know if that will work and i dont want to short anything out

 

[scotts90ranger]

cut the two wires and put them to ground, it'll make the computer think both are hooked up, that's what I did

 

[littlebrothers4wd]

do you have a picture of it cuz im not really sure what wires

 

[BowTech99]

Just unplug one coil pack. Unless your super worried about the check engine light. Do what they said, ground out the wires.

My question is, why do you want to switch from a DP head to a single plug head? Most guys go the other way. Is it just because you dont want to worry about 4 extra plugs or what? Heck put a 2.5L head on it, They have bigger Combustion Chambers stock(which is better for boost)

Also, Do you know how much work is involved in swapping a volvo head on? Go check out TurboFord, but I dont recomend asking this same question or you'll get flamed.

 

[scotts90ranger]

it's a 3 wire connector, the outer two are green with some stripe, ground those... the middle one just terminate with one side of a butt connector or something.

 

[littlebrothers4wd]

i looked a little closer at the wires to day i think i know what your talking about now.

i have looked on turboford and saw what it takes to put the volvo head on it really doesnt look that complicated and a buddy of mine has a head that has already been done to put on a 2.3 that i can copy to make sure i do it right.

i dont want to just unplug the coil pack beacuse it wont run right. the whole reason im doing a 2.3 is to get performance and desent gas milage.

 

[anupaum]

I have to agree that swapping to the four plug head isn't worth it. (I have one, sitting in my garage, along with the upper and lower manifolds and turbo valve cover)

When I did my Megasquirt swap, someone told me that I couldn't drive two coils with it, so I grounded one of the coil packs out, as has been recommended here, and wasn't happy with the results. The two plug head burns cleaner, and if properly ported, will outflow the turbo head anyway.

 

[steve63]

was looking at the volvo/ford head swap,heres the threhttp://www.theturboforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=64513.0d ,it looks like it would flow real well,but break out you're checkbook and get ready to do lots of fabrication,im sure someday somebody is going to do this in a ranger.

 

[BowTech99]

It can and is done quite regurlarly. Just like you said, takes a pretty good bit of fab work. Price wise its not to bad, and yes it flows some insane numbers.

But why? why go thru all that work when you look at most the guys running 2.3's and 2.5's at the track? Most all them runnin dp head, unless they got money and run a ARCA head or something lol. Check out www.turborangerforums.com they'll go into further detail. Ask Aj about the volvo head

 

[steve63]

i would agree,on a street truck it wouldnt be worth it.

 

[jlove1974]

I have to agree that swapping to the four plug head isn't worth it. (I have one, sitting in my garage, along with the upper and lower manifolds and turbo valve cover)

When I did my Megasquirt swap, someone told me that I couldn't drive two coils with it, so I grounded one of the coil packs out, as has been recommended here, and wasn't happy with the results. The two plug head burns cleaner, and if properly ported, will outflow the turbo head anyway.

Everything I have ever read says that the tiny exhaust ports of the DP head are almost impossible to port to flow as well as a D-port or an Oval port. Yes it burns cleaner, without boost but it was my understanding that the combustion chambers on the D port match up with the turbo pistons much better

 

[jlove1974]

just to document I am not talking out my arse about the D-port heads and flow:
http://www.circletrack.com/enginetech/ctrp_0403_ministock_engine_build/index.html

on page 3 of the article
Several different heads have been used on the 2.3L engine, which are distinguished by their intake port shape and combustion chamber shape. D-port closed combustion chamber heads were used from 1984 to 1988. The D-port open combustion chamber head preceded it from 1981 to 1984. Oval port open combustion chambers were used from 1974 to 1981. For the Ranger head, a round port model was put into place. The open combustion chamber is shaped like a "D" while the closed combustion chamber is heart shaped. D-port heads offer the best flow characteristic. The D-port closed chamber head is best for stock classes that cannot modify their heads. An oil pressure restrictor should be inserted into the cylinder head at the left-rear corner in the oil gauge gallery on heads that use solid valve lash lifters.
Ever wonder why the Esslinger 'street' aluminum head has d-port characteristics?