pinto engine

[arren]

hi all, when i bought my truck i was told i have a rebuilt pinto engine, its an 83 ranger 4x4. what i do know about it is its the 2.3 and it has a 2 bbl carb on it. right now i'm getting right around 9 or 10 mpg. i was wondering if i got a 1bbl carb from an old ranger 2.3 if i would get better fuel economy. also, my exhaust manifold has an o2 sensor in it but it isnt hooked up to anything nor can i find any place it could hook up to. i was wondering if its even supposed to be there and if hooked up properly if it could be a part of my gas mileage problem. any help would be greatly appreciated, arren.

 

[briansz]

Sounds like you might need a carb rebuild. I've not yet heard of anybody getting better mileage with a 1bbl Carter than the 2bbl Holley 5200. Even the Carter should get 15 or 17 mpg though.

Do you still have the MCU (black box) on the inner passenger fender? Think the O2 signal wire ultimately went there. Of course, it doesn't matter much if there is no feedback system on the 2bbl carb. I'm pretty sure you are not in an emissions area <lol>.

 

[arren]

well that cancels out the smaller carb option then. im regearing my truck to 4.10's this saturday as i've got 32's on it so i hope that will help out at least a little. i just dont understand why the gas mileage is that bad. as far as the o2 sensor i was thinkin it didnt matter. my thoughts are they just left the old exhaust in when they did the engine swap, maybe the old engine had a setup for the o2 sensor.

 

[Ozwynn]

you got 32's and stock gearing being pushed by a carb'd 4 popper. you are only going to get 9-10 mpg with it.

 

[myranger26105]

if the motor is supposed to have a o2 sensor and its not pluged in then that will cause some of the problems

 

[Ozwynn]

if the motor is supposed to have a o2 sensor and its not pluged in then that will cause some of the problems

not if the feedback carb is gone.


can you duraspark a 4cyl?

 

[Bryan22]

i'm thinking you're odometer is off. probably getting more like 15 mpg. After you put the 32's on did you change the speed-o gear?

 

[briansz]

not if the feedback carb is gone.


can you duraspark a 4cyl?

A carbed 2.3 should already be Durasparked (Duraspark II). I can tell you from personal experience that the engine will run with only a carb, ignition box, and a vacuum advance line to the distributor.

 

[arren]

yeah speedo's off 11 miles i know but thats not how im checking gas mileage. im running until empty, filling up, counting the gallons, then i used mapquest to see how far each of my routes to school and friends houses it is, then do the math once my gas is gone. but about the vacuum line to the distributor, thats the main thing i've been hearing about this engine but the weird thing is when i got it...it wasnt even hooked up? the line goes from the distributor to nothing. so i think im gonna get that hooked up. it goes to one of the places coming out of the intake manifold right? like that little tree?

 

[briansz]

It needs to go to ported vacuum above the throttle plates inside the carb.

The truck will run without it, but maybe it's part of your fuel consumption issue.

If you look in my 2bbl conversion thread at the picture of the 1bbl to 2bbl adapter you can see where I've connected the vac advance line. If it's working, you can see the advance linkage move as RPM increases.

 

[arren]

alright. if i get some pictures around my carb and stuff do you think you could point out where it needs to hook up? i have a pretty good idea as to where it needs to go

 

[briansz]

It's the hose in the picture between the fuel line/filter and the choke housing on the carb. Says 'Gates' on it.

 

[Ozwynn]

you need 4.56 gears and a 5spd. then you should get around 17-18

you are pushing relatively large tires with shitty gears and an 80 hp engine that has less than no torque..... with that set up you are only going to get 9 or 10 mpg .... Iam suprized you are doing that well........ my old Datsun 4x4 with 31's and a 4cyl 4spd (and what ever gearing was in a 77 datsun) got 6 mpg.

 

[schmoo]

i have one of those that gets 22 mpg.
some of those 2v's have a hose that goes
to the power valve on the bottom of the
float chamber. if that isn't hooked
up, you get 10 mpg.

 

[arren]

well i wanted 4.56's but could only find 4.10s for my budget so if it helps then it helps. but as far as the vacuum line i looked all around in that area and the only connection is at the same height as where yours is but on the other side of the carb. is that it?