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tennis ball will not fit in a 86-87 Ranger TB


tlthehun

Member
Joined
Jan 3, 2010
Messages
7
Transmission
Automatic
I've read time after time that a tennis ball will "fit in" the larger '86-87 2.9 V6 Ranger throttle body.

None of my tennis balls will, at least not in a helpful, "go", "no go" way.

I was at a wrecking yard today for other reasons and lucked upon an '87 Bronco II with 2.9 V6 and a good condition TB. Unfortunately, all the other 2.9 V6 Rangers were missing their engines and I wasn't able to compare larger to smaller TBs nor TPS wiring.

I was too far from home so I spent over an hour reaching out by cell phone to friends and family with access to my computer or the internet for someone to validate my memory about '87 being the right year and invalidate my inkling that it was Ranger only.

The best information that I could get was '87 being the right year (for a Ranger at least) and that a tennis ball is a little over 2 1/2" in diameter. At the moment, I measured the inlet side of the '87 TB to be about 2 3/8" ID; smaller than a tennis ball.

I took a chance and bought the '87 Bronco II 2.9 V6 TB anyway for my '89 Ranger 2.9 V6.

At the throttle plate, the '87 is 58mm, the '89 is 50mm. Based on those measurements, the 58mm TB has roughly 34% more flow area.

The '87 Bronco II TPS plugged into my '89 Ford Ranger wiring harness connector and the TPS can be swapped from one TB to the other

Less than half of a tennis ball will nest in the inlet side of either a '87 or '89 Ford Ranger throttle body.

A racquetball is a much better gauge, as less than half of one will fit in an '89 TB but it is a loose fit in the desired '87 TB; "no go" in '89 TB, "go" in '87 TB.
 
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