Kinda like the truck I bought that came with an extra "good" motor... That had been left with it's manifolds off in the rain for a couple of years, laying on its side. "Good" if I want to tear it down and rebuild it, I suppose. Sucks the junkyard did you like that.
those engines run.....generally they are way out of balance in regards to cylinder psi and valve train dynamics....and seem fine. i had one that was aweful and took two and a half years of a teenager beating on it to finally kill it.
it costs more to open one up then to get a 300 dollar runner... so i just buy a runner. when those are gone. i will figure out the next thing.
glad you ordered the whole valvetrain kit though.....
The current engine still runs good. I'm just noticing that climbing hills I down 2 gears and double throttle from what it was just a couple years ago.
Valve springs on this engine are @$#Y@$#%#$%@^&*. The springs have to be a full coil bind to have any hope of getting the keepers out. That means a normal compressor is out of the question. I ended up using a piece of low profile unistrut and a 10mm socket head bolt with 3/8 washer on it. I was able to remove the intake springs by putting the bolt in the holes above the exhaust ports and the exhaust by putting the bolt in the rocker arm mount holes. Then the keepers were stuck enough that I had to hold that compressed and smack the bottom of the valve with a screwdriver handle.
Here is one rocker arm rebuilt:
I was worried about the press fit on the pedestals. Turns out that was not an issue. After cleaning the shaft the press fit was loose enough that I could almost get them in place by hand.
And all these parts are really helping my magnet collection.
I've got just one more weekend to get this thing assembled. Gotta be able to install over Memorial Day weekend.
I met my deadline with a few hours to spare. It was an interesting experience. First up pictures. Again in no particular order.
Old engine out. Can you tell the valve covers leak? LOL
New engine on stand Saturday morning.
Installed. This was taken Monday afternoon when I got back to work to startup the plant for the week.
Brittney recorded the first start...
It sounded awful until about halfway home. I can hardly hear it running now. I do have an intermittent check engine light. (I actually need to check the code this time. First time it was 172.) I suspect it's related to a dirty MAF, a small exhaust leak somewhere, or a small vacuum leak. Time to go hunting.
I broke the crankshaft pulley bolt on Friday night while doing assembly. Had to go to Gallatin (30 ish miles away) to get a replacement. Then while it weas out I thought I'd break loose the bolts holding the power steering pump to the bracket.
As you can see that didn't go well either. I also learned that to get the engine on new mounts, the transmission has to come completely out. at least that meant I was able to put that mount in at the same time. So far it seems to run well. and the power is back. I've got a full tank of gas thought it now. Will report back with MPG after next fill up. It had averaged 18.5 before. I did find out along the way that my radiator is nearly stopped up. It was taking a long time to drain at the valve, so I pulled the lower hose. When I went to reinstall it it had about half a gallon of coolant still in it. Apparently it took 24 hours to flow that much from one side to the other. I have a new one on the way.
Just checking in on your thread. Glad to see you are still moving along. I dont have any suggestions for your parts list. I too keep a list on my phone for window shopping and when I go to the bone yard.
Mounted the front receiver today. I can confirm the Reese 37042 can be made to mount on the front of a 88. (Probably any 1st gen.) It bolts to the front the same way as the rear hitch does. I flipped the center section to reduce the lost ground clearance. It's 6" below the bumper now was 9". That puts it directly in front of the tire rods. Definitely gotta get the lift on to make up the difference.
This is where it ended up:
These show how the brackets ended up turned. Those 2 bolts are in factory holes either side.
A shot of what's in the box:
This is the winch in it. I got it up and back about 3 inches from these pictures.
I didn't take a picture after I got all the bolts in it.
I have been doing lots of window shopping for the truck lately. If we ever get to work overtime again, I'll have a list. I'm gonna record it here before I forget something. Right Coil Spring Tower Left Coil Spring Tower
Anybody see anything I'm missing there?
Just something to think about based on your four-wheeling aspirations - - consider welding up some F-250 shock towers to the OEM coil towers to give that front TTB axle a lot more articulation. . .
(Note the shock eyelet about 4" taller than the top of the OEM coil tower.)
Full disclosure: Not certain this will work in your '88 Ranger, but this is my set-up on my 1st Generation Explorer ('94 Sport). My guess is that this kind of thing could be done on your rig.
Nice write up - - glad to see you're still plugging away.
I have based my suspension on Explorer parts already. I can't see why it wouldn't work exactly the same. I think the existing spring mounts are the same.
Oil change and got the front winch wiring done. Transfer case didn't go according to plan. New plan is to get the local 1350M from the junkyard to get me running for now and maybe try to take the 2 and make one over a longer term.
New Battery Posts
Winch Quick Disconnect
1350 Transfer Case Internals
I got that snap ring out easily enough. But the front output still wouldn't budge. Any tips?
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