1987 2.3 Advice

[velcro7279]

Picked up a 87 Ranger with a miss. One cylinder was down to about 85 psi. All others 120-130. Figure that is where my miss is. Anyway. My son and I just tore it down. The land between ring one and two on the piston in the low compression cylinder had a piece that fell out when we removed it. All other pistons look good. Anyone ever just replace one piston rather that replacing the whole set?

The engine has been rebuilt once. The crank is .010 under and the bores are .060 over now. Everything measures good, so a polish on the crank and a fresh hone on the cylinders and it will be good to go. We are going to put bearings and rings in it.

It has the non-roller cam in it. Some of the cam lobes look like they are worn a little. The followers have a shollow groove where the base circle of the cam has been running on it. How worn is too worn to be reusable?

Hope someone can help out here.

Steve

 

[Mark_88]

The missing felt sounds like it just blew out the head gasket...replacing that might save you some time while you rebuild another head the way you want it...

Can't really comment on the wear matter though...after reading the other thread on this about the cam replacement it appears that replacing the followers and cam can be done without removing the head...but if you already intend to replace a pistion (I would recommend all four with new rings and bore the cylinders over) then doing the head would be a snap...

I actually swapped out the non-roller head for a roller style...after having it rebuilt with a mild P&P...