Thinking

[Ranger Kip]

I might be able to get a 86 ranger (blown 2.8 auto 2wd) for free, and wanted to do a diesel conversion, not to a ranger diesel, but to a diesel engine in general. I was wondering what vehicles make good donors?

I am looking to get about 30mpg, and to lessen the weight on the truck I will be installing a wooden flatbed.

 

[adsm08]

86 would have a blown 2.9.

The Cummins 4BT is a popular swap engine. I've heard of a lot of Benz and Volkswagon diesels being done too. I think the Benz 300D engine is very popular one. Runs well of SVO too.

You could make french fries and then go fuel up the truck with the left overs!!

 

[Ranger Kip]

86 would have a blown 2.9.

The Cummins 4BT is a popular swap engine. I've heard of a lot of Benz and Volkswagon diesels being done too. I think the Benz 300D engine is very popular one. Runs well of SVO too.

You could make french fries and then go fuel up the truck with the left overs!!

hows the power and mileage you think? workload to install? meaning of life? social security number?

 

[adsm08]

It's a diesel. It will have some power.

Go look at Snoranger's 4BT thread. Not exactly the same, but it will give you a good idea.

 

[Snoranger]

hows the power and mileage you think?

Depends on the engine. Anyone of the above listed engines should get you near 30 MPG, If youre really interested go to 4btswaps and start reading about it. There are sh!t ton of info about all sorts of deisel swaps on there.

workload to install?

A lot. Again...4btswaps.

meaning of life?

27

social security number?

somewhere between 000-00-0000 and 999-99-9999.

 

[dangerranger83]

Take it if it free andf then go from there, you have really nothing to lose.

As far as what diesel, anything that can fit under the hood would do me personally. Plus being 2wd, it will make a bit easier, at least I would think.

 

[Ranger Kip]

the catch is I have to mow hay fields for 3 months unpaid 8am to noon mon-thur

 

[cody93]

me vote is for the VW diesel, the 4bt is a monster for the unprepaired..

 

[adsm08]

Even figured at minimum wage, that is a not-insubstantial amount of money you are looking at.

 

[Snoranger]

the catch is I have to mow hay fields for 3 months unpaid 8am to noon mon-thur

Thats 16 hours per week... there are 168 hours in a week... You've got 152 hours/week left.

Is the truck worth 1/10 of each week for 3 months?

 

[97RangerXLT]

Yeah, what ADSM said. at 8 bucks an hour, you are going to give him over 1500 worth of labor for this truck...

AJ

 

[Ozwynn]

yeah dude .... thats a $200 truck...........

I would not even have to think about that.....

 

[superds]

Let it go. That pickup is not worth the work. Get a paying job and buy a different Ranger.

The OM617 (Mercedes 300D turbo diesel) from '81-'85 is a pretty good engine. Can get up to about 5k rpm, has 125 hp from the factory (can be tuned easily to 145 hp), been known to last 500k miles. I would think you could get 30 mpg from this engine and have enough power to satisfy you.

 

[94 lngbd]

I had built a wooden framed & wood decked flatbed & it was a hell of a lot more heavier then the factory 7 ft bed. I would say at least double the weight.