bone stock 89 2.3, can it suck less?

1. gut the cats if you can.

2. get the 1993 or 1994 ford ranger stock tube header.

3. remove the major obstruction in the air intake "muffler".

4. feeling adventurous? locate an 8.8 axle out of a 5.0 car with 3.91 or numerically higher gears.

5. install 17# injectors (can be found on any mid to late 90's chevy 3.1's)

6. disable the EGR tube

7. reset the computer by unplugging the battery for 10 minutes.

Installing an 8.8 would be a waste of time IMO...the auto cars had 3.73's from the factory, and you can buy 4.10's for the 7.5 but your highway mileage would suffer.

Hate to say it but you can really only make the car suck slightly less with just bolt-ons.

Red_LX said:

Installing an 8.8 would be a waste of time IMO...the auto cars had 3.73's from the factory, and you can buy 4.10's for the 7.5 but your highway mileage would suffer.

Hate to say it but you can really only make the car suck slightly less with just bolt-ons.

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i agree a little on the 8.8 may be overkill, however, it's not too difficult nowadays to find an 8.8 with some good gears already installed plus the benefit of posi - and can be had for less than 200. I picked up an 8.8 from drum to drum for 80 bucks - but it had the 2.71 gear - which is was i was looking for because most my time is highway and was looking to improve my high end cruising.

Buying the gears and having them installed on the 7.5 would probably cost way more than locating a used 8.8 and bolting it in.

KamiKaziDK said:

... what can I do to improve the power?...

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---Relearn driving & gain new habits. It'll never respond like a carbureted 302 or 351, it'll very seldomly light up the tires when you put your foot under the hood.

---I'd say start with tuning the fuel delivery. Set the TPS to about .02v higher than the lowest suggested. Run quality oil with a minimum of .01% Alkyl Zinc (now called ZDDP). Cut out the catalytic converter and install 2x Y pipes into a quad pipe for custom header unless someone has found a header to fit the application and scab the V8 headers from the junk yard and a high-flow muffler like a new 6" Cherry Bomb moved closer to the exhaust manifold... or about 18" minimum, behind the hottest part of the exhaust and then 1/4" larger ID pipe from muffler back. Check that all sensors are within their ranges.

---Maybe a different stall torque converter if you want pep. 3:03 gearing? A trans flush and fill and a good, high flow, quality filter. Screw K&N and Fram. Flow is either sacrificed for particulate filtering or vice versa between those two. ATP racing application all the way... or Baldwin where available. Motorcraft would even do well in the high-flow/racing application.

---Cold air intake. AC-Delco had the best over-all grades in a private, individual test performed by a fireman about 8 years ago on air filters (I hate GM/Delco so it must be true if I am saying it... lol).

---Clean up your electrical. Test wires from one end to the other for resistance and replace wires one at a time if need be. Get rid of steel grounds and make a copper loop, tying in fuse box and battery, around the frame using 10 gauge wire and tap all ground wires to the 10 gauge at the closest point, leaving yourself about 8" for future crimps/repairs.

---Flush the cooling system and all other fluids. Vehicles are supposed to be flushed every 2 seasons if not every two years. They're like the carpet in your house. If you don't clean it once in a while, you take in all the pollutants that are wiped on your carpet and over time, they'll choke &/or poison you.

---Run a quality racing oil. Penn Grade, Kendal, Redline. Camshaft companies like Shnieder, Erson, etc have their own oils as well. Stay away from shelf oil and you'll do just fine... especially Rotella, which regardless of what they say with this new "fleet" term, is no longer for gasoline engines. They do not have an S rating, they are not for gasoline engines. They have a C rating, therefor they are only for diesels. Your final warning is the disclaimer from both the oil company and the API. Refer to your owner’s manual for type of oil to use.

http://www.apicj-4.org/2009_ENGINE_OIL_GUIDE.pdf

---Don't use it. Don't use SM API on anything older than a 2006 unless you add you rown zinc-alkaline (Alkyl-zinc ... or ZDDP as it's now commonly referred to)

---Replace those crappy teflon wheel bearings with steel ones and deal with the hardly noticeable road noise.

---Use suggested greases in specified areas and never mix grease bases. Silicon Synthetic grease mixed with a Molly based conventional grease (molly in the u-joint originally) being the worst, can destroy u-joint needle bearings, when operated under hard load, in as few as 100 miles.

