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Modern 4 cylinder swap options

Pickup a stock 2.4L Dodge/Chrysler out of a Neon SRT-4 or PT-Cruiser GT; the internals are already designed to handle boost and you can use the stock turbo or upgrade it. The same 2.4L block was used on Jeep Wranglers so you should be able to source a bellhousing pretty easily.
 
Junkyard 2.0 Ecoboost, from a Focus ST or FoMoCo small SUVS. 250hp and spools quick so bottom end torque is great. I miss my Focus ST, loved that engine.

They bolt up to some ranger 5 speeds (‘01 up 2.3 trucks if I remember right) and Ford Performance offers a stand alone harness and computer for it. (They have a crate motor too, but $$).
 
[486 said:
;n373991]

Are there any left?
thought the focus RS guys pretty well keep all of those blown up
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The RS ran a 2.3 at ~350 horse and are expensive used, because head gasket. The 2.3 was also in the Mustang and Ranger, but way more money than the 2.0.

There are sub $1k 2.0 ecoboosts on eBay. They’re mainly from Escapes, but same motor as a Focus ST minus a couple external accessories that wouldn’t matter in a Ranchero repower.

I looked heavy into this a few years ago, but decided my Model A needs to be a drag car with a BBF, not a fun cruiser with a 2.0.
 
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larboc said:
LNF/LHU and a solstice tranny. Transmission can be found for under a grand. LHU will make 300 without much effort. We've got several of those and an ltg that we RAPE at work on dynos with weird builds and you wouldn't believe the torture they take.
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This, I have a Sky Redline with the 5-speed and it rips. Cooling system is annoying to bleed though, you might have better luck arranging the components in a bigger (taller) engine bay.
 
So there's not a single 4-cyl equivalent to the LS or even SBC or SBF. wow. 4-bangers suck ass.
 
I like my Duratec 2.0 with a T3 at 10 lbs of boost. Someday I will swap it with a 2.5 for more bottom end.

Its probably 225-250 hp in a 2400 lb car, I’m not confident it would feel very quick in a ranchero.

I don’t know about HPT but SCT has tuning capabilities for it, it’s the first thing I’ve ever tuned but it wasn’t too bad once I got past one really big road block.
 
Another vote for the Duratech. I have a MG midget and a 2.3 Duratech/5 speed from a rolled Ranger sitting in my storage shed waiting to be combined. My research showed that the Duratech has a pretty decent aftermarket following due to them being popular in Europe and the Locost 7 community. Apparently they can really breathe with some simple upgrades.
 
2.3 FolVo Lima block lots of dumb shit to fit Volvo head.

850t 5cyl Volvo engine

whatever ricer engine tickles your fancy

hey olliez, Barra shipped to 05739? Green tops are still $100.oo right?:flipoff2: Loading Dock on site.
 
Subaru EJ. Meets your criteria except the intake is on top and the exhaust is on the bottom. I have an Impreza with the basic naturally aspirated SOHC EJ253 and even that makes 170hp & 170lb-ft.
 
Another vote for an ecotec...good stand alone harness options. Cheap parts, can handle boost.
I am putting together a LE5 with a Ko4 turbo off a 2.0LNF.

If you find the saturn/solstice bellhousing you dont have to run the MA5 trans, you can put a 2wd ax15 behind it which are super cheap. I sucked it up and bought a brand new bellhousing.

Finding a LNF LHU would be ideal but in my area was damn tough to find.

look at zzperformance to check out ecotec parts.

they arent the smallest 4banger but they are light and can be 300 reliable HP very easy. Shoot the LE5 can put out almost 200 NA with a tune.
cheap spare engines readily available too.
 
Before I cleaned it up. Waiting on my harness. Still not sure what I’m putting it in :laughing:

8695ED8D-39F3-41F6-BB01-11DEA91D2259.jpeg
 
Takotruckin said:
I like my Duratec 2.0 with a T3 at 10 lbs of boost. Someday I will swap it with a 2.5 for more bottom end.

Its probably 225-250 hp in a 2400 lb car, I’m not confident it would feel very quick in a ranchero.

I don’t know about HPT but SCT has tuning capabilities for it, it’s the first thing I’ve ever tuned but it wasn’t too bad once I got past one really big road block.
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Care to elaborate on that road block? You're the first one I've come across that has done pretty much what i'm after.

Ranchero weighs only around 2700lb. The early ones are really light. 200 HP would double the power of the straight 6 thats currently in it
 
Thanks to all the input so far. I'll be honest, I probably should have titled the thread "talk me out of a duratec." I'm definitely taking each suggestion into consideration and researching it though.

I really want to make the ecotec work just because I know it would be a slam dunk tuning it, but the trans situation is so much easier with the duratec.

I think my current plan is to pull a duratec PCM out of the junkyard, wire up an OBD2 port and see what we can play with in HP tuners. If things look good I'll probably pull the trigger on that combo. I really want to leverage the fact that my brother has major experience with HP tuners (780 HP turbo LS, self tuned) and seems excited to tinker with something different.

This would get me a roughly $1000 drivetrain which I'm not sure I could do with any of the other options.
 
Ryno said:
Subaru EJ. Meets your criteria except the intake is on top and the exhaust is on the bottom. I have an Impreza with the basic naturally aspirated SOHC EJ253 and even that makes 170hp & 170lb-ft.
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OP hasn't got room for a V so you suggest a pancake :homer:
 
OllieNZ said:
OP hasn't got room for a V so you suggest a pancake :homer:
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Now that you mention it it actually seems like it might be a good idea :flipoff2:

Did you see the engine bay? He has plenty of room for a SOHC EJ. They're not any wider when installed than any other engine since they don't have manifolds trying to dump into where your frame rails need to be like on a V engine or 8" of accessories on either side of the block like an inline.

