83 2.0 carb to 2.3 efi turbo, fuel and other?

[rab]

1st off im not on here much, i have been looking for a decent pre 93 ranger for a few years know, it has not been a top priority cause i have other projects/cars,but i said if one came up close enough i check it out.
well its kind of hard to find them here in WI cause of the salt they spread in the winters.

hopefully this is the right spot to post this.

looking at a pretty clean 83 2wd 2.0 carb and iirc its a 4 speed ranger.
want to do a 2.3 turbo swap and 5 speed (ranger 5 speed is fine maybe a nother option also)


im getting 2 mekur xr4ti's they are both 5 speeds, one to fix and the other as a parts both motors and trannies are good...

well what engine harness should i get and what body harness, ranger,merkur,ect?

will a efi ranger 86-92 fuel lines,tank ect bolt right up to the 83?

will the merkur 5 speed work or is it any stronger or weaker than a ranger one?

im sure i will have other ?'s to ask later and more researching to do.
thanks

[dangerranger83]

Originally Posted by rab

1st off im not on here much, i have been looking for a decent pre 93 ranger for a few years know, it has not been a top priority cause i have other projects/cars,but i said if one came up close enough i check it out.
well its kind of hard to find them here in WI cause of the salt they spread in the winters.

hopefully this is the right spot to post this.

looking at a pretty clean 83 2wd 2.0 carb and iirc its a 4 speed ranger.
want to do a 2.3 turbo swap and 5 speed (ranger 5 speed is fine maybe a nother option also)


im getting 2 mekur xr4ti's they are both 5 speeds, one to fix and the other as a parts both motors and trannies are good...

well what engine harness should i get and what body harness, ranger,merkur,ect? Get the harness from the mekur that hooks from the computer, passengerside, to the engine. Lable everything so that you dont get confused later as what goes to where and what not. Any wires that hooked up from the driverside wiring harness are more or less power wires, just be sure you know what hooked were and what powered what on both vehicles.

will a efi ranger 86-92 fuel lines,tank ect bolt right up to the 83? I have an 83 ranger that has an 87 tank in it an bolts right into it...its the metal one. My truck used to be fuel injected, that was its second engine. Just have to run the wiring for the pumps.

will the merkur 5 speed work or is it any stronger or weaker than a ranger one? Use the tranny that comes with the mekur engine, will make life simple. At best may have to shorten your driveshaft.

im sure i will have other ?'s to ask later and more researching to do.
thanks

Ask away, thats why we are here.

[Insanejughead]

Originally Posted by rab

1st off im not on here much, i have been looking for a decent pre 93 ranger for a few years know, it has not been a top priority cause i have other projects/cars,but i said if one came up close enough i check it out.
well its kind of hard to find them here in WI cause of the salt they spread in the winters.

hopefully this is the right spot to post this.

looking at a pretty clean 83 2wd 2.0 carb and iirc its a 4 speed ranger.
want to do a 2.3 turbo swap and 5 speed (ranger 5 speed is fine maybe a nother option also)


im getting 2 mekur xr4ti's they are both 5 speeds, one to fix and the other as a parts both motors and trannies are good...

well what engine harness should i get and what body harness, ranger,merkur,ect?

will a efi ranger 86-92 fuel lines,tank ect bolt right up to the 83?

will the merkur 5 speed work or is it any stronger or weaker than a ranger one?

im sure i will have other ?'s to ask later and more researching to do.
thanks

For an engine harness, locate one from an '86-'87 EFI ranger. I can't remember if '88 was the first year for the dual plug ignition, but that is not the style of harness you want. It is workable, but will add some steps onto getting your motor wired up in your pickup effectively. (A lot of us turbo guys have done the swap into the '89-'94 years and we just have to do the nit picky process of repinning our EEC-IV computer connector.)

The body harness won't matter. Everything you'll need will be on the engine harness.

Concerning fuel lines, you'll need to get ones out of an '86-'87 again. The dual plug motor has four injectors facing the same direction (parallel to each other), whereas the turbo motor has the injectors arranged in a fan pattern (each one pointed at a different angle outwards from the intake manifold.)

