the famous 2.3L

[Fast Fords]

Okay so here is what I am thinking. I hear that you can do a turbo swap from a Mustang, Thunderbird or a Merkur, and I am looking into this pretty deeply. I have found everything I need to put the parts on, but I need the funds (in a month or so). However, my question is what about the intake manifold off of a 2.3L N/A mustang??? There are a few kickin' around the local scrapyard and i was thinking maybe it had better flow than the stock Ranger intake manifold. Thanks in advance

 

[philS]

Are you dropping in a complete 2.3 Turbo motor from a donor car, or trying to upgrade an existing 2.3 with turbo parts?

(if so, the latter is a waste of time).

 

[Fast Fords]

if possible i was gonna attempt the engine swap but i am having a really tough time locating an engine that hasn't been parted out in Ontario here. What i have found is pretty much everything i need besides forged pistons (which is why i want the engine swap), such as the turbo, intercooler, engine computer from a t-bird, exhaust manifold, MAF and even the head from the turbo BUT not the bottom end. I know it would be easier to just drop another engine in. Hell if I could find one local i would soo fast; I'd just leave my stock engine in for the time being and rebuild the turbo engine with a better cam, valves, pistons etc. Any suggestions as to where to find this rare thing??

 

[shadetree]

Okay so here is what I am thinking. I hear that you can do a turbo swap from a Mustang, Thunderbird or a Merkur, and I am looking into this pretty deeply. I have found everything I need to put the parts on, but I need the funds (in a month or so). However, my question is what about the intake manifold off of a 2.3L N/A mustang??? There are a few kickin' around the local scrapyard and i was thinking maybe it had better flow than the stock Ranger intake manifold. Thanks in advance

I don't know which manifold you are talking about, but on a stock setup, it doesn't matter. When under boost, the air is being forced thru the mainifold.

If you are uping the horsepower of the engine by adding boost, most use the stock manifold, grind out the ports where the two manifolds mate together, and "knife edge" the lower intake, and polish both.

What model truck are you putting this engine into? shady

 

[Fast Fords]

the intake manifold off of, say a 1993 and under 2.3L Mustang (non-turbo), has a different design than the intake manifold on the 2.3L found in the rangers. Was wondering if there was any performance gains found with this manifold as oppossed to the stock one. It sure looks smoother than the ranger one, and that way if I DO attempt the build-up of the turbo i would potentially have a better flowing intake manifold which wouldn't hurt hehe.

The truck I am planning this for is the dual spark 2.3L in my short box reg. cab 1995 Ranger XL.

Thanks,
Coalton

 

[feellnfroggy]

the intake manifold off of, say a 1993 and under 2.3L Mustang (non-turbo), has a different design than the intake manifold on the 2.3L found in the rangers. Was wondering if there was any performance gains found with this manifold as oppossed to the stock one. It sure looks smoother than the ranger one, and that way if I DO attempt the build-up of the turbo i would potentially have a better flowing intake manifold which wouldn't hurt hehe.

The truck I am planning this for is the dual spark 2.3L in my short box reg. cab 1995 Ranger XL.

Thanks,
Coalton

I have had both 89 and 93 mustangs and i now have 92 ranger, dont see a difference between the manifolds. If you feel you need the stang mani though, but cant find it take your ranger mani to a machine shop and ahve it ported but for what your doing and the size of our motor its entirely pointless unless you running 42 lbs of boost.

 

[Fast Fords]

I have had both 89 and 93 mustangs and i now have 92 ranger, dont see a difference between the manifolds. If you feel you need the stang mani though, but cant find it take your ranger mani to a machine shop and ahve it ported but for what your doing and the size of our motor its entirely pointless unless you running 42 lbs of boost.

haha well thanks for advice that certainly helps and i know i won't be running no 42lbs of boost. Visually the manifold looked a little different, so I was just wondering. I am "literate" with part names and such but when it comes to porting and stuff related to machining the parts on vehicles i get lost LOL but ya..have you done anything to your ranger?

 

[feellnfroggy]

haha well thanks for advice that certainly helps and i know i won't be running no 42lbs of boost. Visually the manifold looked a little different, so I was just wondering. I am "literate" with part names and such but when it comes to porting and stuff related to machining the parts on vehicles i get lost LOL but ya..have you done anything to your ranger?