---Keep air oil & fuel filters clean.

---Losing weight is on the list too

~edit~
-Forgot...

---Move that TFI to a place other than the distributor.

KamiKaziDK said:

Great tips! Gotta wait a couple more years before the car is eligible to be exempt from emissions though. 8.8 does seem overkill, not like the what...89 hp? from the factory needs trac lok either. Don't the 90 and up have a different head? Is that an upgrade or is it totally not worth the hassel if you have to do other stuff?

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90 and up have a dual plug head and a distributorless system. totally different system and you would probably have to grab almost the entire system - wiring and computer - also has mass Air instead of MAP.

I do know that the 4 plug head will bolt on and is a roller cam system - you can bolt it on and run the 89 and back system on the head - but 4 plugs (i'd recommend the drivers side ones because they are a pain to get to when the intake is on) would just be plugged an not functional.


as for the emissions thing - if you hollow out the cats and leave the shell intact, they have no way of knowing that it's gutted as long as they see the shell still on the car. if you are worried about passing a sniffer test - simply add about 10 ounces of acetone per ten gallons of gas before you get it tested - make sure it's good and mixed in - like add the acetone 1st and fill the tank and your emisions will drop to well below the limit.

It's '91 and up that are DIS in Mustangs. Rangers got it starting in '89.

uuummmmm...turbo maybe

KamiKaziDK said:

haha, ok...no head swap! Is that ranger header a direct bolt in, or do I need to modify the exhaust?

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you can swap the head - just install 4 dummy plugs on the drivers side to plug the holes and run the other plugs as normal.


Ranger header is a direct bolt in as far as bolting to the head and the exhaust pipe - same location - only problems you may run into are minor. If your O2 wire pig tail is short (like 4-5 inches) on the sensor, you might have to move the wiring harness or extend the o2 wires to get it to plug in, as the ranger header's o2 bung is located pointing down on the main part a few inches away from the exhaust pipe. Very rare, most O2 sensors have a long enough wire, but encountered it once.

Only other thing is the EGR tube has different connections at the manifold and is located a little different. if you disable the tube and plug up both ends, this is a non issue. i have a cap plug on my ranger header and i plugged up the EGR pipe at the intake by taking the pipe off the intake, cut the pipe where it extends out about 12 inches, took a hammer and beat down the pipe to where it was flat from the cut end to about 1/2 way or 6 inches. then I bend the flat part over about 3 inches or half of that and took the hammer and beat it back flat. sealed nicely and don't have that crap going back into the engine.

If you desire the EGR to function, get most of - if not all of the pipe from the ranger donor - you can patch the two systems, but it's far better to disable the system and just leave the electric hooked up at the intake and let it think it's still working.

after mod - be sure to disconnect the computer for 10 mins to let it re-learn the new system.

here's what i did on my '91 2.3 automatic, and it made it reasonably entertaining and didn't cost a lot of dough.

i dropped a couple seconds in the 1/4 mile (i went from forever to "i think i feel some acceleration"), and the car doesn't need to be floored every time i leave a stop light just to keep up with traffic.

1. install underdrive pulley(s), either a new one from esslinger, or do the ranger crank pulley and V6 power steering pulley with belt re-routing to make it work.

2. replace air filter box with one from a 5.0 mustang, add a K+N style drop in filter, and put a 3" intake tube in between the box and the throttle body. this will be a true cold air hi flow intake.

3. swap out exh manifold and exh system with a Ranger header and a 2 1/4" system from a 5.0 mustang (just the left side).

4. run msd plug wires and ngk TR5-1GP spark plugs

5. adjust the kickdown lever and intermediate band to shift kit specs, and add an adjustable vacuum modulator so u can alter the 1-2-3 shift points.

6. set initial spark timing at 12 degrees btdc

7. remove weight... that means spare tire and jack, bumper supports, and any other stealthy non-incidental weight adding parts. if shes nervous about being without a spare, get her a AAA card for christmas.

you'll like driving the car after you complete that list above.

since the rods and crank in pre 91 2.3's are the same, why not try to find a turbo kit from an svo or turbo coupe? the pistons are obviously different, but if your not looking to make tons of boost, i'm sure they would be alright. as long as you get a tune and use a wide band of some sort.