2.3L ('83-'97) Replacing OEM Thermostat Housing 1990 with newer style 1992 +

[Nubs]

Hi Y'all! My 1990 Ranger 2.3L SOHC 5 spd, has just about had it with the thermostat housing being worn out, and I for the life of me cannot find a suitable replacement for it. The newer style is plentiful to find and brand new of course, so my question is what do I need to do or change to be able to use the newer style thermostat housing / Water Outlet with the 1990 engine?

The 1990 I have has the Spark Plug coils on on the left and right hand sides, whereas the newer style has them both on the right hand side next to each other. Would I be able to source the brackets, make a harness to move the left hand side coil over to the right hand side as the later years do, and with some heater hose re-routing, and wiring harness extension and be able to use the newer style of Thermostat Housing?

What all parts would I need to get this to happen? Would the new style even fit without hitting the timing cover? I tried to fit a newer style one on there in desperation, but it hit the coil bracket on the right hand side, and the heater hose outlet on the newer style one wasn't even close to the old OEM one. Because at this point, I'm not too sure how much longer my truck's original one is going to last. Gurus, tinkerers, and other people please chime in, I could use all the advice I can get, because my last resort is to have one fabricated up, which costs a whole hell of a lot more than a four seasons one from RockAuto. Thoughts and insights super appreciated!!

Kind Regards,
Nubs

 

[scotts90ranger]

It's been so dang long since I've had the stock setup on my '90... but I just did a T stat housing on my '97 last year so that's more fresh... even if you used the '97 setup the main difference is there's a temp sensor in the heater core tube but it comes with a plug for that so you would be able to seal it up and hook things up more how it used to be. If memory serves the heater hose goes around the coil pack mounted on the front of the passenger side, I remember bending a tube on mine but it could have been from the turbo side... I'll try to look at my '90 and '97 tomorrow to see if things would interchange easy enough...

 

[scotts90ranger]

I snagged the '97 T stat housing and put it under the hood of the '90 and soon realized/remembered that the upper hose size is the main issue with the swap, this came up a few months ago and I don't remember where that got to, I'll try to remember to do a search in the morning for the post that came up a while ago on this, don't have it in me tonight...

 

[Nubs]

Thank you Scott! I was the one that started that post a couple of months back, ended up lopping off the rusted part of the hose outlet and just cranking down the hose clamp with prayers.

The sensor bung would not be an issue, I have a Proform controller on the truck with a 225W Maradyne setup, the sensor outlet would be a plus for me, as mine now is just fitted with a go in between piece in the hose outlet for the heater core. Also on the '90 thermostat housing I found out the hard way that not all thermostats have the little cat ears on them.

My truck has never even moved the temperature gauge until I was sitting at a light for an extended amount of time, I thought that something was wrong with the thermostat housing, as all of the thermostats I tried never worked. I bought a Motorad thermostat, and lo and behold it fit and the cat ears clocked it into the thermostat housing, allowing my engine to reach operating temperature for the first time since I've had the truck really.

So note to anyone experiencing a 2.3 SOHC that won't warm up and runs too cold, get a Motorad thermostat, and clock it into the housing clockwise, Stants didn't have the ears to clock, so I assumed it was my ancient thermostat housing.

Thanks Scott for helping me figure this thing out. The new housing looks like it would be the lick, but I think on the one I bolted up the heater pipe hit the timing belt cover, and of course the direction of the tube didn't allow it to fit with the left hand right hand coil setup a '90 has.

Kind Regards,
Nubs