Brad's "I should know better" build

[Big Bad Brad]

Hey everybody, I joined up here months ago, but I haven't had anything to contribute so I've been reading but not posting. I've been on other Ranger sites for years, but the posters here are rediculously knowledgeable about these trucks and engines, and all of the threads seem to stay focused, kudos y'all. Anyways, I thought I would start by creating my build thread. I called it what I did because I am studying for my PhD (mechanical and materials engineering, corrosion of stainless steels), and I have zero time or money for this project.

The truck:
I've had my '93 for 11 years, it has 366000 km (yeah, I am Canadian too, take-off), and I've done quite a bit to it on a small, drawn-out budget; as it is now it has an N/A 2.5L and an M5OD. I lowered it using aftermarket parts, that was kind of unavoidable for the beams, and my lights are most likely Korean knockoffs, but otherwise I`ve made a point of trying to use as many Ford parts as possible when modifying it or replacing things, it seems kind of hod-rodish that way. The current engine came out of a `99 Ranger. I added the crank sensor and all the `93 pulleys, sensors and other parts to the newer longblock; 2.5L non-turbos with no AC or PS on EEC-IV pull very hard for normally aspirated 4 cylinders. The tranny is out of a `97 Ranger, the rims from a `98 Mustang, and I`ve added an Explorer 130 A alternator*. I also have a `98 Explorer 8.8, it came with demo-ed bearings that destroyed the original 3.73s, so I picked up 3.55s from a `00 F-150. I`ve restored the axle housing, painted it with VHT Roll-bar epoxy, and now I will wait until I can buy brakes, bearings and the Traction-Loc rebuild kit.


The engine:
In the Fall I picked up an '88 2.3T completely in pieces, including wiring harness, LA3, and everything for $300. I was told it had 160000 km, and I thought it might be a bit pricy for an engine in pieces, but everything looks really good, the original cross-hatch is in the cylinders, there is only minor scuffing from startup on the pistons, even the original oil return line is intact.

My plans:
Since I am a university student, and have been for 9 1/2 years (23 years since kindegarden, damn, it hurts to think of it that way), at this point I can't afford to buy gaskets or bearings (or food), so I am starting by restoring all of the parts piece by piece, for free. I have access to a machine shop, high temperature furnaces and lots of other helpful things, and I am a corrosion scientist with an electrochemical lab at my disposal, so restoring 23 year old parts has kind of turned into a hobby in the past months.

This post is really going on, I`ll come back to it...
Thanks for stopping by, :thanks:

[Big Bad Brad]

Oh yeah, and my truck currently has fordnut71s old exhaust on it. Flowmaster out the side, it sounds great with the 2.5L and CAI.
Thanks :)

[fordnut71]

welcome to the boards.
as i was reading this i was thinking didnt i sell this guy my exhaust. lol
hope its still working good for you, you should have come out for the meet we just had in kitchener on the weekend, was a good turn out 10 trucks showed up.

[fordnut71]

welcome to the boards.
as i was reading this i was thinking didnt i sell this guy my exhaust. lol
hope its still working good for you, you should have come out for the meet we just had in kitchener on the weekend, was a good turn out 10 trucks showed up.

[Big Bad Brad]

I am sorry I missed the meet, I actually hadn't checked the events forum, my bad.

So as I mentioned, I am waiting for cash before I can rebuild my engine, but that is fine(ish) with me, because I now have time to clean and restore the parts, as well as doing some minor porting and polishing. I figure in the long run I can do some things I would eventually want to do anyways, and I can help this engine last a little longer than if I just put it back together.
For the steel parts from the engine, there is a fair amount of rust. What I have been doing is disassembling everything and using an electrolysis setup in my lab at my school to loosen and remove heavy rust flakes and convert surface rust back to iron/steel. This removes the rust without the steel underneath, and afterwards the steel is either shiney, or has a black oxide remaining. At this point the parts are ready for painting or just using as is, the oxide is hard and well adhered to the steel. This also gets past the crusty greasy rust and lets me see the really condition of the parts.
The other day I disassemled the fuel rail, all of which was quite rusted.
The fuel damper up close, before cleaning:
http://www.turborangerforums.com/imagehosting/12264d8be00f91cd2.jpg
and the rail assembled after cleaning:
http://www.turborangerforums.com/imagehosting/12264d8be00fc37a9.jpg
In the picture you can see the stainless steel cap screws I am replacing some of the originals with, since my lab stocks stainless 10-32s. I used them on the fuel rail and IHI compressor housing so far.

The elctrolysis works great on steel, I have cleaned a bunch of the parts off my 8.8, the original E6 manifold, IHI turbine housing and support bracket, the wastegate actuator and bracket, the oil separator, and some other miscellaneous hardware. This did show me a crack in the E6, and some pinholes in the oil separator. I have a new RFE6 ($60 on Kijiji) so the E6 is no worry, but I need to decide what to do with the separator, I may repair it.
Some bits I simply wire brushed the black oxide off and clear coated over bare steel. I don't expect the clearcoat to do too well in use but these are random bits and they won't rust until they get onto the road anyways.
I haven't tried this it on aluminum, but I may see what I can do as far as aluminum electrolysis or other cleaning in the summer when I have more time to slack off in the lab.

[1chrisapple]

thats pretty damn neat stuffwonder if u could electrolysis your whole frame that wouldbe greatttttttt good job man

[Foolee]

http://www.stovebolt.com/techtips/rust/electrolytic_derusting.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5I5WBG5HPw
Very Cool Stuff, I'm going to have to try that. Screw media blasting, this is cheaper.

[fordnut71]

thats pretty damn neat stuffwonder if u could electrolysis your whole frame that wouldbe greatttttttt good job man

yes you can. you just need to build a tub big enough to put it into. also you want a bigger charger for more amps cause of the size.

