kishy's 1985 Ranger

[kishy]

Well, it looks like we're finally here.

To recap, the existing 2.0 has serious oil consumption issues (around a quart per hour of runtime and visibly smokes under all conditions) and the carb has a worn throttle shaft causing an uncorrectable vacuum leak, so the logical choice was to just ditch this engine entirely.

I have been quietly hunting parts, mapping wires, and mentally preparing to do this engine swap to get rid of my 2.0.

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First, I needed to figure out a way to mount an EFI high pressure pump. My preference was to put it in the tank like most vehicles from the 80s onwards do, although there are some exceptions, notably some but not all Fords (including the Ranger until 1988).

I determined that my exact same fuel tank (which I purchased new in 2015 - Spectra F21C) was used through 1988, after which a new tank was introduced. I went to a junkyard to check if a 1988 2.3 EFI truck used the same tank and found it did. This meant I could salvage its fuel sender, which would gain me a return line (needed for EFI) and the hanger for the in-tank pump.

1988 still uses two pumps, and the one inside the tank is very small. However, I bought a Carter P74123 pump which is also very small despite being a normal EFI pump, and was able to make it fit. I had to recondition the contacts in the fuel gauge sender as it had a lot of opens and high resistance spots which would make the gauge unreliable. I tested the new sender with my existing cluster and verified it behaves well, before committing to installing it. I also replaced the wires on the sending unit which feed the pump, because the old ones for the low pressure lift pump seemed a little thin.

With this, I will be able to use 1993-scavenged plastic fuel lines to feed the fuel rail which is also a 1993 part.

The tank came out and the sender went into the tank yesterday 9/14. The tank is still outside the truck as I felt it would be best to have room to move around under there for mating the transmission to the engine post-swap.
















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Today, I replaced the starter relay (aka solenoid). This is important because the original installed on my truck is the old-school vertical style with a D8 part number, which does not have a flyback diode within. Flyback diodes were added to the design beginning in the 80s for EFI vehicles because a relay not so-equipped can damage electronics like the ignition module or ECM. The new relay will avoid that. I made sure after doing this that all vehicle electronics including the starter circuit work, so if there is a starting issue after the swap, at least I know this is working correctly.

I drained the coolant and oil. Removed the air intake tube and air cleaner. Removed the radiator. Removed the idle speed computer, Duraspark module, and ignition coil. Removed the engine harness (note to self - this contains the reverse light switch pigtail, if different from the one on the 93 harness). Removed the fan clutch and fan, hoping to reuse these on the new engine.

Unbolted engine mounts, unbolted trans from engine, unbolted exhaust bolts (one came out clean, one snapped off). Put a jack under the trans, then hooked my engine crane to the 2.0 and gave it a tug. Popped out pretty easily. Removed the engine mount brackets from the old engine as I need to reuse those, but I will use new actual mounts. Also knocked out the bellhousing alignment dowels (hollow metal tubes at the leftmost and rightmost bolt holes for aligning trans properly) because my new engine lacks them.

I am currently on a bit of a break from the heat and to grab some food. Next steps will likely involve cleaning the engine bay and finding all the wires I need to connect things to. The new engine may go in by the end of the weekend but probably won't. I suspect I'll appreciate having the extra room to work for making wiring alterations.

[gadget73]

Going for a single in-tank high pressure pump vs the 2 pump setup? I kinda like single pumps, seems to make more sense honestly. One less thing to fail, and if its not a crap pump they last a very long time.

That is a weird belt arrangement for the smog pump. Never seen a WP used like that before. I'm assuming you couldn't just eliminate it since it seems to double as a fan spacer?

[kishy]

Going for a single in-tank high pressure pump vs the 2 pump setup? I kinda like single pumps, seems to make more sense honestly. One less thing to fail, and if its not a crap pump they last a very long time.

That is a weird belt arrangement for the smog pump. Never seen a WP used like that before. I'm assuming you couldn't just eliminate it since it seems to double as a fan spacer?

Yep, single pump. The 93 that all the engine control stuff came from is single pump, so it only makes sense.

The water pump has a very long snout, so in turn the pulley is very 'deep'. Believe it's just one piece of stamped steel. The smog pump was clearly an afterthought in the belt routing but it worked. For various complicated reasons mine was inoperative.

The twin plug 2.3s don't have smog pumps at all. The accessory routing is going to be even simpler on the new engine. Crank, water pump, and alternator, with an automatic belt tensioner.

