New here.Looking for best year.

[Armadasx]

Whats up guys.Been looking around for a while and you all seem to know your stuff.I was wondering what you guys think are the best year rangers to turbo.I come from circle track racing and we run 2.3l fords but they are all carburated and i have no experience with turbos and im looking for a nice winter project i can have some fun with in the spring.:cheers2:

[nagelandy55]

95 to 01 are all good. It depends what else you want to do with it, 98+ had an A-arm from suspension as well as a few other changes such as a bigger cab and a rear diff speed sensor to name a couple.

[Armadasx]

Im probly gonna try to aim for a 95 then.Im on alittle bit of a budget and i want to put as much money as i can into the motor.i hope to finish 300 hp+ with like 15-20 pounds of boost.

[fordnut71]

96-97 2.3 are the better years with obd2.also has a better dp head. 96 has 1 o2 an the 97 has 2 o2 sensors 1 for the motor an the other just tells if the cat is working but can be turned off with a tune.

[nagelandy55]

96-97 2.3 are the better years with obd2.also has a better dp head. 96 has 1 o2 an the 97 has 2 o2 sensors 1 for the motor an the other just tells if the cat is working but can be turned off with a tune.

My 96 has 2 O2 sensors

[salating]

you can pretty much go whichever route you want as far as year goes.

you can spend pretty much the same weather you go odb1(94 and earlier) or obd2(95 and newer)

obd2 requires tuning but its pretty straight forward
obd1 requires some wiring changes and thats about it

[Jesshwarren]

It don't matter what year you turbo any 95 or later should be about the same.

If you turbo a 95 -97 I would recommend installing a 98 or later ECU. The 95-97 ECU's just don't quite have the control the late ECU's have.

[Armadasx]

Ive been looking around a little here and there.Im looking for a 95 or 94 around 1100.are the 94 and 95 distriubter less ignitions?or am i gonna be sucked into buying a 250 dollar distriubiter gear shaft.?

[Jesshwarren]

94 complete different block and head with the obd1 engine management system. Go with a 95+ if you want to be able to tune your ECU with a flash tuner.

[salating]

i kept the DIS as my ignition system on my 93

like jess said 95 and newer you can use the flash tuner

i use a chip and a chip burner for tuning my truck

['97-2.3L-ranger]

like jesse said go with a newer pcm. i started with a stock 97 cys2. the flh2 newer pcm used by ford on only on 2.5L. i droped the flh2 pcm and had about 2-3 times more options. i paid like 50.00 for the pcm. i put it in and started the truck. i found the stock tune for the 2.5 has got to be almost the same as the stock 2.3. like i said though flh2 has alot more pramaters. better learning- self adjusting i think

[flyin]

I also have a csy2 pcm. Please explain further about gains and advantages from a pcm swap to a newer unit

[Jesshwarren]

I also have a csy2 pcm. Please explain further about gains and advantages from a pcm swap to a newer unit

About 40% more tables in the FLH2 ECU. It is much more refined.

['97-2.3L-ranger]

DONT HOLD BACK CHANGE TO A FLH2 PCM!!! like i said their like 50.00 bucks

my csy2 is a great paper weight/door stopper

[fordnut71]

FLH2 is that the number on the case?

[AJ_Fritz]

i aint trying to start a war here. i still think the easiest rangers are the 93-94 and using the older ecu. i used to think it was a paper weight to till i seen how nice there work with a chip burner. its also the cheapest way to go. unless you have a 95 and up and swap in a turbo coupe ecu.

[nagelandy55]

i aint trying to start a war here. i still think the easiest rangers are the 93-94 and using the older ecu. i used to think it was a paper weight to till i seen how nice there work with a chip burner. its also the cheapest way to go. unless you have a 95 and up and swap in a turbo coupe ecu.

:shocked:

NOT trying to start a war?!?!?!

haha jk

Your probably right about it being the cheapest way to go but i think you've still got way more tuneability with the SCT tuner or something equivalent.

[Jesshwarren]

FLH2 is that the number on the case?

