I was wondering what a good ignition timing for the engine would be?
I dont wanna go stock timing because i know thats crap. I dont care about fuel milage, I just want to squeese as much out of my engine as I can with out spending any money.

I got an aftermarket muffler and an air intake if that makes any differance

 

Try expermenting. Advance it until it pings on a hill, then back off until it does not ping anymore. Note that doing this may have an adverse effect on emissions.

 

cool.
You wouldn't happen to know any more little things I can do to give me little power. I dont really like emissions, i just don't know what I can do without spending lots of money.

 

What is the rear axle ratio?

 

The tag on the door said I got an open 7.5" with a 3.45 ratio.

 

You might look into a used rear end from a junkyard with taller gears, such as 3.73's. Be aware that since the engine will be winding our more, mileage will drop some. You will also have to change the drive gear for the speedo.

 

I don't think I want to do any thing big like that. I just want little tweaks I can do to make a diferance. So far I got my muffler and air intake, and I indexed the spark plugs.


I didn't really look at the distributor to look to see if I could rotate it, But the book I got says something about 'octane rods' to change the timing. Whats the deal with that?

 

I'm not familiar with the 2.3, but on new Rangers which have no distributor removing the jumper retards the timing by 2 degrees.

 

You wouldn't happen to know anything on cleaning the throtle body would ya?
How often should I do it. how do I know if it needs it?

 

Well, just look inspect it and see if it seems reasonably clean is all. Make sure the spray cleaner you use is for FI vehicles. BTW, all the stuff that you dislodge when using FI/carb cleaner goes down into the engine and some will land on the spark plugs. It can create a conductive coating on the plugs which will defeat you efforts for a few more ponies, therefore it's good to do this right before changing plugs.

BTW, why not reconsider that rear end? Torque multiplication = more "seat of the pants" feel. Ranger rear ends are dime a dozen and if you are fairly handy you can manage it. In my area I could pull one for around $75, maybe more if the wrong yard pulled it for me. Honestly, for the money this will provide you with a pleasing amount of "bang for the buck" provided you do the labor. Note too that I have not suggested having a new ring and pinion installed as that won't be anywhere near as cheap. I'd give the idea a second thought.

 

I would like to do something cool like that to the ranger, but I already got a Bike project that most of my money is going to. But if a rear end for the right price comes up I might consider it.