Actually yes I have. I have remove the throttle body and ported the tube that was clogged with carbon, remove the fuel pump and polished the mud off of it. Retimed the motor so that compared to the sh!tty way it was running now its running like race car.

in actuality Ive spent all my time fixing my ranger, I bought it for 450 bux and it ran alittle rough. The guy said it was egr prob via mechanic but no mechanic ever looked at this truck unles he threw it ona scanner and halfassed it. I got a great deal its jsut taknig time and patience. Mods will come soon enuff tho, I jsut need to get it back above 25 mpg... Right now I am throwing KOER CODES 18 AND 98. ANYones help would be appreciated

 

[Fast Fords]

Actually yes I have. I have remove the throttle body and ported the tube that was clogged with carbon, remove the fuel pump and polished the mud off of it. Retimed the motor so that compared to the sh!tty way it was running now its running like race car.

in actuality Ive spent all my time fixing my ranger, I bought it for 450 bux and it ran alittle rough. The guy said it was egr prob via mechanic but no mechanic ever looked at this truck unles he threw it ona scanner and halfassed it. I got a great deal its jsut taknig time and patience. Mods will come soon enuff tho, I jsut need to get it back above 25 mpg... Right now I am throwing KOER CODES 18 AND 98. ANYones help would be appreciated

i'll ask the boys out back here and see what they have to say about the codes...and i hope the best for your $450 ranger cuz man when they run good (the 2.3L) they will run FOREVER. I bought my 95 with 87000 k's for $2000 and only had to do brakes, tires and power steering return line. In all, i have sunk prolly an extra $3000 into it (tonneau cover, rims, tires, body work etc.) but it runs like a dream. Going to Nova Scotia in 5 days with the truck so its gonna be a good test haha

 

[ejholmgren]

have fun mating an OBDII harness to a OBDI computer

 

[feellnfroggy]

have fun mating an OBDII harness to a OBDI computer

GOOD POINT

Mine had 188k on it right now. maybe 288k it was a farm truck at some point and has been through a few owners. It only has 5 digit odo. So who knows, but it runs. I just wish it would have been 4wd. Oh well.

 

[Fast Fords]

okay so i did some digging. do you know what these codes are? if not, this is what I have found.

you are showing codes 18 and 98 with Key On Engine Running. In your 18 code, with test condition R (meaning engine was running) code 18 means Spark Output Signal circuit open or spark angle word (SAW) circuit failure. Code 98 with test condition O (Key On Engine Off) the Electronic Pressure Control (EPC) driver failure (whatever that means).

My idea is that you have an ignition or a timing concern possibly? just a thought....

 

[feellnfroggy]

okay so i did some digging. do you know what these codes are? if not, this is what I have found.

you are showing codes 18 and 98 with Key On Engine Running. In your 18 code, with test condition R (meaning engine was running) code 18 means Spark Output Signal circuit open or spark angle word (SAW) circuit failure. Code 98 with test condition O (Key On Engine Off) the Electronic Pressure Control (EPC) driver failure (whatever that means).

My idea is that you have an ignition or a timing concern possibly? just a thought....

I knew about the electronic pressure control circuit failure, ive post that a coupel times. Im thinking fuel pressure? and there are abotu ten different codes for the other one. The one i found was ignition diagnostic monitor circuit failure from a codebookl that came with an obd1 testkit. However, funny you mention spark output signal, I tore down teh entire intake assembly last night and cleaned the fuel injectors (all kinda crap gummed up in the screens) but as I was buttoning up i decided to remove the wires form the coil one by one and check spark. Imagine this!!! no spark at all in cyl 1 and 4 from the primary, plenty of waste spark but no primary. So I cleaned out the quarter square inch of dialelectric grease. caked up so bad there was no contact, then i checked sparka gain. guess what still no spark, so i took my primary coil and swapped it with the waste coil. It ran fine last night. Its a little rough this morning, the truck dont like to run cold at all, then on the way to work it started quittin past 2500 rpms, (felt like timing retard from traction control on some of the newer vehicles.) And it still runs rough with no power in the lower rpms, requires wot pedal pressure to go anywhere and even then only halfway throughthe rpm range,


PLEASE POSTS FUTURE RESPONSES TO TEH BUSTED P.O.S. THREAD. i THINK WE INADVERTANTLY JACKED THIS DUDES THREAD.