I thought I would do a post on what I have just done. I have a 2007 Ford Ranger with a 2.3L Duratec and the piston wrist pin came loose on one of the pistons and damaged the engine beyond repair, see picture.




So needing a new engine I decided to buy a used one but found there were very few used 2.3L Duratec with low miles on them and learned that the 2.5L Duratec block will work with the 2.3L head. So I got myself a used 2014 Ford Fusion 2.5L Duratec with 33,000 miles on it and bought myself a rebuilt 2.3L head. Now I will tell you how it all works.

You need to order a Head Gasket Kit for a 2.3L and a Balancer Delete plug and do a little cutting of the block to make it all work. The only things you will use from the 2.5L Duratec are the Short Block minus the Balancer. Stip down the 2.5L block so all you have is the block with the crank, rods, and pistons, and nothing else. This means no oil pump, flywheel, balancer ( it will not fit in the 3.2L oil pan). You will then install everything from the 3.2L Duratec onto the 2.5L Duratec block. Starting with the oil pump and the oil pickup. The 2.5L oil pump will not work with the 2.3L oil pickup tube because it has a different angled input flange. You can see it in the picture, the 2.5L is on the bottom.



You will use the sprocket from the 2.3L it is bigger than the 2.5L



You will use the Oil Pickup Tube from the 2.3L



Next, install the Balancer Delete Plug, it plugs the oil feed to the Balancer you removed. Just search (2.5L Duratec Balancer Delete) to find one. I installed mine before I rebuilt the engine.





Next, it's time to install the oil pan from the 2.3L, the 2.5L will not fit in the Ranger. After that you will install the flywheel from the 2.3L, you can see the difference between the two, the 2.3L Ranger flywheel is on top.



Next, it's time to cut the block so it fits in your Ranger. You will need to remove a threaded stem and cut the part of the block it screws into so when you are installing the block in your Ranger it does not get caught up on the engine mount, you must do this or the block will not install. I just use a hacksaw to cut as close to the block as I could without cutting into the oil pan thread. See the red line to see how to cut it.



Here is the block installed and a good picture of the clearance needed.



After you get the block installed you just rebuild with all your 2.3L Duratec parts including the 2.3L Damper, Head, Cams, intake, exhaust, timing chain, oil chain, Timing Cover...etc. The whole thing here is you are just using a 2.5L Block, Crank, Rods, and Pistons and nothing else. You can use the 2.5L water pump.

Well there you go, it is easy to give your Ranger some new life with a 2.5L Duratec Block and it all works great and gives the Ranger a bit more power. Ranger 2.3L are hard to come by but 2.5L are all over the place and up to 2019 I believe they were made and you can still buy new 2.5L blocks from Ford.

I hope this is a help to someone and remember all you use is the 2.5L block, Crank, Rods, Pistons and everything else is from your old 2.3L Duratec.

 

Very nice write up

Never pulled apart a Duratec, so gotta ask, in pic 5, the under side with oil pump pickup, what does the helical gear between cylinders 3 and 4 drive?
Its machined on the crank but can't see a use for it

 

Ron that is the gear that runs the Balancer here is a pic of it bolted to the block with 4 bolts, you just remove the 4 bolts and throw it away, and then plug the oil hole that oils it. From all my research on this, the Balancer was made to help vibrations that motors can make in front-wheel drive cars, I can tell you in my Ranger the engine runs smooth.

 

Great Write up and nice clear pictures!

 

so i never trimmed the block when i dropped my 2.7 stroker based off the 2.5 block and it directly dropped in, but also my 2002 had a bone stock engine mount and i used the 2.3 mounts for the block, sweet wright up

 

I'm pretty sure all of the transverse mounted engines in the Mazda L series of engines (including the ecoboost 4 cyl engines in the new generation of cars) all have a balance shaft gear.

Another common mod for the ST/RS crowd is to key the crank, instead of using the pesky diamond impregnated washer system

 

How’s the engine running now with more time on it? Going strong? Going to do this. My 2.3 block has a nice hole in it

 

Runs amazing but the block I used had some damage to it and it drips oil out the side if the block from damage that was cause when the Ford Fusion was hit. I bought another block off of ebay and will be putting it in this winter.

 

I just put a 2.5 out of a 12 escape in mine. Mine throws code for stuck rich and idles above 1k rpm, did you need to do anything to trick the ecu?

 

Did you use the 2.3l size injectors?

