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Ford 2.8L Engines |
About The 2.8L: The Ford Cologne 2.8L V6 is a 60° cast iron block V6 engine built by the Ford Motor Company in Cologne, Germany. The 2.8L engine in the Ranger is the same design as the 2.8 V-6 used since 1974 in the Ford and Mercury Capri vehicles. A unique feature of the 2.8L is the timing gear vs a traditional timing chain (See picture below).
(Ford 2.8L - Timing Gear Shown) Known Problems: Valve Seals - The 2.8L's are known to burn oil and smoke when they get high mileage. They use a rubber valve seal that deteriorates and leaks oil into the cylinder. This can be fixed by pulling the valve covers off, removing the spark plug and filling the cylinder with compressed air (Need Special Fitting), and then removing the valve spring and replacing the seal (The air keeps the valve from dropping in to the cylinder). This should be repeated for each valve and then the valve lash reset when complete. This is a cheap and easy repair. Step 1 - Remove valve cover Step 2 - Remove applicable sparkplug wire and plug Step 3 - Remove rocker arm shaft stand attaching bolts by loosening the bolts two turns at a time, in sequence (from the end of shaft to middle shaft) Step 4 - Lift off the rocker arm and shaft assembly and the oil baffle. Step 5 - Remove both the valve push rods from the cylinder being serviced. Step 6 - Install an air line with an adapter in the spark plug hole and apply pressure to hold the valve(s) in the closed position. Failure to hold the valve(s) closed is an indication of valve seat damage and requires removal of the cylinder head. Step 7 - In stall the valve spring compressor tool, compress the valve springs and remove the retainer locks, spring retainer and valve spring. Step 8 - Remove and discard the valve stem seal. Step 9 - If air pressure has forced the piston to the bottom of the cylinder, any removal of air pressure will allow the valve(s) to fall into the cylinder. A rubber band wrapped around the end of the valve stem will prevent this condition and will still allow enough travel to check the valve for binds. Step 10 - Inspect the valve stem for damage. Rotate the valve and check the valve stem tip for eccentric movement during rotation. Move the valve up and down through normal travel in the valve guide and check the stem for binds. Step 11 - If the valve condition proves satisfactory, lubricate the valve stem with engine oil. Hold the valve in the closed position and apply air pressure within the cylinder. Step - 12 Install a new valve stem seal. Place the spring in position over the valves and install the valve spring retainer. Compress the valve spring and install the valve spring compressor tools. Step - 13 Lubricate the push rod ends and install the pushrod. Lubricate the tip of the valve stem and to both ends of the rocker arm.
If you don't have compressed air available to keep the valves closed to change the seals. An old mechanics trick is to take a rope of about 1/4" diameter and feed it into the spark plug hole. Manually turn the engine until the piston pushes the rope up against the valves keeping them closed. Do not use the starter for this application. Turn the engine in the opposite direction to release the rope.
Firing Order 1-4-2-5-3-6 / Distributor Rotation - Clockwise Compression Test - A cylinders compression pressure is usually acceptable if it is not less than 80% of maximum. The difference between any two cylinders should be no more than 12-14 pounds. Performance Upgrades: Cylinder Heads: Cooling - A simple upgrade to the 2.8L heads is to drill two more water passages in them between where the two exhaust valves are side by side. This helps prevent a local boiling point from forming. Just use a good head gasket that already has the water passage holes in them for a guide, and mark the head and drill two holes. Keep the holes a little smaller than the holes in the head gasket. - Contributed By Ryan Propst Porting - Port your intake manifold and cylinder heads. The intake and heads don't line up diameter to diameter. Porting opens this up and allows better flow. Click HERE for details on porting. Induction - Offy 4bbl Intake: The 2.8L V-6 comes with a 2-bbl carburetor and manifold with a traditional round metal air filter container. Offenhauser offers a 4bbl intake manifold. The ignition system must be changed to earlier vacuum advance unit (Dura-Spark II) eliminating the EEC-IV computer and pollution equipment. You can use the distributor, ignition module and coil from a 78 Pinto. The Offenhauser Intake does not have an EGR setup. This will not allow the A4LD tranny to shift correctly. The Offenhauser intake can be found at: Racer Walsh:
P/N RWA6110 The Racer Walsh 2.8L aluminum intake manifold is made to work with the RWA6239 4BBL carb. You will need to use the RWA6278 thermostat housing with the new manifold. The intake manifold and carb combo are made for street driving and lower rpm off road applications, such as trail riding and playing in the mud. The installation of the manifold and carb still provide good gas mileage and an easy horsepower improvement. Click HERE to go to their Offy 4bbl intake page This intake can also be found at: Offyparts.com:
