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97 Ranger rebuild       #: 2109
 Moderated by: NoPower, Mike69, MaDMaXX,
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 Posted: Mon Apr 27th, 2020 09:26 pm
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IOnlyWorkLikeAMexican92
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Not sure how to post pics here yet. But it posted this one for me. My engine doesn't look great haha but I'm finally starting to work on it! Got my work bench built so I finally have a little room in the garage for the truck. I don't really know where to start so I pulled some wires and labeled them hopefully I can remember how they go 😅 





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 Posted: Mon Apr 27th, 2020 09:27 pm
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IOnlyWorkLikeAMexican92
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Just enough room

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 Posted: Tue Apr 28th, 2020 09:55 am
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410customs

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 perfect! That is where you start....you just start.
Looking forward to seeing more!
Thanks for sharing



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 Posted: Tue Apr 28th, 2020 02:23 pm
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IOnlyWorkLikeAMexican92
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First lesson learned!! BLEED A/C LINES EVEN IF YOU DONT THINK ITS PRESSURIZED! also wear safety glasses! I think my glasses just saved my eyeballs... excuse my lack of common sense at the moment

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 Posted: Wed Apr 29th, 2020 11:00 am
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JAMMAN

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 Not funny but funny! A buddy of mine was helping me pull a motor from a 98, I told him to lay the AC pump to the side. I left him for a while, came back through the shop and he was at the wash sink with his head under the stream rubbing his hair all over.

Found it difficult to lay it off to the side so he started disconnecting fittings.

Funny thing is we had a professional grade filler/vacuum for freon sitting 3 feet from the truck.

I just hope you don't get any death threats from a passing by tree hugger :-)



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 Posted: Thu Apr 30th, 2020 11:17 pm
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IOnlyWorkLikeAMexican92
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 JAMMAN wrote:
Not funny but funny! A buddy of mine was helping me pull a motor from a 98, I told him to lay the AC pump to the side. I left him for a while, came back through the shop and he was at the wash sink with his head under the stream rubbing his hair all over.

Found it difficult to lay it off to the side so he started disconnecting fittings.

Funny thing is we had a professional grade filler/vacuum for freon sitting 3 feet from the truck.

I just hope you don't get any death threats from a passing by tree hugger :-)
It was a learning experience to say the least. And your buddy sounds like me! I looked like a green racoon until I took a hose bath.. thank the great man I don't think anyone saw.. so I guess I'll research how to properly remove freon. I don't know much about hvac. I did learn some toxicology information from Google after the "hiccup" . I smelled like freon for hours until I got a true shower. It was a little difficult to just push it to the side. I'm doing an overhaul on the truck pretty much so I was gonna throw it in the bed. But I'm onto other things now! The truck is pretty rusty so every bolt is a challenge.. gonna take the head off with exhaust manifold so I can work on it out of the truck.. another day or two I'll post some pics.
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 Posted: Sat May 2nd, 2020 04:42 pm
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IOnlyWorkLikeAMexican92
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 Ok guys some bad news! I don't think my engine is worth working on. Got the water pump off finally and holy rust bucket. Sent some pics to my work friends who are car guys and they think I should get a new engine.. that hurts the pockets!! I found another 2.3 not far from me in Florida. But I'm  curious if anyone can tell me if there are any other engines that I could practically d rop into my truck and it would fit right in with little customization work. Thanks in advance!!
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 Posted: Sat May 2nd, 2020 04:48 pm
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IOnlyWorkLikeAMexican92
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 Posted: Sat May 2nd, 2020 05:27 pm
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VelociRanger
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 4.0 V6....that's what I would do if I had the opportunity. Or just slap another 2.3 in. Someone who's done this before would be more help, but the 4.0 came in the ranger so it'll fit, just wiring and stuff I know nothing about. On the plus side you'll have more HP and torque so you'll have a rocket! Is it a single cab or extended?

Last edited on Sat May 2nd, 2020 05:29 pm by VelociRanger



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1984 Ranger, currently in ≈861 pieces. She’s donating what’s salvageable.
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 Posted: Sat May 2nd, 2020 09:14 pm
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JAMMAN

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 You poor guy. That has been in standing water. Look at the bottom of the doors real closely.



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 Posted: Sun May 3rd, 2020 06:14 am
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 Your work mates must have x-ray eyes - I would not condemn that engine based on a bit of corrosion in the waterways!

I'd pull it out, take it apart and see what the condition of it really is.

Waterways can be cleaned out and I would bet the corrosion doesn't go deep at all.