I don't know exactly what transmission came in the Merkurs, but a standard T-5 from a turbo coupe isn't much stronger than a M5OD that's from a '89 and newer. It may be easier to find a 5 speed out of an older ranger, but you'll either come across the TK5 (which has a shitty shifter reputation, that's why I built my own) or the FM145 (which I know nothing about... )


Like Dangerranger said, answering questions is what we're here for.

Also, let me know if my answers need even more clarification. I know my problem when starting my build was getting answers, but they were explained in such vague terms that I was getting confused... So, I understand.

[dangerranger83]

I would just use the harness out of the donar vehicle, just to keep stuff simple. Being a 2.0 carbed, it doesnt really have much for emissions stuff or much of a computer (if one at all).

When I turned my truck to TBI awhile back, all I did was hook up the computer the sameway it was in the donar vehicle and the wires too (temp wire to it sensor, power to power sorce, etc...). But being that it came from a 3.8 and my truck is a 2.8, there were fueling issues that I didnt want to mess with/have time for so had to go back to carb.

[rab]

a little off topic here, but this ranger is a 83 xl the plain jane model, no p/s or power brakes.

so will later model racks/or boxes and power brakes bolt up, if so what were the power rack ratios, ie was there different rack ratios over the years? was there different booster and m/c's sizes over the years?

what were my year options ie 83-92 or will 92 and later stuff bolt up or have to be slightly moded
like i said im still very new to the rangers

[Insanejughead]

Man, I'm jealous. I missed having my '85 that I took the power brakes and steering off of.

Any power brake booster and power steering unit off of an '83-'97 ranger will work, just be sure to get the bracket that is on the 4 cylinder versions for the power steering pump. You'll need to get the alternator bracket as well, because the power steering pump bracket locates the a/c compressor in the spot that would normally hold the alternator.

However, I can't remember how the power steering bracket is set up on the older rangers that had v-belts. So, if you're wanting to go with a serpentine belt, you'll have to get what I suggested. If you like the v-belts, then find a pre-'87 ranger and use its hardware.


Whew... I hope that all made sense. I was interrupted through half of this and I'm being lazy and not rereading it.

[rab]

thanks guys, i posted the brake and p/s ?'s in those forums also.

as far as the harness goes you guys are pretty much saying hook up all the connections on the engine,, ie sensors,ect and then hardwire the computer for grounds and power?

[Insanejughead]

I recommend swapping in a different harness completely. There's too much to add in once you look at all of the necessary connectors for fuel injection compared to a carbureted setup.

Fuel injectors,
Vane air meter,
knock sensor,
oxygen sensor,
barometric pressure sensor,
boost control solenoid,
engine temperature sensor,
and given the fact that I haven't even listed the computer connector and how everything ties into it, you wouldn't want to wire that up from scratch. You'll go insane before you ever get close to finishing it... Your carbureted pickup won't have that important aspect.

There's a lot to it, which will take only an hour or so to swap out harnesses and follow wire colors to their proper places.

[rab]

Originally Posted by Insanejughead

I recommend swapping in a different harness completely. There's too much to add in once you look at all of the necessary connectors for fuel injection compared to a carbureted setup.

Fuel injectors,
Vane air meter,
knock sensor,
oxygen sensor,
barometric pressure sensor,
boost control solenoid,
engine temperature sensor,
and given the fact that I haven't even listed the computer connector and how everything ties into it, you wouldn't want to wire that up from scratch. You'll go insane before you ever get close to finishing it... Your carbureted pickup won't have that important aspect.

There's a lot to it, which will take only an hour or so to swap out harnesses and follow wire colors to their proper places.

i think you misunderstood, i meant swap in a 2.3 turbo harness or ranger injected harness with a 2.3 turbo ecu and then hard wire the powers and grounds and fuel pump, ie the part that would plug into the body harness.

[Insanejughead]

Ah, yes, I did misunderstand you. Thankfully so. Hahaha.


You won't have to run extra wires to be grounds. The harness already has many spots where it will be hooked to a ground. However, you can never over-do a ground. (At least, not that I have ever seen.)

I didn't think about the fuel pump. I don't even know if you'll have to swap in a different tank, or if you'll just be able to use an external high pressure fuel pump and mount it in the frame rail. Hmm... I can't believe I skipped over that aspect. Oh well, I make mistakes quite often, so it doesn't surprise me in the least.