Mods
87-88 2.3 Turbo swap
Super coupe throttle body
Mystery lift/radius arms/springs
ProComp shocks
33" Tires
4:10 front and rear
Super coupe throttle body
Mystery lift/radius arms/springs
ProComp shocks
33" Tires
4:10 front and rear
Build story
Picked up this truck for 700 bucks on July 4 of last year, had been sitting with a half finished 2.3t swap for at least 10 years, the registration/insurance papers i found were from 2004. Tank was out of the truck, the wiring was just spaghetti'd everywhere, no proper indication of how done it was.
Guy said it was good to go, just needed the fuel system done and a battery. I doubted it, but the price was right, so I brought it home.
The fuel system was super cheesed and the original plastic lines were brittle and splitting, so I got rid of everything, ran -6AN feed and return tank to rail. Sending unit was MIA so I had to get a new one and put a Walbro 255 in the hanger.
Put it all together and got a battery in it: No lights, no pump prime, no cranking, nothing. So I gathered all the diagrams i could possibly find online, for the truck and for the Turbo Coupe the motor/harness came from.
I spent 2 weeks stripping off the snakeskin, tracing important wires one by one, and one by one I would get something to come on, first it was lights/starter when I found the lead for the ignition switch to fusebox, then I got the fuel pump priming when i found where he had spliced in the relays. After finding grounds hanging and extending them to where they should have been, I got the ECU to wake up, and then I got it to try and fire off.
He had left random things un-done, like motor mount bolts loose, shocks were off, tie rod castle nuts (see first pic) and most importantly the distributor hold down (why, idk).
So after timing it and actually tightening the distributor, it would start in not even a half a crank, ran great. Made sure the fluids were okay (had changed the oil and drained the coolant before starting) and drove it around our property and then to a meet with the dash out as seen in the pics.
Just a few days later I put the dash back in it, and drove it 200 miles back to northern NV (with no heater, at night, in sub-zero temps) and that's where it lives now. Some time back in the early 2000's some guy started a 2.3t 4x4 5sp Ranger, and in 2020 some other guy finished it.
Still haven't had as much time to drive it as I'd like, (have never even tried 4wd lol, too many cars) but it runs awesome, pulls very hard for being a Ranger on 33"s. I don't beat it up too hard as the 4x4 trans and original rear are pretty weak but I would even dare to call it fast. 70+ is effortless and going much faster is scary in that thing lol.
Eventually I want to put a stronger trans and rear in it, and do more serious suspension mods, the current setup is way too stiff (bouncy bouncy). Put some of that SoCal pre-runner spirit in it that the original builder envisioned.
So that's the scoop! I took on everybody's worst fear: someone else's half assed and half finished project, not only that, but 10+ years forgotten. It turned out pretty well in the end and I got a very cool truck for an unbeatable price. I learned an immense amount about wiring and EFI systems in general, and am now delving into the suspension dynamics of pre-runners and offroad trucks in general. (I've always been much more a street car person) As much as vehicles are cool by themselves, I love them for what they can teach you and how they can make you a better, smarter person.
Hope you guys like the truck, and the story behind it. Thanks for reading!
Guy said it was good to go, just needed the fuel system done and a battery. I doubted it, but the price was right, so I brought it home.
The fuel system was super cheesed and the original plastic lines were brittle and splitting, so I got rid of everything, ran -6AN feed and return tank to rail. Sending unit was MIA so I had to get a new one and put a Walbro 255 in the hanger.
Put it all together and got a battery in it: No lights, no pump prime, no cranking, nothing. So I gathered all the diagrams i could possibly find online, for the truck and for the Turbo Coupe the motor/harness came from.
I spent 2 weeks stripping off the snakeskin, tracing important wires one by one, and one by one I would get something to come on, first it was lights/starter when I found the lead for the ignition switch to fusebox, then I got the fuel pump priming when i found where he had spliced in the relays. After finding grounds hanging and extending them to where they should have been, I got the ECU to wake up, and then I got it to try and fire off.
He had left random things un-done, like motor mount bolts loose, shocks were off, tie rod castle nuts (see first pic) and most importantly the distributor hold down (why, idk).
So after timing it and actually tightening the distributor, it would start in not even a half a crank, ran great. Made sure the fluids were okay (had changed the oil and drained the coolant before starting) and drove it around our property and then to a meet with the dash out as seen in the pics.
Just a few days later I put the dash back in it, and drove it 200 miles back to northern NV (with no heater, at night, in sub-zero temps) and that's where it lives now. Some time back in the early 2000's some guy started a 2.3t 4x4 5sp Ranger, and in 2020 some other guy finished it.
Still haven't had as much time to drive it as I'd like, (have never even tried 4wd lol, too many cars) but it runs awesome, pulls very hard for being a Ranger on 33"s. I don't beat it up too hard as the 4x4 trans and original rear are pretty weak but I would even dare to call it fast. 70+ is effortless and going much faster is scary in that thing lol.
Eventually I want to put a stronger trans and rear in it, and do more serious suspension mods, the current setup is way too stiff (bouncy bouncy). Put some of that SoCal pre-runner spirit in it that the original builder envisioned.
So that's the scoop! I took on everybody's worst fear: someone else's half assed and half finished project, not only that, but 10+ years forgotten. It turned out pretty well in the end and I got a very cool truck for an unbeatable price. I learned an immense amount about wiring and EFI systems in general, and am now delving into the suspension dynamics of pre-runners and offroad trucks in general. (I've always been much more a street car person) As much as vehicles are cool by themselves, I love them for what they can teach you and how they can make you a better, smarter person.
Hope you guys like the truck, and the story behind it. Thanks for reading!