I'm starting to remember things I want to do to the new engine prior to install, such as scope the cylinders to survey for rust, pre-emptively replace rear main, replace timing belt, install IAC (and oops, do I even have one?).

Also need the bolts for the alternator (side-mount). Have a new (literally new) alt for it. 95A 3G.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

Looks fun. Hopefully the “new” 2.3 gets you where you want to be. I still see plenty of the four banger Rangers of the early 90s running around here, so you’ve got a good formula going for you.

ODB I and EFI should make life a little easier. How was cold weather performance/MPG with the carburetor?

[kishy]

Looks fun. Hopefully the “new” 2.3 gets you where you want to be. I still see plenty of the four banger Rangers of the early 90s running around here, so you’ve got a good formula going for you.

ODB I and EFI should make life a little easier. How was cold weather performance/MPG with the carburetor?

It should be an upgrade in all respects. Should be a 40 horsepower boost and when you're talking about as low numbers as we are here, 40 is a massive boost. The winter drivability should be top notch too.

MPG was acceptable but not great. The deadest coldest parts of winter were a little rougher, 14-16MPG with the increased idling. It generally stayed in the 16-21MPG range in milder weather.

I'm thinking it should be good for a consistent 20+ in all conditions with the new engine but that's all guesstimating. The aero of the first gen is not kind to fuel economy. I think the 'aero' Rangers are good for mid to upper 20s...

[TecNickal]

I enjoyed the smoke show the truck put on.

So weird to see no PS or AC. Pretty basic truck, all the better. Less crap to fail.

Hope you continue to make the progress you want. Then you’ll have your winter beater ready to go!

[gadget73]

I would consider that an opportunity to correct a deficiency. At least with the AC.

[kishy]

I enjoyed the smoke show the truck put on.

So weird to see no PS or AC. Pretty basic truck, all the better. Less crap to fail.

Hope you continue to make the progress you want. Then you’ll have your winter beater ready to go!

lol...it was an effective mosquito fogger...

The lack of AC or PS makes everything easier, for sure. More room in the engine bay, less stuff to connect. AC optional for a winter vehicle (defrost works better with it, but that's not a huge deal). The steering is heavy but tolerable.



Progress for the day was fairly minimal.

Removed wires from 85 harness for 1G alternator which will not be used with the new engine. Keeping the original charge wire in the picture though as, depending on how much of the 93 wiring I use, I may end up keeping all body electronics fed off that original wire. The 3G alternator will have a new dedicated charge wire directly to the relay terminal as well.

Traced wires against manual and verified functions where possible.

Ran fuel sender wiring under truck. Lines still need to be done but that won't be hard.

Measured for new ground wire. The original is severely corroded inside the jacket for much of its length.

Determined I will need to modify one of the engine mount brackets due to clearance against the newer style alternator bracket. I will also need to replace a plug (the 2.3T turbo oil return I think?) with a flush one to clear the bracket.

Came up with a few mystery wires I want to identify before proceeding. These all pertain to features my truck never had, so since it doesn't have them, I can't easily figure out what the wires did. The early EVTMs are not good for figuring out wire functions if you don't already know what feature they pertain to.










Mystery wires I can't identify yet:

Pink with black dots, pink with red dots, and blue with black dots, coming through the firewall and ending at a 3-pin round connector located near the washer fluid reservoir:


Purple/yellow coming through the firewall together with the blower motor and resistor wires, ending in a 1-pin connector affixed to the passenger side fender sheetmetal:


1: Light blue wires (no stripes). One comes through the firewall together with the main harness, going to a 1-pin connector which was unused in my truck. The wire continues back out of the connector along to another connector, a 4-pin one that looks similar to the Duraspark connectors. The other side of that connector did not have a corresponding wire populated.

2: Solid green wire (no stripes). Comes through the firewall together with the main harness and originally went to a 2-pin connector, also similar to the Duraspark connectors, which was not used on my truck.


This is the connector I snipped off the green wire, for reference.



If anyone knows the functions of the mystery wires, I'd appreciate knowing. Ford used the same colour schemes across vehicles, in my limited experience, so some of these might be similar to our cars...but nothing seemed obvious to me. I'll continue to search the EVTM and maybe something will jump out at me. I was thinking maybe engine bay/hood light for one of the single-pin connectors, but I can't find any reference to these trucks ever having a hood light.

[DerekTheGreat]

Cool! I'm stoked to see this is making progress. You going to tear the head off the old engine to see what it looked like in there?

