Hello all, newbie here looking for a few suggestions. My son's '86 Ranger has the 2.3l four cylinder gas engine. It runs good, but takes a long distance to get up to 65 mph, however won't maintain, a little underpowered. My son would like to swap in a mitsubishi diesel, anyone know where I can find one with all the trimmings? Or does anyone have any other suggestions? Thanks in advance....Clint

 

Good luck finding one. Back in the day Rangers came with Mitsu. diesels. but from what i understand, they're pretty rare to find.
i've seen 2.3l cummins put in rangers before.

 

Wirelessly posted

Check Craigslist and local junkyards. Why not a 2.9 or something a little bigger?

 

Will a 2.9 bolt in w/o alot of problems?

 

pretty sure its been done. no clue if its hard or not

 

if you swap in that diesel, turbo or non turbo version the truck will never do 65. the original diesel rangers crank out like 80hp and probably less by the time it hits the wheels.

 

Avoid the 2.9 they are know to have issues. If your going to go through the trouble of doing a motor swap you have two options. You can go with a 2.3Turbo out of a tbird turbo coupe or mustang SVO or you can swap in a carb'd 302.

 

I had a Mitsu 2.3l Turbo Diesel truck. Lots of torque. Really great mileage..nearly 28mpg all the time. It would definitely go over 65mph, more then enough power to do 90mph. Could easily out perform my SOHC 4.0 with the same load on the trailer. All that and it had 342k on it. The cam was shot and rockerarm shaft was broke in 2 and re welded. Parts are non existent unless you wanna give someone in China your money.

Had a great whistle below 1700 rpm, 5 speed 2wd. It was a great little truck, just couldn't get parts.

 

I wasn't aware that Cummins made a 2.3L. I know they make the 4BT 3.9L.