Rusty, do you plan on dynoing the old motor then the new one for a comparrison?

I still think this would be great in an old F100 with a manual 5speed trans.
Dan

 

I'm sure this motor would be great in about anything I could put it in! But, my F100 has more motor than it needs the way it is. Now, a mid to late 1980's 4x4 Ranger has some possibilities! Lift kit, big mud tires...

(Edit: and it may yet come to that...)

What would be the point of dynoing a stock 225,000 mile motor? With the amount of rust on that old '92 Explorer, they'd probably laugh me right out of there! It still runs good, but I suspect it'd be rather, um, anemic. But I might do it anyway. We'll see.

 

Heads are now ready to go. Completely assembled with dual valve springs and everything, ready to bolt on.

I took some measurements of the cam base circles, before I put the cam in. The 422 cam has a base circle diameter .110" less than the stocker. Stock cam is 1.341", and the Comp 422 is 1.231".

I have a plan for the rockers and pushrods. Rather than spend lots of money on custom pushrods and new rockers to replace my scored up ones, just to end up with a non-adjustable valvetrain in the end, I've found a better way.

According to the measurements I've taken, 2.9L rockers and pushrods should work great in this application. Sure, I lose .03 of a rocker ratio (1.5:1 for the 4.0L rockers down to 1.47 for the 2.9L rockers), but look at what I gain. I gain adjustability, I save loads of cash, and I can accurately set lifter preload. I already have the 2.9L rockers and pushrods; went up to the junkyard day before yesterday.

When you put one each of the 4.0L and 2.9L rockers on the same shaft, hold the valve end on a flat plane, hold the rocker shaft paralell to that plane, and place the pushrods on each respective rocker, the 2.9L pushrod actually extends further down than the 4.0L pushrod! Amazing. I figure it's to compensate for the 2.9L having flat tappet lifters whereas the 4.0L has the taller roller lifters. This extra length will benefit me greatly in compensating for the smaller base circle of the 422 cam. The generous amount of adjustment on the 2.9L rockers will make up the rest.

I've got this evil laugh going right now...

Of course I have yet to bolt all this onto the actual motor, but I anticipate everything going smoothly.

Edit: Oh and I have the pistons and rods in the block. Pics on the way.

 

Can't wait to see the pics, this is gonna be a fun little project.

 

Oh it is! The pics are already up in my Explorer gallery. Some of 'em are kind of dark, as I'm not the camera guru. Digital camera, point and shoot. But it gets the point across.

 

Another update:

The heads are on the motor, and the rocker assemblies are assembled, bolted on the motor, and adjusted. The 2.9L rockers and pushrods actually swap in great.

So in other words the top end is together. Next step is to start putting on the intake, oil pump, pickup, timing cover, etc.

Oh, and the headers arrived today! Wheeee!

 

Rusty, E85 is at a .54 spread here in Sioux Falls. I am going to start running it again this week.
Dan

You are coming along great, I am very interested in seeing the results.

 

Rusty, I have been running the E85 now for about 1000-1200 miles in the Ranger. MPG is any where from -2mpg to -5mpg depending on load, wind and speed. So far with the price spread I am coming out even or slightly ahead on the E85. Seems to burn the most with short trips that have alot of starts.
Dan

 

That seems about right. Now go take a look at one of your spark plugs; I think you'll be surprised!

Is there any way you can bump the timing up?

 

What will I see on the spark plug? Carbon deposits by chance? I have been running E85 for two years in my lawn mower and it is still cleaning the carbon off the piston. I plan on talking to Andy about the tune to see if he thinks we should modify it some.

I plan on changing the fuel filter this week too.
Dan

 

I believe you'll notice a lack of carbon deposits.

 

How is the build coming along?

I also have a E85 update for my Ranger 2.5L. 1500 miles mpg seems to be close to 5mpg less. I need .60 price spread to come out, so far I have been able to buy it between .60 and 1.00 less.
Dan

 

Well there ya go. I still think there's a lot of optimization to be done with your E85 tune.

I currently have the motor assembled, painted, bagged, and waiting for installation. I'm in the process of removing the existing motor. I will need to use the valve covers currently on the Explorer, as Aerostar valve covers are different. So I left the masking tape over that area, to prevent contamination from outside influences while it waits.

 

I took the truck with the camper last week and stopped by Andy's shop. He hooked up his scan tool and I drove the truck loaded, he said fuel mix and timing were right on. I would like to put big pistons in and shave the head to bump the compression, but the wife is not on board with that one.

I bought E85 for .94 less than gas in Britton SD last week. Wish it was that much less here.
Dan

 

Well, the timing might be right on for a gasoline motor, but I'm sure the E85 could benefit from having it bumped a few degrees.

Aren't there different heads you could get for that motor, with smaller combustion chambers possibly? I know with my 4.0L, if i would have gotten the '95 to '97 heads, that would have put me at or above 13:1.