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 P-up'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. There is little or no market in Japan for used vehicle parts, and 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 only thing I don't know for sure is the transmission compatibility. The red Ranger is 2x4 and uses a Mazda transmission. My 4x4 has to keep the Mitsubishi transmission and transfer case, which may (or may not) be a bolt-up to the Mitsubishi 4D55 bell housing. No one I've asked so far knows if the bolt pattern and transmission input shaft are the same between the two transmissions.
One way or the other, it won't be a boring wet and cold season for me.
