water pump upgrade?

[wildbill23c]

im droping in a 180-185 since its almost always 90+ weather here, not quite sure on the a/c thing check if the a/c clutch wire was ran in to the engine compartment, if so i guess it had a/c

I think its there, however the pulleys on the engine itself wouldn't allow an A/C compressor, there's only 2 grooves on the pulleys and those are taken up by the alternator and the power steering pump. There aren't any brackets or anything else for that matter that would show that it ever had A/C in it. Given the problems I had with my 84 ranger's A/C I don't care that it don't have A/C. Just would have been nice to know if it did as that usually means it has a bit higher capacity radiator.

I'm thinking of putting in a lower temp thermostat, I just hate having to do it because its a pain to get to the thermostat housing without taking the belts off.

 

[Lil-Pony]

Hmm, is there holes in the fire wall where the a/c lines would have been ran, you cqn lower your temp i dont see a problem with that

 

[wildbill23c]

Hmm, is there holes in the fire wall where the a/c lines would have been ran, you cqn lower your temp i dont see a problem with that

I haven't dug into much, it has the box at the firewall where the A/C lines are there, but everything else except that and the dash A/C button is non-existent. I'd have to swap engines or pulleys to have A/C. Don't understand the thoughts the previous owner had on this thing but they screwed up a lot of stuff.

A/C box/lines


2 groove engine pulleys


Dash A/C button

 

[enginepaul]

The radiators are the same, the shroud is different. If the A/C isn't running, it will have no effect on your heat.
I'll bow to someone who live in a hot climate, but I use the same thermostat all year in California (it never freezes). I do drive a lot in Sacramento where it gets to 100+ on some days with no problem.
The temperature gauges in these Rangers are more of an estimate that the actual temperature - if it isn't boiling over, you probably don't have much to worry about.

 

[wildbill23c]

The radiators are the same, the shroud is different. If the A/C isn't running, it will have no effect on your heat.
I'll bow to someone who live in a hot climate, but I use the same thermostat all year in California (it never freezes). I do drive a lot in Sacramento where it gets to 100+ on some days with no problem.
The temperature gauges in these Rangers are more of an estimate that the actual temperature - if it isn't boiling over, you probably don't have much to worry about.

I have an actual aftermarket temp gauge the dash gauges don't work, so I know exactly what my temperatures are, which is the reason I didn't bother fixing the dash gauges they're totally useless to anyone that actually pays attention to them, the factory gauges are actually just idiot lights.

 

[Lil-Pony]

i have aftermarket temp, oil pressure and rpm,
it looks like it had a/c need some one who didnt have a/c to chime in and confirm.

 

[wildbill23c]

i have aftermarket temp, oil pressure and rpm,
it looks like it had a/c need some one who didnt have a/c to chime in and confirm.

Didn't have A/C with this engine/pulley configuration. A 2.8L with A/C would have had a 3 groove pulley, and a California model would have had 4 groove pulleys on the engine. My 84 Ranger had 4 belts, A/C compressor, Alternator, Power Steering Pump, and SMOG Pump. This one is extremely odd to have some of the parts, no condensor, lines, compressor, etc, but it does have parts of the A/C, kind of wonder if the engine was swapped out at some point with one that was from a non-a/c truck.

Anyhow, in my 84 ranger it would overheat constantly with the factory 195 degree thermostat, however after changing to a 180 degree it never did after that. I'm not too thrilled with the a/c in the early 80's rangers/bronco 2's, last time mine worked in my ranger it lasted a couple months then quit working again, sold it to a guy that didn't care whether it worked or not.

The A/C button in this bronco 2 is different than the one in my 84 ranger, this button is round, the one in my 84 ranger was a square and considering how screwed up this truck is, makes me believe they were trying to add a/c and realized they couldn't because there wasn't enough pulleys to do so.

 

[Lil-Pony]

Had mine converted to "r134a"?. Had some bad luck with the compressors clutch going out causing it to partially engage and burn it up went though 2 compressors. Each under the last ones 1 year warrenty. Your theroy makes more sense it had a/c then it got a new engine. A little work and parts and you could have a/c not that it is worth it unless you wrap all the lines with thermal insulating material and tape to make it more efficient.

 

[wildbill23c]

Had mine converted to "r134a"?. Had some bad luck with the compressors clutch going out causing it to partially engage and burn it up went though 2 compressors. Each under the last ones 1 year warrenty. Your theroy makes more sense it had a/c then it got a new engine. A little work and parts and you could have a/c not that it is worth it unless you wrap all the lines with thermal insulating material and tape to make it more efficient.

I was pricing things out and its by far not worth the money. I mean a/c would be nice but given the problems I had with the ranger its just not worth the trouble. All the freon leaked out within a few months after spending well over $1000 having it converted to r134a and a new compressor. After all that money I expected it to last a few years, but it didn't even make it through summer so I don't feel it would be worth the trouble and money on the bronco 2, not to mention don't know how I'd run the compressor since the engine isn't setup for a/c.

 

[Lil-Pony]

Pulley swap from junkyard along with a the lines and compressor , but your right its just not worth it. But hey keep it in mind since your ready for it i believe you even have the a/c exhange radiator in front of the radiator. So if you find one for cheap, hey you got it made

 

[wildbill23c]

Pulley swap from junkyard along with a the lines and compressor , but your right its just not worth it. But hey keep it in mind since your ready for it i believe you even have the a/c exhange radiator in front of the radiator. So if you find one for cheap, hey you got it made

Nope, only the radiator, no a/c condenser in the truck at all. Thought about doing the swap but I need a lot of other things more importantly right now than A/C, tires and rear main seal being on the extreme top of the list right now. I drove my Ranger around for 3 years without A/C so its not like I haven't done it before, and I spent 18 months in Iraq, so the temps around here where I live are bearable by far compared to Iraq. A/C would be nice but I don't get too far from home so its kind of pointless having A/C to run around town.

 

[Lil-Pony]

True true, so is your thread jack over

 

[wildbill23c]

True true, so is your thread jack over

Yep, sorry LOL.

 

[Lil-Pony]

haha, time to let this thread die then

 

[enginepaul]

A sudden thought - the fan clutch. I replaced mine and things got a bit cooler during idle.