Project #11 - new daily driver '94 Ranger

[Shran]

Swapped the PCV, too early to tell if anything changed

Bigger problem - I have oil running out the front of the engine up high somewhere, it's running down the water pump. Not sure what to think there. Wondering if the RTV seal on the lower intake blew out.

Just for fun I hooked up a vacuum gauge, it sits at about 17in/Hg at idle.

Also see this, I don't recall this being normal on other vehicles...what's the group thought - normal, excessive amount of blowby?

 

[Blmpkn]

Needs a 2.3

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Swapped the PCV, too early to tell if anything changed

Bigger problem - I have oil running out the front of the engine up high somewhere, it's running down the water pump. Not sure what to think there. Wondering if the RTV seal on the lower intake blew out.

Just for fun I hooked up a vacuum gauge, it sits at about 17in/Hg at idle.

Also see this, I don't recall this being normal on other vehicles...what's the group thought - normal, excessive amount of blowby?

Excessive.

 

[scotts90ranger]

Now that I'm home, THIS is the kit I was talking about, it was cheaper when I got one, I think $60... for LS engines and newer stuff that type of setup is the only way to go, some kits are nicer but 2-3x more expensive... I used it for my 5L, my 7.3L and I forgot to use it on my 2.3L but that one is simple...

My computer is mad and it's late so I'll look at the vid later...

 

[Shran]

Small update, I pulled the engine last week. After messing with it some more I decided that the blowby & oil leak issues were bad enough that it warranted digging deeper into it. Additionally I believe that the pinging problem may be related to the heads that came with it - I haven't removed them yet to check casting numbers but judging by the exhaust ports I believe they are meant for a 95 up 4.0.

I'm going to disassemble it and inspect things... if it looks like I can clean it up with a hone & re-ring job, I will go that route. The machine shop is 3 months out at minimum so if I find something bad then I guess I'll be stuck with waiting. In the meantime I am going to clean up my spare engine and put it in this truck so I can at least drive it. I forgot how crusty it is; I will definitely have some cleanup time into it. That is OK with me though, when it comes back out I will have a nice clean verified good engine that I can use in something else. Going off memory and some notes, it came out of a '93 Explorer and allegedly ran good.

Here's some proof that you can haul two 351W's, a 4.0 and a whole lot of junk in a short box Ranger pickup box trailer - it's a real treat every time I need to get something out of here.

 

[RobbieD]

Some collect coins . . . some collect baseball cards . . . .

. . and some collect Ford engines.

 

[Shran]

Well every time that I think I might have enough junk, my common sense takes over and I remind myself that I need more.

 

[gaz]

@Shran ,
The exhaust ports are the same for 91-97, only the 98+ spec heads are small (nearly the same size as the 2.9l).

 

[Shran]

@Shran ,
The exhaust ports are the same for 91-97, only the 98+ spec heads are small (same size as the 2.9l).

Oh maybe that's the heads I have then. The holes in the exhaust gaskets I have are way bigger than the holes in the heads.

 

[Shran]

Spare engine is in reassembly mode, I spent most of last night cleaning pieces as it was exceptionally dirty. Two nights before that I had pressure washed the whole thing. Glad I took it all apart, there was a lot of sludge in the oil pan and carbon buildup everywhere. No broken bolts when I took the exhaust manifolds off!!!!

 

[Shran]

Spare engine is almost fully back together, I just need to put a new rear main seal in it, put the flex plate back on and I'm ready to drop it in. Hoping to have some time this week to pick away at that project slowly.

Not to bore y'all with engine pics but here it is. Rear mains are impossible to do on an engine stand so years ago I made this little cart for that purpose I think and it has stuck around. I bet I've had 6 or 7 different engines sitting on this cart, real handy.

 

[Shran]

Engine is in, I got two bellhousing bolts in and was getting annoyed at that point but my 9 year old wandered into the shop and wanted to play poker so I figured that was a good place to quit for the night.

 

[Shran]

Last night I finished up the new engine and got to fire it up. I guess my note about it running good was correct, it's not bad. There is a weird little misfire here and there but past idle it's fine - I have some troubleshooting to do, the MAF may be contaminated with blowby oil and there are a couple other things I need to check. But otherwise I have no complaints - it sat for a lot of years in someone's yard, I ran it for about a minute 6 years ago to somewhat test it but otherwise zero run time and it didn't even make noise, it just fired right up.

Sometime I will tear into the original engine and see what's up. I'm not in a big rush now. Drove the truck to work today & washed it this evening, cleaned up pretty nice.

 

[Shran]

Your ranger is turning into a good looking truck. I like the progress that has been done.

Thanks, just wait till I get a 5 speed, manual t-case, 3.73's or 4.10's, about a 3" lift, 31's, different wheels, headache rack with some lights & a tool box... My wallet is already hurting lol

 

[Shran]

I'm moving some tires around - if you follow my other builds, you may recognize these, so just a hint that there will be a small surprise coming next week.

This truck needed tires pretty bad, the rears were at about 15% and the fronts were better but weather checked enough that I don't want to run them on a daily driver. I was a bit nervous about how 31's and 3.27 gears would interact but it's actually not terrible. Probably just speed up my 3.73 swap a bit. 31's were the ultimate goal on this truck and these tires are pretty old so I figured I'd burn them off rather than buying a new set.

While I was swapping tires last night, I found some slop in the wheel bearings. The previous owner told me (in the same sentence) "I just redid the front brakes" and "I'm not mechanical at all but I can handle that." So I immediately assumed that it was not done right and of course I was correct, the nut was quite loose on both sides. Since my 2 door Explorer is being disassembled I decided that I needed to swap in manual hubs and that made for a handy donor. I'll need to go back and clean out the bearings & repack them with fresh grease - it was obviously mixed with old dirty stuff too - that can wait.

I also bought a Raptor Liner kit so sometime this summer I'll be doing that.