Completed Project Kirby's 1991 Ranger Build Up

[Kirby N.]

It's so cool when a rig with a suspension is up on a lift and unloaded.

That's all I got

Haha. Thanks. I really need longer front shocks and limit straps. The rear needs different shocks moved outboard and bump stops. Got to get the engine sorted for now though.

This is my dads shop that we just finished. It is attached to his house. He has always wanted a lift. Now he finally has one. It’s a ball to work off of.

 

[Kirby N.]

Spending more money today. Might have to get used to this...

The rocker rail is a little worn on the drivers side. I started to rebuild and decided I needed a new shaft. Ordered a couple melling shafts from Autozone. Rockauto only had 1 left.

On to the injectors. I have labored over figuring out what to do with them. The Ford dealers don't help me much anymore. Its frustrating they dont make parts for my old truck anymore. I found out 2 dealers each have 1 new original injectors in the country. I also found out 2 dealers each have 1 of the newer 4 hole injectors in the country. There is one of the new versions on eBay NOS. There was another yesterday but it is gone. SO- decided to order from MotorMan in Michigan. Seems like a good family owned business. I talked to them on the phone. They are sending me a flow matched set of 6, 4 hole remanufactured injectors. This is the the best solution I could come up with - though I would have rather had 6 new motorcraft injectors for $150. I like this better than cheap new injector solutions out there.

Friday I am headed to the junk yard to grab a 4 cylinder transmission with a buddy- then I will be dropping them both at the rebuilder. They said $600 to rebuild with the 4 banger gear set.

I am also going to order some heim joints from James duff for the radius arms. These are getting sloppy and I am here anyway.


My pockets are empty!

 

[Scott B.]

That rail is not worn - it's polished!

 

[410Fortune]

Flow matched and reman 4 hole Bosch will work well for you when done properly they are just as good as new
4 hole are a nice upgrade over your 91 style injectors

$600 is a good price to have anything done to a manual trans these days

 

[Kirby N.]

A couple of updates.

1. I got a 4 cylinder transmission pulled. It was a 2x4 1996 I think. It had 125,000 on it. Plain jane truck. Dropping them off at the rebuilder today.

Just to review, these are both M4OD transmissions but the 4 cylinder case is different. The 4 cylinder transmission gears for gears 1-3 are lower, so those gears will be installed in my 4.0 transmission as well as a replacement of all worn parts over the last 300k miles. This transmission has never been touched- so I do imagine there will be some wear.

My current transmission gears:

3.40 : 1
2.05 : 1
1.31 : 1
1.00 : 1
0.79 : 1

What it will have after this mod:
3.72:1
2.20:1
1.50 :1
1.00:1
0.79:1

This will be around the equivalent of going from a 3.73 gear to a 4.10 gear in the differentials in first gear. Not a ton, but hopefully it will get me low enough in rock crawling situations that I don't smoke the clutch with the 5.13s. Also hoping I dont need to do something in the transfer case after this. We will see.


I also hit a road block last night. I unboxed the NOS ford heads I bought off eBay 45 days ago, to find that they are not 95tm heads- they are 93tm. GREAT. I am so frustrated. I am reaching out to the seller today to see if he will make this right. I should have checked that when I inspected, but I was looking for damage and didn't look for casting numbers. My mistake...

 

[Fix4Dirt]

A couple of updates.

1. I got a 4 cylinder transmission pulled. It was a 2x4 1996 I think. It had 125,000 on it. Plain jane truck. Dropping them off at the rebuilder today.

View attachment 430711
View attachment 430712

Just to review, these are both M4OD transmissions but the 4 cylinder case is different. The 4 cylinder transmission gears for gears 1-3 are lower, so those gears will be installed in my 4.0 transmission as well as a replacement of all worn parts over the last 300k miles. This transmission has never been touched- so I do imagine there will be some wear.

My current transmission gears:

3.40 : 1
2.05 : 1
1.31 : 1
1.00 : 1
0.79 : 1

What it will have after this mod:
3.72:1
2.20:1
1.50 :1
1.00:1
0.79:1

This will be around the equivalent of going from a 3.73 gear to a 4.10 gear in the differentials in first gear. Not a ton, but hopefully it will get me low enough in rock crawling situations that I don't smoke the clutch with the 5.13s. Also hoping I dont need to do something in the transfer case after this. We will see.


I also hit a road block last night. I unboxed the NOS ford heads I bought off eBay 45 days ago, to find that they are not 95tm heads- they are 93tm. GREAT. I am so frustrated. I am reaching out to the seller today to see if he will make this right. I should have checked that when I inspected, but I was looking for damage and didn't look for casting numbers. My mistake...

View attachment 430710

300 out of any trans is cool! welcome to the club, 330 here on a 5r55e. the trans look like twins!

hopefully they make it right cause you did order 95 not 93! sorry to hear that!

 

[Kirby N.]

Well, they will give me a refund on the heads- however, they don't have any more 95TM heads to replace them with. So it looks like I am going to keep the 93TM heads, and likely change pistons. What a pain. Anyone need some fresh 98TM pistons?

 

[Kirby N.]

So I am stuck. IDK what to do.

My block and pistons are .75mm over bored. I can't find any Ford pistons that are .75mm over for the 1994 spec engine. So now I am trying to figure out if I should send back the heads and get some 98 spec aftermarket heads of get some aftermarket 94 spec pistons. I would really like oem pistons and block but I dont think it is going to happen at this point. I dont really see a good solution. There was some pistons that were oem and .75 over on eBay yesterday. I asked a question and the guy took them down and will not respond to messages.

