kishy's 1985 Ranger

[kishy]

Yeah, if I'm bothering to do any valve stem seals, I'm doing them all (and it does have them on both sides, I'm fairly sure). Only makes sense.

The bench seat is the best condition part of the whole truck, so it's not going anywhere any time soon. However if I find a good full height set of buckets I might consider changing it up. The catch is I won't consider any seat swap that doesn't put seat behind my head.

Swap progress for today:
Moved new engine onto stand.
Verified as one final, very important check that the crank position sensor is a revision before 1995 (e.g. it is the EEC-IV sensor). F2 = we're good.
Removed upper intake and valve cover, stared in awe at how new it looks inside.
Pulled all 8 plugs, stared in awe at how new they look.
Blew out dust/debris in cylinders with air on one side and vacuum on the other.
Poured some ATF in each cylinder and turned engine by hand. Completely free, turns smooth as butter.
Bent thermostat housing to be "good enough".
Removed timing belt and tensioner.

NOT doing the front crank seal. It requires a special tool to accurately position the front cover post-replacement, and I've therefore reasoned that it is a lot more likely for me to make it leak by an alignment issue, than for the existing seal to leak. Based on how the rear main was, it's fine.

Booked tomorrow off work because it's supposed to be awesome outside, so I'm hoping to knock out a good deal of progress.

[DerekTheGreat]

OH wow, that engine is damn minty inside. You look to have caught a steal. If plugs are the ones that went in on assembly, she was running great..

The buckets I put in had head rests behind your head. They also had side bolsters which could have been adjustable had I swapped over the power harness for them and such. Was too lazy to pull the carpet at the time. They were very comfortable and minty, got them right after C4C took effect. Explorers got the same center console but cheaper seats unless the original owner sprang for the upgraded ones, which were what rangers got anytime the owner opted for the buckets + center console option. Heard there were slight differences between Ext. Cab buckets & console vs Regular cab. My stuff came from an extender cab, only had to drill two holes for rear bolt holes. Best mod I ever did to that truck. Although I do love bench seats, especially in a full size truck.

[gadget73]

sometimes those special tools aren't needed, but that crank seal shows no signs of leakage. I wouldn't worry about it.

[kishy]

Uhhhh, well, it's not getting new valve seals lol.

There are metal tubes around the valve springs which prevent the use of the type of spring compressor I have and need to use: http://a.co/d/9yKqetV
This necessitates the use of a specialty tool (a Ford part numbered version of the same is cited in Ford service manuals): http://a.co/d/1Y8FVSg

It pushes down on the spring using the camshaft for leverage. Personally, I'd be terrified of putting any sort of lateral stress on the cam, but that's me.

Anyway. Valve cover is back on and not coming off unless there are oil loss issues. I will continue using the gutted cat until I verify there is no oil consumption and once that is verified, the new cat will go on.

Timing belt and tensioner have been changed. Frost plug block heater has not been installed because I did a dumb and bought the wrong one. Had to egg out the holes on the throttle cable bracket to bring it closer to the ball stud, so the 85 throttle cable will work (still not sure if it will but there's actually a chance it might now, where it was hopeless before).

Verified the fan clutch can mount to the existing water pump, obtained longer bolts to do this successfully.

Belt. Belt belt belt. 6K415 as specified for a 95 Ranger 2.3, manual steering with no a/c, is too long by I'd guesstimate an inch. Chances are, given the application of this engine, it never had an alternator and used a special short belt that only turned the water pump and that's it, so I'm guessing my water pump pulley is unique and smaller than what is normally used on a Ranger. Oh well. CarQuest has a couple unusual size belts (6K405 and 6K407 come to mind) on order which are hopefully going to be in my hands tonight to test fit. Once the correct belt is identified I will buy my spare from RockAuto but will continue using the expensive part store belt.

Received my exhaust manifold back from my buddy's shop and have what I think is all the hardware necessary to put it together. Engine needs pilot bearing, flywheel, clutch installed and it will then be ready to drop in.






Timing mark references:

[DerekTheGreat]

Is that a double donger TFI module in one of those photos???

[kishy]

Is that a double donger TFI module in one of those photos???

Kinda sorta. The twin plug distributorless setup uses a module that I suspect electronically works very much like the TFI modules. However it has to interface with two coilpacks and also takes its spark firing data from a crank position sensor rather than a dizzy pickup (and there is no cam sensor on this engine but a normal 95 Ranger 2.3 would have one - 95 is EEC-V though and has no ignition module).

[gadget73]

Looks like thats what it is. Not an item I'm familiar with.

The 4.6 engines use that same sort of compressor tool to change seals.

Kinda jealous that you have a spring loaded timing belt tensioner. Mine has a manual one. Instructions are to put a beam style wrench on it, torque to whatever and then hold it there while tightening the lock bolt. Its kind of a pain in the ass.

[sly]

Looks like thats what it is. Not an item I'm familiar with.

The 4.6 engines use that same sort of compressor tool to change seals.

