Just What I Needed....

.... Another Project!

I'm going to give this page a bump to the top of the list because it looks like this long-lost project is finally going to get a shot at being constructed. Last week, the "slowly worsening rod knock" in my truck turned into a horrible clattering, indicating that the bearing had failed and now the connecting rod cap was hitting the crankshaft journal. Engines in this condition don't last very much longer, so 16+ years after taking the first action to convert my pickup to diesel, I've dug everything out from under the workbench and out of the storage locker and considering how I'm going to pull it all off.

Check this space for future progress, it's time for some current content on the site, and this is as good a subject as any I've had in a long time.

-S

(This page originally posted on August 12, 2007)

Spent some time on eBay last week and made a purchase I have been watching for for a long time:

A Mitsubishi 4D56 2.5 liter turbo diesel engine, which, with parts from this:

1987 Ford Ranger turbo diesel (from the factory!), is going into this:

1987 Ford Ranger XLT 4x4 (gas powered from the factory).

I know, lots of work, engine swap, wiring changes, fuel system revisions, etc., but I am seriously over gasoline power and want a small pickup that will run on Biodiesel, and my 4x4 is in excellent shape (other than the engine, which is tired and has a slowly worsening rod knock).

The diesel Rangers are rare to begin with, but the 1987 model year is ~very~ rare. I purchased the red truck for $100 from a Country Fair associate, who had parked it due to a blown turbo and leaky head gasket. I bought it a couple of years ago, put a used wrecking yard turbo on it and drove it the rest of the summer. Whatever was wrong with the head gasket really let go that October, as the engine would overheat within a couple of miles of coming up to temperature. There always was oil in the water and water in the oil, so I knew the engine had significant problems.

Checking around, the 4D55 engine (which came in the red truck from the factory) is very difficult to get parts for, as few of them were imported into the US. Some diesel Dodge Ram 50's used them, and a couple of years of limited production in the Rangers and that's about it. In the rest of the world they are a very common power plant, and mostly have been supplanted by the 4D56, a slightly larger displacement engine of the same configuration. The two engines share common parts and are interchangeable.

This particular engine was purchased from a JDM (Japanese Domestic Market) reseller, and came out of a 4x4 vehicle with 40-60,000 miles on it. In Japan, older and high-mileage vehicles are taxed at a higher rate, and subject to more stringent inspections, so cars we would scramble to buy used over here are regularly chopped to pieces and the drive trains shipped to other markets for resale.

Some time this fall or winter, I'll tear down the red Ranger, pull the engine and partially disassemble it. The new engine has some different flanges and mounting plates, and the entire front cover of the engine has to be swapped in from the old 4D55 so that the power steering pump, alternator, and vacuum pump can be mounted. I'll also change over the oil pan to make sure all the clearances under the engine are OK.

After I get the two engines melded into one, then the real fun begins, tearing my faithful old Ford down, and swapping the electrical, fuel, power steering and cooling system components over from the red Ranger. Having a diesel donor vehicle is the only way I would attempt this kind of a swap, all of the plumbing, wiring, brackets, mounts, etc are all there and will easily unbolt from one and bolt into the other.

The Ranger was available with the diesel engine option from 1983-1987

The '83 & '84 engines were a naturally aspirated design by Perkins built by Mazda. It had 59 horsepower and 90 foot-pounds of torque.

Understandably, they were found to be woefully underpowered.

In 1985, the Mitsu 4D55 TD engine was introduced, with 72hp @ 134 ft.lbs torque. Even as tired as the red Ranger was, I considered it's performance to be about equal to the 2.3 liter gas engine in my 4x4 (90hp), but with a much more usable torque band at lower RPM's. And this was with factory specs, I didn't do any performance tuning on the old engine. Add an intercooler, larger exhaust, advance the timing a bit and increase the fueling and you'd have a very willing power plant.

The 4D56 is 2.5 liter comes in at 83hp from the factory. My research shows that it's possible to bump this up to about 130hp with some careful tuning and bolt-on modifications.

I suppose just getting it installed in the engine bay and driving the truck forward should be my first goal...

-S