Yea, you can buy one here. Any ECU on this page is the FLH2
http://www.car-part.com/cgi-bin/search.cgi?userSearch=int&userPID=1000&userLocation=All+States&userIMS=&userInterchange=ADE%3FO&userSide=&userDate=1998&userDate2=1998&dbModel=27.28.1.1&userModel=Ford%20Ranger&dbPart=590.1&userPart=Engine%20Computer&sessionID=353759676&userPreference=price&userZip=65801&userLat=37.1312&userLong=-93.2917&userUID=0&userBroker=&iKey=&userPage=8


F87F-SC is the ID # for the 98 FLH2 ECU.

[muddpawz]

ok so if i have a 94 ranger and gona swap a 97 in in, whats the best way to go? use the older factory ecu, and chip it, or change to the flh2?

[AJ_Fritz]

i am just speaking from experiance. ive seen how long it took for jess to get a working tune and how much money and effort he through at it. then i saw gary do it in a quarter of the time and less then a 1/3 of the money. and for tunability i still think the TC ECU is as good or better.

[nagelandy55]

i am just speaking from experiance. ive seen how long it took for jess to get a working tune and how much money and effort he through at it. then i saw gary do it in a quarter of the time and less then a 1/3 of the money. and for tunability i still think the TC ECU is as good or better.

No doubt the SCT way is more expensive but other than the tuner what else do you need that you wouldn't need doing it the way Gary did it?

Tuner and Software = $700

Chip and Burner = ???

I haven't seen the program Gary used in great detail but i wouldn't be suprised if the SCT software has more flexibility and tunability.

It would be nice if we could devise a write up that give the truck year and what the options are for tuning the stock ECU. And the cost of each option.

[muddpawz]

I agree!! thats be sewwt and help take a ton of the confusion out of the swap on the tuning aspect.

[AJ_Fritz]

dont get me wrong i dont think either of them are even close to a megasquirt. the TC ECU will do 300 hp out of the box... no tweaking just hook and cook. it also has secondary timing tables you can use for racefuel and standard high test. you dont really need a chip until u go above 300 hp. then a maf conversion it pretty much in order with the larger injectors.

the stock ranger ecu while better in the tables aspect still has to be tuned just to make it run.

[salating]

to upgrade to obd2 from obd1, there is a lot of wiring involved

if you have odb1 stay with it

[beluga420]

I also have a csy2 pcm. Please explain further about gains and advantages from a pcm swap to a newer unit
Reply:
About 40% more tables in the FLH2 ECU. It is much more refined.

Humm sorry guys about digging up this old thread, but... I think jess is right, I'm tuning on the csy2 and it's missing a LOT of parameters that I think should be there.... CSY2 is crap, which is probably why I can't tune the truck with the 80#s.

Getting an FLH2 is defenately my next acquisition. And anybody that has the CSY2 should switch over too.

[Ron83ranger]

Beluga, i was waiting to see what you came up with. in your commando software, i saw a screen shot of a page and there was a levels tab. whats in that tab? in mine its where you can disable/enable items for adjusting and the levels they need to be shown when datalogging.. is yours the same? your ecu should definitely have a functtion for cranking pulsewidth. i took a picture of the v8 mustang one but i didnt load it yet cause it didnt come out to good.

[Ron83ranger]

in the mustang binary i found, there were a lot of tables and functions missing, i went in the levels tab and checked next to what i wanted to tune and they came up. there was one that said fuel- cranking also.

[beluga420]

I can't find any cranking pulsewitdh function... I've really looked every tables and nothing for this.

I don't understand what's your question is really. But if you took a random screenshot over the internet it's sure that the functions are different if the ecu was different. How it works is you ask for a template for a specific ecu to the guys at sniper and they send it to you, it has all the specific function to this ecu listen. And if jess says theres 40% more tables I can believe this, because theres really not much to tune on the CSY2...

Don't know if that answered what you were asking, but I could take a screenshot of all the functions I have if you want. There sure is missing A LOT.

[beluga420]

Yeah there is a level tab like beginner advanced expert etc... I've put it to expert and only 3-4 more options showed up, but nothing good.

[Ron83ranger]

yeah that is different. i didnt realize their levels were just a selection of someones tuning ability. that kinda sucks. there probably is a function for cranking pulsewidth but no one put the code in the tuning software for it which leaves you with no ability to adjust your start fueling. theres a lot of ecus that have that exact problem.
so the FHL2 is from a 98 then? we have some rangers in JY around here, if i get a chance ill check around.

[beluga420]

Yeah they are 98, ID# F87F-SC according to jess.

[fordnut71]

found mine on car-parts.com