I have a 91 Ranger, 2.3L (110K), w/ 5sp Overdrive, long box, standard cab. Now w/ the specs outta the way, I WANT/NEED MORE POWER. Just getting on the highway scares me to death, its just not got any get-up to it at all. Now I am not wanting something that I can hot-rod in, nor am i wanting something to dragrace in, I just want more power so that I dont have to have the throttle mashed to the floor. The only mod's that are currently done to 'er are new sparkplugs/wires, and your regular 100k tune-up (all filters), a factory size aftermarket exhaust (old one was rotten), and new shocks. Tire size is 215/70 on 14" wheels. Suggestions made to me; Turbo (could someone please tell me how much work this would be on the STOCK motor that did not originally come with a turbo, an estimate on how much for parts, and would i have to get new pistons??) Cold Air Induction (instead of buying a whole kit and redoing the whole thing, could I use the stock intake by the grill, take the cover off, and mound me some type of funnel-like apperatus to gather/force more air in) New chip (pretty expensive, what do you think it would do for me?? Is it worth it?) And underdrive pulley's (but is there much to underdrive?) And ofcourse also a supercharger, but i didnt think that there are any out there that would fit a 2.3L motor (being that its SO FRIGGIN' SMALL)
Now i would like to keep total costs at or around $400, or am I just kidding myself about the whole idea and cost?
Thanks everybody in advance, I really appreciate it.

 

My 2000 2.5L picked up a little free power just by dumping the stock mechanical fan for an electric setup.

 

The best mod for the 2.3 in my opinion that fits your budget, Is losing the mech. fan for an electric fan. Not a whole lot you can do to pep up the 2.3

I suspose you could always swap in a different engine but thats normally $$$$ not 400.


Rand

 

ha, ya, i know, i would like to swap the motor, but thats a lil outta my price range. Just woundering, how much power do you think a guy could gain from doing this? I guess what im trying to say, is it noticable? I appreciate you two responding. thanks.

 

It's enough that you'll BARELY notice it... It'll have a little more snap to it and a tad more passing power. The biggest improvement comes from the gas milage increase...

 

Hey you could alwys try to get a turbo set up from one of those svo mustangs

 

you can get a 2.3 turbo out of a cougar/thunderbird/mustang. I think the last year they offered that motor in those cars was '90, so if your your planning on doing that i dont think there would be to many problems in inserting this little (powerhouse) into your truck, you may have to do some minor wiring to get things back up to snuff but hey why not

 

I think the last year is 1988 at least on tbirds and cougars. In 89 they switched to the mn12 platform and I dont think the turbocoupe was an option. The new lineup was a 3.8L, 302, or a supercharged 3.8.
Dont know crap about mustangs though.


Rand

 

ya, okay then, thanks guys. I do belive ill look into the electric fan, and maybe a turbo later, but how much work is it for a turbo? Do i have to change to forged pistons? Or will the stock ones be ample? Unfortionatly, i just ran into a new problem, the stupid battery decided to take a dump on me today, it ran just fine when i got to where i was, and 2 hours later, BAM, wouldnt even turn over. In fact, the interior light wouldnt even come on. To make it worse, the battery is practically new, about 1 year old, and THIS IS THE SECOND ONE IN 2 YEARS! Does anybody know, is there an electrical problem with the 91's? Please help, ill start a new thread. Thanks everybody.

 

If your truck is light blue, then we have the EXACT same truck. I have the 60/40 bench with about 123 k on her now.

I had the same problem with power so I installed an electric fan, ripped the intake tube out and cut rather large holes on the DIRTY side of the filter box. Dropped in a K&N filter and replaced my restrictive stock muffler with a Cherry Bomb glasspack. Now she sounds great, runs great and has quite a bit more kick than when I got her stock. Added double platinum plugs, synthetic trans fluid, normal tune-up stuff like that. The plugs won't give you more power, just leep you from losing is form normal erosion. Don't forget, there's 8 of them and at $5 a plug, that's $40.

The fan was $79 at Pep-Boys with a $40 adjustable relay/temp sensor.

Cutting the box and removing the baffle and stock intake cold air tube cost nothing but time. K&N about $40.

The glasspack was a whole $14.99 at Pep-Boys also. Add $3 for a couple clamps and it'll bolt right in place of your stock muffler.

Total cost without plugs - about $175.

It's no 351, but she's about as good as a 2.3 can get on a budget! After all that, I'm getting about 21 mpg and that's being heavy on the gas pedal.

Good luck!

 

Hey... now thats a little more around my price range. As a matter of fact, my Ranger is light blue, lol, actually, crystal blue mettalic is the "official" name. Hey, I would love to get directions and pictures of just how you did it if that would be possible? The plugs and everything, i can do that, but w/ cutting the hole in the bottom of your intake box, thats what i would really like to see pictures of, and also your your routing (if any) on the underside of your filter box, or are they just open holes with no intake plumbing?? If you can, email me at traxxis(No Email Addresses In Posts!), make sure and put something like "FROM FTE" in the subject or something so i dont delete it. Thanks alot, this seems like something that i could do for little work, and atleast get some gain. Thanks. Stan

 

Same color truck, too! Too funny. The color code for that crystal blue is KA and good luck finding touch-up paint. Duplicolor doesn't make it.

You can see my truck by clicking on the link in my signature at the bottom of this message. I don't have the air box mod pics on my pic site yet, but I'll get those up there this weekend.

I didn't just punch holes with a hole saw, I used my Dremel with a cut off disk and really opened her up. You have to see it to get it. And yes, I ripped off all the plumbing to the box. Useless after that mod anyway.

Bob

 

Ya tell me about it, the paint is hard to find, luckly i had a connection though, ive got a gallon of it setting in the shop just ready to be shot on (in two weeks baby!!). Um... I forget what the brand is... maybe Spie's Hecker? I think that what it is, and we just got done painting a funny car shell, so i kinda "put back a little" bit of the $150 clear coat, hehe. Ya, though, i would really like to see that box. So is it just intaking the surrounding air? Is it not forced induction at all? Oh, if you want the numbers on that paint, i will be happy to get them if i can find the numbers (bought it a while back) but it should be on the can. PS, i looked at the truck from your link, and it looked silver? Did you have it repainted, or is it just the camera? And how much power do you think you gained? Is it really enough that you could tell?

 

No forced induction, just the surrounding air, but I only opened up a little on the side near the header. I removed the whole lower front and part of the bottom (on an angle due to the mouting) and part of the side. I left about 1/4 inch on each corner and each edge for support. I lost the pic, so I'll have to take the box out and take another pic for ya.

I have to say that yes, the difference is noticeable as the stock intake and exhause are probably the two most restrictive areas of the 2.3. The stock muffler is gah-bage and I think mine was original. I would say between the airbox, muffler and fan I prob gained from 10-12 hp, but she definitely accellerates faster. Like I said, it's no rocket, but for the price (I only paid $500 with the camper shell!!) it can't be beat!

Yep, she's crystal blue, just faded a bit. The roof is starting to show that classic Ford paint fade. It was a sunny day when I took the pic.

 

Traxxis, check out my pics page again. I didn't take the box out, but I found a "before" pic and marked the places that I cut out.