Most of the complaining is from flat rate monkeys who are annoyed they can't fit an impact in there to install the head bolts.


Besides, it's so short he could stick it above the frame without issue. :laughing:
 
arse_sidewards said:
Now that you mention it it actually seems like it might be a good idea :flipoff2:

Did you see the engine bay? He has plenty of room for a SOHC EJ. They're not any wider when installed than any other engine since they don't have manifolds trying to dump into where your frame rails need to be like on a V engine or 8" of accessories on either side of the block like an inline.

Most of the complaining is from flat rate monkeys who are annoyed they can't fit an impact in there to install the head bolts.


Besides, it's so short he could stick it above the frame without issue. :laughing:
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EJs are ~30" wide vs ~24" for an LS depending on ancillaries. A fully dressed 2.3 turbo duratec is ~24"
 
i keep going back to a chevy tracker/suzuki 2.0 dohc 5 speed set up. i have been beating on these for years. but the mazda miata set up has lots of support.
 
mjlogan88 said:
Care to elaborate on that road block? You're the first one I've come across that has done pretty much what i'm after.

Ranchero weighs only around 2700lb. The early ones are really light. 200 HP would double the power of the straight 6 thats currently in it
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In short the pcm was defaulting to a “load with failed MAF” table instead of using the MAF table when the discrepancy was too far apart causing it to dangerously cut fuel.

Allegedly no one had it happen before and the biggest Focus tuner even told me it wasn’t possible, so I fought it for a long time before I figured out what was causing it.

The engine had ~100k when I bought it and I’ve probably put 10-15k HARD miles on it and only thing I have done is change the oil once a year, I’m pretty happy with the setup other than the lack of torque.

E50CE851-19B8-4745-9D15-3063740D7E3B.png
 
OllieNZ said:
OP hasn't got room for a V so you suggest a pancake :homer:
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No V8 in '62? Or did I miss something else. I was thinking if the bigger, later Ranchero though.

If I thought it through an FA20 & 6spd from a BRZ would have made more sense anyway. :emb4:
 
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Alright I'm actually going to deliver on this thread.

Picked up a '14 duratec 2.5 with 60k mi for $200

Also picked up a '10 Ford escape PCM which is on HPTuners "supported vehicles list". After wiring up an obd2 port we were able to get into the PCM with HPtuners. Unfortunately the tables we could modify were very limited and we weren't able to access PATS (antitheft disabler). Bummer

So... I ordered up a Megasquirt 2 system. I'll keep this thread up if you want to see a computer illiterate knuckle dragger go down that rabbit hole.

IMG-5434.jpg

IMG-5436.jpg
 
mjlogan88 said:
Alright I'm actually going to deliver on this thread.

Picked up a '14 duratec 2.5 with 60k mi for $200

Also picked up a '10 Ford escape PCM which is on HPTuners "supported vehicles list". After wiring up an obd2 port we were able to get into the PCM with HPtuners. Unfortunately the tables we could modify were very limited and we weren't able to access PATS (antitheft disabler). Bummer

So... I ordered up a Megasquirt 2 system. I'll keep this thread up if you want to see a computer illiterate knuckle dragger go down that rabbit hole.

IMG-5434.jpg

IMG-5436.jpg
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Cool!
Big word of warning, most if not all of the newer ford 4-cyls use diamond friction washers to hold timing instead of pins or keys. What this means is if you loosen the crank damper bolt for some reason (or cam phaser bolts), the cams and timing wheels are out of time and it is very much an interference motor. The diamond washers are SUPPOSED to be replaced any time any of that is loosened. To retime it you have to buy a kit that locks the cams, crank, and reluctor in place.

What's the trans plan? I have seen a few escapes with manual trannys but I don't know how those are oriented, if it's a conventional longitudinal trans or not.

I know you said megasquirt, but a guy at work just got a miata running with an ardunio mega and an ECU shield. I know very little about it but he said it can do cam phasers and sequential injection on a 4-cyl.
 
I went the microsquirt route, but I was using a stupid pushrod motor that doesn't need a million outputs

Same MS2 software though.
Gonna be doing all the VVT stuff?
 
MChat said:
Pickup a stock 2.4L Dodge/Chrysler out of a Neon SRT-4 or PT-Cruiser GT; the internals are already designed to handle boost and you can use the stock turbo or upgrade it. The same 2.4L block was used on Jeep Wranglers so you should be able to source a bellhousing pretty easily.
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I'm curious about these. I'd like to build a TJ someday and think I'm going to grab a 2.4 powered one since the 4.0s are expensive and the 2.5s suck. The option to add a boosted engine later would be sweet.

I hate FWD, but the one slightly modded srt4 I rode it was surprisingly quick. I'm guessing 300 hp is pretty easy with a few mods and tuning?
 
larboc said:
Cool!
Big word of warning, most if not all of the newer ford 4-cyls use diamond friction washers to hold timing instead of pins or keys. What this means is if you loosen the crank damper bolt for some reason (or cam phaser bolts), the cams and timing wheels are out of time and it is very much an interference motor. The diamond washers are SUPPOSED to be replaced any time any of that is loosened. To retime it you have to buy a kit that locks the cams, crank, and reluctor in place.

What's the trans plan? I have seen a few escapes with manual trannys but I don't know how those are oriented, if it's a conventional longitudinal trans or not.

I know you said megasquirt, but a guy at work just got a miata running with an ardunio mega and an ECU shield. I know very little about it but he said it can do cam phasers and sequential injection on a 4-cyl.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info, much appreciated. I'm going to do my best not to touch the internals on this motor for now and just focus on getting it up and running.

Going to be using a M5od 5-speed from a duratec powered ranger
 
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