P/N offy-6097-DP Recommend: Holley 0-6299 or 8007 Click HERE to go to their Offy 4bbl intake page. Later vehicles such as Bronco II and Ranger must use 1983 or earlier stock distributor with vacuum advance or aftermarket equivalent. Manifolds also use 3 bolt water neck (Ford part # D2RY8592A) The quad manifold (competition design) will actually allow the engine to perform with proper balance throughout all stages of RPM resulting from the high rate of velocity in the primary circuit and perfect balance that automatically results when the secondary or acceleration portion takes over. *CALIFORNIA CUSTOMERS - PLEASE NOTE: Vehicles that are sold in the state of California and are used for driving on city and state highways must have the emissions equipment as they were equipped from the factory. If the vehicle came equipped with a single barrel or a 2 barrel carb, and a 2 barrel or 4 barrel is not offered as a factory option in California, then a carburetor of a different size and type can only be used for off-road or racing applications. Performance Automotive Warehouse did carry Offenhauser 4bbl Intake Manifold Part Number 0FF-6097-DP (part of Port-O-Sonic line). Unknown if they still carry it. Induction - Fuel Injection: You can also swap on fuel injection using parts from a 3.8L Ford. Check out the 2.8 Fuel Injection page. Aftermarket Camshafts: Competition Cams: Competition Cams carries (3) camshafts for the 2.8L Ford Competition Cams also carries rocker arms and timing gear for the 2.8L HERE. THIS PAGE is the main Comp Cams menu for the Ford V6. Camshafts - Racer Walsh (Also see below): Racer Walsh offers (2) camshafts for the 2.8L Ford. The stage 1 cam gives a smooth idle as well as a boost in low to mid range power, without sacrificing fuel economy. Please specify the year of your engine when ordering. The Racer Walsh stage 2 V-6 camshaft for the 2.6L/2.8L engines offer a significant power increase from the midrange to top end performance. The Racer Walsh Stage 2 camshaft is a street / competition grind. We recommend a slightly higher than stock stall on the converter if an automatic transmission is used. Please specify the year of your engine when ordering. Pistons: Racer Walsh carries 9-1 pistons for the 2.8L Ford HERE. Exhaust & Air Filters Motors are just big air pumps. The more air and the more air out the better the performance. Headers: Summit Racing also carries a Dynomax cat-back exhaust kit for the 2.8L. Air Filters: The air cleaner can be modified by adding another air intake and then routing intake hoses to a fresh air source providing a dual ram air effect. This of course should be accompanied by a K&N Air Filter. There are many 2-bbl air cleaners out there of different dimensions, and it's metal design allows for modifications for any type of set-up. Ignition: TFI Harnesses Summit Racing carries Jacobs, Mallory, MSD and Summit TFI harnesses to install an their aftermarket ignitions to your TFI vehicle. Jacobs P/N JAC-380465 Mallory P/N MAA-29062 MSD P/N MSD-8874 Summit P/N SUM-850518 Click HERE to see them at Summit Racing.
MSD-8874 Shown Above The MSD to Ford TFI Coil Harness is designed to provide a splice-free and simple installation of an MSD Ignition Control to Ford vehicles equipped with a TFI Coil. On MSD 6 & 7 Series Ignitions all of the wires connect to the corresponding colored wires. MSD 7 Series Ignitions share the same color wires. 1. Disconnect the connector from the coil and connect it to the MSD PN 8874 Harness. 2. Connect the other end of the Harness to the Coil. 3. Connect the four wires of the Harness to the MSD Ignition Control.
MSD Ignition Box Shown Above
Replacement Coils Crane, Hypertech, Moroso, MSD, PerTronix and ProForm offers replacement TFI ignition coils. You can view a list of them on the Summit site HERE.
TFI Ignition Modules: Summit Racing carries Accel and PerTronix TFI Ignition Modules. Accel P/N 35368 PerTronix P/N D2010
Accel P/N 35368 Shown Above ACCEL control modules provide high coil output & superior reliability. Dwell circuit ensures long coil charging. Current circuit protects from overheating. Resists false triggering from RFI sources. Distributor and remote mounts available. Available at Summit HERE. Summit also offers Pertronix P/N PNX-D2010 HERE. Spark Plug Wires You should upgrade to 9mm spark plug wires and will have to purchase a set of JBA Powercables or get a set of universal wires and cut them. Summit Racing carries the JBA Powercables P/N JBA-06309 HERE. Duraspark Ignition Swaps: Also check out the Duraspark ignition conversion HERE. Using the Duraspark ignition, you can eliminated the computer, vacuum rail, vacuum reservoir, and all the wiring mess that goes along with that. Get the carburetor that is on the 2.8 donor engine your Duraspark ignition comes from. The Ranger 2.8 has a complicated carburetor control system.
Miscellaneous Parts List
Note - The Comp Cam ......part # CL38-241-4 should be used with a manual transmission. The RPM range of this Cam will really hurt an A4LD on takeoff. The torque converters/stall speed is out side of its range. You really want to generate as much low end power as you can with a manual transmission because you can vary the RPM range when you let out the clutch. Note 2 The CL in the part number can be replaced with SK if you want timing gears included with the cam and lifter kit.
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