[AirBender]

[QUOTE=Foolee;37584 Very Cool Stuff, I'm going to have to try that. Screw media blasting, this is cheaper.[/QUOTE]


you mean easier... this is lazy parts cleaning....:D sounds good to me.

[Big Bad Brad]

I read through the stovebolt link when I was trying to figure out the best way to do this. I ended up using washing soda with stainless anodes. I can dispose of chromates through my lab, otherwise I'd have used carbon steel for the anodes. I think it would be great to do a frame, maybe in a small old above ground pool or something, but thats way beyond what I can manage for now.

[Skyy_4life]

welcome!

alot of our builds are stretched out over time, lol, even mine, it has been sitting over winter for a rebuild, second times a charm lol.

truck sounds really nice, you should post some pictures of the truck itself, want to see it :)

:cheers2:

[Big Bad Brad]

Here is how the truck looks now,
http://www.fordtruckworld.com/NewGallery/2/3148/1023497.jpg

and I forgot my lunch today, so instead I grabbed my turbine housing and fed the carbide burr. Before...
http://www.turborangerforums.com/imagehosting/12264d8d5daea46b8.jpg

after...
http://www.turborangerforums.com/imagehosting/12264d8d5db04ea53.jpg

I matched the outlet to the gasket and smoothed and blended in about an inch into the housing, now I want to polish the inlet then possibly ceramic coat it.

Next I think I will try to gasket match the E6, maybe practice on the original E6 then I am less likely to mess up my new RFE6.

[jfive]

Looks good. I like those rims. Definately a good color too. Mind letting me know what it is if you know. :popcorn:

[Big Bad Brad]

I wasn't crazy about the color at first but it really grew on me, its the factory paint, dark cranberry metallic. I've seen a foxbody in the same color and it looked great.

[fordnut71]

nice looking truck.

[Skyy_4life]

thats the factory color?
wow, not only is it in very good shape, but wow, i didnt know that color was ever offered, or maybe it wasnt offered on the american rangers? idk? lol
nice truck though.

[Big Bad Brad]

Its been a while since I updated this...
I completely tore down and rebuild my stock IHI turbo. There was no shaft play but it was kind of dirty, so I tore it apart, checked out the internals, then cleaned it all up, painted it and put it back together. I didn't take any pics though. Here it is finished.
http://www.turborangerforums.com/imagehosting/12264e09f5bba95a8.jpg
I used VHT high temp ceramic cast iron coat for the center section and turbine housing, and I did a very light coat of VHT flameproof inside the turbine inlet and the exhaust elbow.
When I was taking the center section apart I broke a few small screws. Luckily, I live a block away from Spaenaur's warehouse (kind of like fastenal). I picked up stainless hardware for the rebuild. I might also replace the bolts for the turbine to center and turbine to elbow as well.

[Big Bad Brad]

I picked up a 94 Supercoupe throttle body, so I tore it apart too. The stock screws attaching the throttle plate have a positive head and extend through the shaft, then are pinched to lock them in place. This seems like a lot of restriction, and I didn't like it in the stock TB either, but the stock TB seemed more intimidating to take apart.
The SC TB is simple, I used a hacksaw blade to remove the pinched ends of the screws, then they threaded out easily, the throttle plate popped off and I was able to remove the cross-shaft.
I found some flush mount screws the same size as the originals, then recessed the holes in the throttle plate. I didn't want to recess into the cross-shaft in order to preserve all the threads, so I also had to grind down the heads of the screws to get them flush. Here is the profile of the throttle plate and shaft with the new hardware vs old:

http://www.turborangerforums.com/imagehosting/12264e0a0952c61c5.jpg

I've also ground about 1/16" from the back side of the shaft, and I will do more before I reassemble the TB. The stock screw also had 1/8" that was pinched cross-flow, so all in all, although I probably won't have a noticeable gain over not doing this with a more or less stock setup, it could help squeeze a few more ponies if (when, I won't kid myself) I go to more boost and/or a higher RPM build.

[beluga420]

Your truck looks really clean! Props to you for having keep it that clean with the 11 years you had it! I probably would'nt like those wheels on another car, but with the rest of the truck they really are amazing.

[Big Bad Brad]

Thanks. Go Nordiques!

[fordnut71]

you live a block away from Spaenaur. lucky,they have the best fitting fasteners ever.

[splatranger95]

Man I want those Cobra rims.... I love them, the girlfriend is iffy on them....

Good thing its not her truck! HAHA and I love the color. I am going to look into something similar to that when I repaint the truck this winter, Just a little darker though. (I hope you don't mind if I copied, but at least I have a steppy.) Its either something dark maroon or a deep blue/green.

But I love the look of your truck. It looks like you are doing what I should have when I did mine. Cleaning everything first.

[Big Bad Brad]

My truck was dead on the road for a few days because the gf needed the battery in her Cavalier to get to work, so I took the stock 93 throttle body off, cleaned it up, then put in flush mounted throttle plate screws and ground down the back of the throttle shaft, basically what I did to my larger throttle body a few weeks back.
I didn't expect noticeable results, I just had time, shits and giggles you know? Anyways, I got the TB back in the truck and got my battery back in, and there seems to be a noticeable difference, I actually broke both tires loose in 2nd gear, for the first time ever, and I have tried before.
I am running the 2.5L longblock with '93 2.3L everything else, non-boosted, full 3" CAI, 2.5" flowmastered exhaust (it is 2.5" isn't it Fordnut?). I figured I'd be porting the head and intake before this TB mod made any difference, but it is what it is. I'd recommend this to anybody who has an hour or so to kill and can get the flush mounted screws (I'll try to remember to check the thread size and post it).

[fordnut71]

yes its 2 1/2" system.