Engine Computers are programmed for injector size(pounds per hour) and fuel pressure(60psi), so they can calculate how long to open each injector
If you use a larger size injector then too much fuel flows out, so Rich Codes

 

I used the injectors from the 2.5 because 1 of the 2.3 injectors were broken. Couldn’t find a rating for the injectors. So I guess I’ll end up needing to find some different ones. Thx

 

Not sure if they are different sizes, but Rich codes are what you get if they are bigger(higher Lb/hr) than computer is setup for

 

Did you use an intake adaptor like this for your engine?

 

No you just use a 2.3L head and the gaskets in a 2.3L engine rebuild kit.

 

I used the 2.5 head and 2.3 intake. Grind off the plastic locators on intake and when you bolt the intake on you have to move it all the way down or up(can’t remember). Plus I used silicone on seals to help

 

Ok but you could have just used the 2.3L head that is what this whole thread is about. Using the 2.5L head means you have change a bunch of stuff. The point of this thread is you can just swap out the block which there are tons of.

 

i found a 2016 2.5 Fusion engine already out of the engine. The last used block I bought had a spun rod and crank journal. Did a VIN check of the vehicle it "allegedly" came out of and the last service before the car was crashed was at 87k. i live in the Portland Oregon area and it's nuts out here. The wrecking yards have two or three guys scoping out the same vehicle you are checking out. Hate to buy another gamble block but it's about all one can do. When trying to find cranks for these engines it's near impossible. My 2.3 block looks good but cannot find a crank for love or money for it. At least one that isn't pre checked.

 

Go online and look for them as long as the block, crank and rods are ok you can just clean up the cylinders, buy some new pistons and you have a new rebuilt block.

 

Well i took the plunge. Bought that Fusion Motor. 180 lbs compression + or - 5 lbs each cylinder. Plugs were sooty but not oily. i know the bolt pattern matches my transmission. Reading your writeup i made some assumptions which is on me if i was wrong. What I read lead me to believe the only thing used on this .5/.3 combination is short block internals. i'm hoping the 2.3 ECU works because the 2.3 head, TpS, CPS, and all tuned to the 2.3. Since the 16 2.5 VIN 7 doesn't come up with any available rebuild kits I'm hoping the pistons, rings and bearings are available for the 2.5 crank and rods.

 

Anything for the 2.5L block...rings, pistons, bearings front and back oil seals are 2.5L duratec. Everything else is 2.3L duratec for the rebuild.

You are just swapping the short block out.

Also, the ecu just thinks its a 2.3L and you will get a little more free power.

 

MediaSVi, moving right along. I'm in deep water now. Mixing and matching parts, I found the exhaust cam on my 2.3 is shot way too much wear. I noticed my exhaust cam on the 2.5 looked the same. So I took a digital caliper and measured it from all angles. Everything is the same, a couple minor differences. The bolt on the cam sprocket is a bit bigger but the sprocket itself is identical. The journals, base and lift are identical. When placing the cam slot tool to the backs of each cam they are identical profile. So I'm thinking of installing the 16 exhaust cam instead of buying a new one. The other issue. After tearing down the engine I saw zero wear on the piston skirts, the main and rod bearings looked almost new. The crank journals look almost perfect. SO I took them to my machine shop from 20 years ago as the local machine shop is 176 engine builds in line and counting. Clackamas Auto shop told me they are 4 months behind. I'm thinking of using the micrometer to check for any imperfections and to see if the journals are in spec. I'm quite sure they are. Of course checking the bore, zero obvious wear and getting new standard rings, bearings and putting the short block back together. So some photos. The only engines I've done in the past were totally stock. This one will have parts from two different Duratec engines and displacements. I wish I could find a way to compare specific cam profiles from specific engine parts. Ford wouldn't venture a guess, the machinist at the old shop wouldn't either.

 

so i want to swap my 07 xlt 2.3 dohc auto rwd to a 2.5L dohc auto{with paddle shifters if possible} rwd. what trans would be good? and what donor car should i use so i can swap over the edu and engine?

 

Just a short update, been a year now on the 2.3/2.5 block. Runs great. Couldn't be happier with this little parts getter, daily driver. Didn't see your question on the page, just saw it on the email notification. I have no knowledge of your paddle shifter trans. I do know the original ECU and the 2.3 head will run fine with the 2.5 and does have a little pep to it. I followed the original write up and his method was spot on. I personally used the original trans but when you have the trans engine out would be the time to look for the appropriate trans to answer your engine. My swap block was out of a 17 Ford Fusion E/W configuration.

 

I used the 2.3 injectors.

 

. Yes I cleaned them and reused them. The ECU probably changed the flow to try to keep Stoic Fuel ratio.