2.0 ranger
 

i got a 2.0 in a 85 ranger 2wd 5speed
-i have about 3 or 4 extra moters sitting around for parts
-i bought this truck yesterday for $375 pulled it home and put a fuel pump on it and it started up (not running very good ) so i pulled the valve cover off and on cyl.#3 the cam wasnt oiling: is this a commen problem?(the lifter arm was very very loose when the cam lobe was up off it, it should be touching)
-when i got it the guy(who dad knew good, old neigbors with) said they tore it down and put the lifter arm back on and it fell off again and quit driving it
-well i am just kinda waiting on gaskets right now but i know i can/ am goin to put an intake off a pinto on it that is a 2bbl and am taking the 2bbl off and useing a 2bbl off a v8 (all ready done it to the old moter 2bbl intake was on so i know it will work)
-but was wondering were i could find a header to fit it at (i looked at www.speedwaymotors.com and they only had 2.3 parts for a pinto, witch i have 2 of but i think they are 2.0)
- and was also wondering if parts off a 2.3 would fit a 2.0 (not internal parts like crank, rods, or pistons) such as intake, exhoust, pullys, etc.;

As far as I know, the parts between the earlier 2.0/2.3 motors will interchange. I have a 2.0 in my 83.
what you could do, and probably should, is find the next bigger motor, and stick it in that truck. mine, gets decent fuel economy, but doesnt have the guts to get me over 65mph.

Yes, the external 2.3 parts will fit. The only real difference between them was the bore size, 3.51" for the 2.0 and 3.78" for the 2.3.

You probably have a collapsed lifter. You can take one off of one of your other motors and use it but I agree with JD. If you've got a good running 2.3 there, swap it in. You'll be happier in the long run.

Also, a couple of good sources for parts are Racer Walsh and Esslinger Engineering. The both have websites and sell racing parts for those engines, but they don't come cheap! Esslinger tends to be higher.

ok thanks the moter was bored 60 over as far as what has been done to the crank i have no idea but that is what i was wondering (collapsed lifter) and if parts like a intake and exhoust timing belt would fit, becouse i was looking at speedway moters and they said for a 2.3 for all there part nothing said 2.0

i will just fix what i have and go with it but when it breaks in the lower end i will put a 2.3 in it

do ya think i may have a cracked head or block

i got the new head on and it will start up perfect when its cold . but when its hot it wont start at all, so i was thinking maybe the brain box, but the other day i let it run for about 45 min in the drive way pulled out and it smoked quite a bit but i could deal with that much. then got about a mile down the road and a huge cloud of white smoke just started pooring out the back like (worse than Uncle Buck) you couldnt see anything and then it stopped running fine and sounded like it was hitting on 2 plugs so i limped it to the shop another mile down the road running in 2nd gear flat to the floor at a whopping 25 mph. pulled up to the door and it never fired back up it was getting spark and gas.

so i was thinking that maybe the head/cyl wall was cracked and under pressure it was getting water though and putting some water on the pistons . could this be possible?

Did you pull the dipstick and check for water in the oil? That'll give the oil a sort of vanilla milkshake look to it.

What do the plugs look like at this point, did you pull 'em and take a look?

It's certainly possible that you've got a crack somewhere, you might want to rent a cooling system pressure tester that lets you pump up the system and check for leaks, both internal and external. It sucks to go to the work to swap on another head and find it's cracked, but it happens. It could also be a problem with the headgasket, either being defective or suffering some damage that you didn't see.