2.3's are great engines. My turd Ranger had one, '94 extender cab 5 speed. I saw 25 mpg sometimes. Did not like to do 85+ on the expressway, you could floor it and it just would sit there at 85 in OD and even lose speed coming up gradual grades. Did not burn oil though and that's big for me.

[Tiggie]

Cool! I'm stoked to see this is making progress. You going to tear the head off the old engine to see what it looked like in there?

2.3's are great engines. My turd Ranger had one, '94 extender cab 5 speed. I saw 25 mpg sometimes. Did not like to do 85+ on the expressway, you could floor it and it just would sit there at 85 in OD and even lose speed coming up gradual grades. Did not burn oil though and that's big for me.

My 95 only gets to 82mph before she gives out. 65 is fine. 75 you have to keep it floored.

I think kishy may be in luck as he will have a bit better power/weight ratio. Rocket ship may be a bit optimistic but it’ll be a great daily driver.

[kishy]

Well...after removing that bug deflector which was seriously messing with the aero, my existing truck was able to struggle its way up to 75ish on a flat, so I'm expecting a hell of a lot better than that. Maybe gearing is not being accounted for here?

3.45:1 rear end in mine, and it has the early TK5 transmission, not the M5-family trans that appear starting in the late 80s through the end of the model.

[kishy]

Swap progress for today:
Finished mapping wires, with exception of clutch safety switch signal to computer which I may worry about after completion. I'm not altering the original 'start' circuit, but need to add switching between SIG RTN and ECM Pin 30 so the computer knows when the clutch pedal is down. The clutch switch has a connector for a second circuit which I will be examining further for this purpose.

The mystery wires described above are still unknown; they won't affect wiring up the 93 stuff, but it would be nice to know what they are for.

Mocked up fitment of 93 air cleaner assembly and found it fits perfectly. I was concerned about the battery tray being on that side, but it looks like it's going to work. This simplifies things like using off-the-shelf air filters, 93 factory original zip tube and sensor placement, as well as the cold weather air diverter function to pull pre-heated air off the exhaust manifold. As a winter vehicle, it makes sense to have that operational.

Focus will shift to the new engine shortly. Need to scope the cylinders to make sure they haven't rusted from not running in 15-20 years. Sorting out the mount bracket, replacing the timing belt, installing a thermostat, installing a block heater and maybe replacing the rear main seal pre-emptively are on the list.

I'm somewhat concerned about the passenger side engine mount. In order to use my original 85 mount bracket, I need to cut a fair bit of metal off of it to clear the alternator bracket. I can only attach it with 3 of its original 4 bolts due to lack of the 4th boss on the newer block. It's not clear that I could use a junkyard 93(ish) mount bracket because the mount itself also changed at some point, and might be a different height (no way to know without taking some measurements).

[DerekTheGreat]

Well...after removing that bug deflector which was seriously messing with the aero, my existing truck was able to struggle its way up to 75ish on a flat, so I'm expecting a hell of a lot better than that. Maybe gearing is not being accounted for here?

3.45:1 rear end in mine, and it has the early TK5 transmission, not the M5-family trans that appear starting in the late 80s through the end of the model.

Was that in 4th? My truck would bury the 85mph speedo in 4th when floored but she screamed like a banshee.. Throwing it in OD was akin to shooting it in the foot though. I miss that little turd. Became an F-series fan boy instead, from the looks of it and when recounting registered vehicles post 2011...

[kishy]

Was that in 4th? My truck would bury the 85mph speedo in 4th when floored but she screamed like a banshee.. Throwing it in OD was akin to shooting it in the foot though. I miss that little turd. Became an F-series fan boy instead, from the looks of it and when recounting registered vehicles post 2011...

The bug deflector was the difference between being able to hold those higher speeds (on a flat) and not, in OD. Before removal, I could reach and maintain those speeds in 4th but it would be screaming like crazy and honestly a little alarming. Hit OD and it would gradually fall back. After removal, it would actually gain speed in OD, but not much at all. At least it wouldn't lose speed though.

That drop from 5-4 on a highway when desperately trying to not lose speed is always a bit of an adventure. Gotta give it a nice big throttle 'boop' (because it's certainly more than a 'blip') and pretty much WOT as soon as you're off the clutch. Lotta noise, with not much happening.

[DerekTheGreat]

Haha yep, sounds like my old Ranger. Revmatching is definitely essential. With A/C and 300lbs of sand in the back, it was dismal. My brother had a '97 and that was a lot better. Small bump in torque, regular cab & 4.11's made the difference. That truck felt adequate. I also like them with the 3.0, those felt well balanced and got 20 mpg, at least the one I drove did.