Kinda jealous that you have a spring loaded timing belt tensioner. Mine has a manual one. Instructions are to put a beam style wrench on it, torque to whatever and then hold it there while tightening the lock bolt. Its kind of a pain in the ass.

Yeah... I was surprised with that thing when I helped change that timing belt on that 95 Ranger. Yours sounds a lot like the timing belt in the 1.9L early 90s Escort engine... except it didn't even have the tension screw. You were just supposed to hold the pulley as tight as you could and tighten down the bolt. PITA.

[kishy]

The shop manual says to put a torque wrench on it to set it, but there is nowhere to attach, pry or otherwise utilize any sort of torque wrench, prybar or anything else. So the spring did it and I tightened it down as it was. With the outgoing 2.0, I had the same issue, and the belt has stayed on just fine letting the spring set the initial tension so I'm sure it's fine.

The end is near...

Swap progress for today:
Figured out the best belt size: 6K400. 380 is too short, 405 fits but the tensioner barely pushes on it, so 400 it is.
Tested and installed thermostat.
Routed PCV hose, likely too thin and will collapse, but whatever.
Gapped, antiseized and torqued plugs.
Installed exhaust manifold, chased O2 sensor port threads, cleaned up EGR tube threads and installed EGR tube.
Replaced DPFE pigtail with EVP pigtail.
Installed alternator.
Installed pilot bearing.
Mounted flywheel, clutch disc and pressure plate.

Dropped the engine into the truck.
Not done yet though. Fuel tank is absent, need to run lines. Also need some heater hose.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

That's looking good! Can't wait to hear about the first startup.

[gadget73]

Yeah... I was surprised with that thing when I helped change that timing belt on that 95 Ranger. Yours sounds a lot like the timing belt in the 1.9L early 90s Escort engine... except it didn't even have the tension screw. You were just supposed to hold the pulley as tight as you could and tighten down the bolt. PITA.

Its not really a tension screw, the pivot point is hex shaped and you just put a socket and the torque wrench on it. Its a German engine, they have specifications for their specifications.

[Giraffe]

Very nice. I like to tell people that I enjoy working on cars in general. Not just my Mustang and GM. I find builds like this just as interesting as the sexier stuff.

[kishy]

Very nice. I like to tell people that I enjoy working on cars in general. Not just my Mustang and GM. I find builds like this just as interesting as the sexier stuff.

This has a lot of little details, given the exact scope of what's being done. Buying parts in the future is going to be mildly complicated due to the year spread of parts in use. I'm writing a little reference card of that sort of info (e.g. belt number, spark plugs, what year of what vehicle to ask for at parts stores, etc) to laminate and put in the glovebox.

The end is less near.

Swap progress for today:
Bellhousing and mounts fully bolted up.
O2 sensor installed.
New main ground cable completed.
New gear reduction starter installed.
Old oil drained, new oil put in with new filter.
Fan clutch attached to water pump.
Misc wiring stuff.
Tested mysterious unused switch on side of trans, determined it is a neutral safety switch so I'll use that with my remote starter.
Was going to crank the engine (no fuel) to prime the oiling system but discovered the new starter is either dead or I introduced an issue during install, so that needs to come out again for diagnosis.

To-do:
Figure out starter issues
Connect driveshaft,
Route fuel lines,
Hang fuel tank,
Repair parking brake,
Cooling system stuff (flush, fill, figure out hoses)
Install remote starter











All body electrical is working so the hackery I did with the harness worked.
The ECM triggers the fuel pump relay so most likely the engine electrical is good to go also.
The start circuit works, but starter itself is inop.

[kishy]

The end is more near! And then less near again!

Swap progress for today, so far:

Fixed the starter. A crimp had come undone. Engine cranks happily now. I'm glad I realized this before actually removing the starter.

Determined I need a different lower rad hose due to a tight bend in the routing. Will use current to flush block but will get correct hose to actually use. The new hose will be the correct hose for a 95 Ranger (with the extension pipe off the water pump which the earlier trucks lack). The upper hose for the 85, which I replaced in my ownership of the truck, fits the 93 style thermostat housing just fine.

Started engine. It ran reasonably well. Especially considering I forgot to connect the MAF lol. Gas tank is on the ground under the truck, just set up temporarily to make sure it runs (and it did, so the tank can go up soon).

However, it has since stopped starting so diagnosis is required. It is not sparking on any plug on either side, so a wiring, ICM, or crank sensor issue is suspected. After a break earlier I tried it again and it did fire one cylinder, one time, so I don't know. That tends to speak to the crank sensor being fine.









Heading back out to troubleshoot. It's dark and rainy so I might call it a night. Junkyard tomorrow for a spare ICM is a possibility. It's a lot easier to rule parts out when you have spares to swap in place but none of this item has shown up lately and they're way too expensive new to buy unnecessarily.

[gadget73]

make sure the crank sensor connections are good. The 4.6 cars get randomly shitty like this when the CPS plug gets crusty.