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 Posted: Sun May 3rd, 2020 10:29 am
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410customs

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 that looks pretty nasty!! I want to touch it, is it soft? LOL
What are your goals for this truck? just to rebuild it into a show piece or a daily driver?



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 Posted: Sun May 3rd, 2020 02:01 pm
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chris

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 Lol @ 410 -  I'd be itching to get a wire cup brush in there to clean up the cylinder wall so you can see the state of the metal - a tiny amount of iron becomes a much larger volume of rust ....



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 Posted: Mon May 4th, 2020 09:19 am
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410customs

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 There are LOTS of 2.3 engines out there....
I would consider converting to a 4.0 myself :)



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 Posted: Tue May 5th, 2020 01:31 pm
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IOnlyWorkLikeAMexican92
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 Chris wrote:
Your work mates must have x-ray eyes - I would not condemn that engine based on a bit of corrosion in the waterways!

I'd pull it out, take it apart and see what the condition of it really is.

Waterways can be cleaned out and I would bet the corrosion doesn't go deep at all.
When I bought the truck it already had so,e rusty water in the reservoir. I tried to flush the radiator a few times but it was clogged.. I couldn't get anything out of the drain no matter what I tried. I also didn't have tools at the time or friends with tools so I did what i could. I blew my head gasket and that's why the truck has been sitting. But the gasket definitely blew from the coolant side into the parts of the block where rusty water doesn't belong. I'm mostly considering getting another engine. Probably just another 2.3 so I can't just pull this one and place that one.
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 Posted: Tue May 5th, 2020 01:33 pm
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IOnlyWorkLikeAMexican92
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 I don't know ,much about the 4.0 swap but it sounds nice. My thing is time and money.. I guess that's everyone's thing Haha! But I just bought a house and I, gonna need a newer roof soon. So I wanted to the truck running with minimal costs so I can continue my house work. I considered trading ,y focus and junking the truck to invest in a newer truck but the idea is to not spend money and the car is paid off this year... #firstworldstrugglez
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 Posted: Tue May 5th, 2020 01:36 pm
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IOnlyWorkLikeAMexican92
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 Chris wrote:
Lol @ 410 -  I'd be itching to get a wire cup brush in there to clean up the cylinder wall so you can see the state of the metal - a tiny amount of iron becomes a much larger volume of rust ....
Haha! I'm a mechanic/ machinist on civil side of the navy.. all I do is clean rust and   like this in tight areas! I had a little itch too when I saw it all 
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 Posted: Tue May 5th, 2020 01:40 pm
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IOnlyWorkLikeAMexican92
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 Questions!! Does the 4.0 by mount to my manual 5 speed transmission? Also engine mounts? I understand the wiring is different too.. and what years and vehicles should I search to fit ,y truck for the 4.0
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 Posted: Tue May 5th, 2020 02:17 pm
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IOnlyWorkLikeAMexican92
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 JAMMAN wrote:
You poor guy. That has been in standing water. Look at the bottom of the doors real closely.
You mean like flooded? I'm not sure about that the body seems to be in really good shape just old and used but not taken care of mostly. I only got maybe 5k miles out of it and it's got about 180k on it now. The water reservoir when I bought the truck already seemed to be heavy rust color. I was in a tough situation at the time and I need a vehicle quickly. This was the quickest cheapest thing I found that ran. It ran pretty good too I tried to save her but the engine overheated
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 Posted: Tue May 5th, 2020 02:40 pm
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 JAMMAN wrote:
You poor guy. That has been in standing water. Look at the bottom of the doors real closely.
I have been up and down looking at his photos.  I don't see any pics with the doors!  The last pic he posted, the frame and lower engine DOES look like it spent some time in muddy water, but if that were the case, the trans and diff would have been full of water, brakes would have been screwed up, right?  Gosh, I hope for his sake that it wasn't left in flood water!



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 Posted: Tue May 5th, 2020 11:14 pm
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IOnlyWorkLikeAMexican92
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 mhoward wrote:
JAMMAN wrote:

You poor guy. That has been in standing water. Look at the bottom of the doors real closely.
I have been up and down looking at his photos.  I don't see any pics with the doors!  The last pic he posted, the frame and lower engine DOES look like it spent some time in muddy water, but if that were the case, the trans and diff would have been full of water, brakes would have been screwed up, right?  Gosh, I hope for his sake that it wasn't left in flood water!
I'll post some pics. It was pretty nasty in the coolant reservoir when I bought the truck. I don't think it sat in water cuz everything underneath looks pretty solid. No evidence of serious corrosion
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