 

[Fix4Dirt]

So I am stuck. IDK what to do.

My block and pistons are .75mm over bored. I can't find any Ford pistons that are .75mm over for the 1994 spec engine. So now I am trying to figure out if I should send back the heads and get some 98 spec aftermarket heads of get some aftermarket 94 spec pistons. I would really like oem pistons and block but I dont think it is going to happen at this point. I dont really see a good solution. There was some pistons that were oem and .75 over on eBay yesterday. I asked a question and the guy took them down and will not respond to messages.

dang that sucks!!!!! sorry to hear that.

 

[410Fortune]

I will leave this for the engine builder dudes, in over my area of specialty!
Rebuilding these things can be oh so fun. V6= $$$

 

[Kirby N.]

I respect that!

I guess the real question is:

Would it be better to have aftermarket heads or aftermarket pistons?

Because I can’t have motorcraft oem heads and motorcraft oem pistons that are compatible.

And if it is pistons- is it a good option to go with flat top sohc pistons to increase compression to 10:1? I don’t want to have to worry about tuning or reliability being compromised.

 

[Fix4Dirt]

I respect that!

I guess the real question is:

Would it be better to have aftermarket heads or aftermarket pistons?

Because I can’t have motorcraft oem heads and motorcraft oem pistons that are compatible.

And if it is pistons- is it a good option to go with flat top sohc pistons to increase compression to 10:1? I don’t want to have to worry about tuning or reliability being compromised.

i aint no engine builder just ya average joe, but imo id rather have mismatched heads in that ya can at least replace em without pulling the motor iirc, pistons... nit so much! as long as ya can find a reputable supplier of heads maybe even updated ones thats even better imo! i think hugher compression may mean tuning to get every pony outta it, cause the stock computers compensate quite well in my experience, but once ya get that far i think itll give you a power boost undoubtably but then tuning will be needed to milk every house outta it. not sure reliability wise however.

 

[Scott B.]

I respect that!

I guess the real question is:

Would it be better to have aftermarket heads or aftermarket pistons?

Because I can’t have motorcraft oem heads and motorcraft oem pistons that are compatible.

And if it is pistons- is it a good option to go with flat top sohc pistons to increase compression to 10:1? I don’t want to have to worry about tuning or reliability being compromised.

Were it me, I would find the best flowing heads, and start there. I don't there is much difference between OEM and aftermarket pistons, functionality wise (other than the obvious shape of the top of the piston), but there can be a huge difference in the flow through different heads.

Also, watch out with 10:1 compression - that may put you on high octane gas. Of course, the additional power will be nice...

 

[Kirby N.]

Thanks Scott. I think I am leaning toward different heads now. The only ones available are 98 spec heads aftermarket. I called engine quest today. One idea I got from a guy on The ranger station is getting a set of 95 heads out of the junk yard and having them rebuilt. Any thoughts on that? Does anyone have a good place to have heads rebuilt?

 

[Scott B.]

Thanks Scott. I think I am leaning toward different heads now. The only ones available are 98 spec heads aftermarket. I called engine quest today. One idea I got from a guy on The ranger station is getting a set of 95 heads out of the junk yard and having them rebuilt. Any thoughts on that? Does anyone have a good place to have heads rebuilt?

One model of head (I forget which) is prone to cracking. Brian1 would know.

Be careful getting used ones.

 

[Kirby N.]

I talked to a local machinist today. He was kind of a tool. He said every 4.0 head that comes in is always cracked. Always. I told him I have a set with 300k on them of the 1991 variety that are not cracked. He said there is only two varieties- early and late, to which of course I know better. So after we bantered a little, he said bring in what you got and we can look at it. Thinking about getting a set of 95 heads out of the junk yard and having him rebuild them with the 93 parts then selling the new 93 head bare. Still looking for a set of aftermarket 95tm heads, but I have not found any.

 

[Kirby N.]

Well, been out of the country for a few weeks on business. I think I am gong to celebrate independence day at the junk yard and see if I can come up with a couple of heads to be rebuild using the parts out of these NOS heads. I had some other suggestions like decking these heads to get the correct compression ratio, but I dont think I am wanting to do that. I think I will roll the dice with a set of use 95 or 97 heads if I can locate them and see if I can get them rebuilt.

 

[Fix4Dirt]

Well, been out of the country for a few weeks on business. I think I am gong to celebrate independence day at the junk yard

aint no better way might do that nyself depending if theyre open or not then go put s rack o ribs on the grill mmm i can taste it in my moith...

 

[Kirby N.]

I am also getting excited for my new transmission ratios.

I did some more figuring-

3.40 3.72
---- = ----
5.13 x


Solve for x.

x= 5.61

So, having these new gears will be like going from a 5.13 to a 5.61 ring and pinion in first gear? I think that is right. IDK if it is though??? If it is I am stoked. that is lower than I thought.

 

[Scott B.]

Well, been out of the country for a few weeks on business. I think I am gong to celebrate independence day at the junk yard and see if I can come up with a couple of heads to be rebuild using the parts out of these NOS heads. I had some other suggestions like decking these heads to get the correct compression ratio, but I dont think I am wanting to do that. I think I will roll the dice with a set of use 95 or 97 heads if I can locate them and see if I can get them rebuilt.

It might not hurt to deck the heads to make sure they are flat. We took 0.002" off the new aluminum Edelbrock heads I put on my 5.0L - yes, brand new and not flat.

We had to take 0.007" off each side of the block to get the even.

Ended up with 9.2-ish:1 compression. It ran on 87, though not very happily. It loved 93!