EcoBoost or V8? They both had a six-bolt flange for the flywheel and a short, angled notch machined in the step at the back of the snout, but there was a subtle difference in the length of the notch, depending on the casting. Use the F3TZ-A for the ’93-’95 Rangers and Explorers that don’t have EGR; and. It had six bolt holes on the passenger side and 10 bolt holes on the driver’s side. About 25% of the ’96s were made with the 90TM crank that had the short keyway in the snout and 75% were made with the 96TM cranks that had the long keyway, but we’re told that there were also a few engines built with the 90TM cranks that were machined with the second step and the long keyway, so it’s best to double check all of them before using any of them. on. The dipstick hole remained the same at 0.380?. bore and a 2.63? If it were my money, the 2.7 — a $1,300 option on average — would be third choice. We recommend installing them in every engine in specific locations according to the diagram so the installer doesn’t end up moving them around and disturbing the torque on the main bolts in the process. However, it could become an issue when selling a crank kit because the gears are not interchangeable, so you have to know which one the customer has in order to supply the matching crank. For old-school traditionalists wary of turbo technology or those who like things simpler, your engine has eight cylinders. The fuel bill might be $500 more than the 2.7 over the course of a year, but decent highway fuel economy is not impossible with this V8. All of these engines had the same compression ratio whether they came with the original heads with the open chambers or the newer ones with the heart-shaped chambers, so they would seem to be interchangeable, but the computer calibration that was used for the old-style heads with the open chambers will not work with the newer heads with the fast-burn chambers. The exhaust ports on the 98TM-AD were much narrower than they were on the earlier castings; they measured 1.40? Step on the gas and the response is immediate. This question has been a topic of hot debate for years. The new 95TM-AB casting had two more bolt holes on the passenger side and two more on the driver’s side for a total of eight on the right and 12 on the left (see photos above). All of these cranks had a six-bolt flange for the flywheel. With all this in mind, there are some other things that rebuilders should be aware of when working on these engines: Rebuilders should not install an engine with the 95TM heads and deep-dish pistons in a ’95 or ’96 Aerostar. The cracks on the top can be found by Magnafluxing the heads, but the porosity problems won’t show up unless the head is pressure tested at about 70 psi. Understanding this mid-year change helps explain the mix of castings that we have seen in these engines, but it really doesn’t make any difference which crank you use in a ’96 as long as you use the matching crank gear. The only exceptions are the rods that can be used in matched sets, no matter when they were made, the 90TM cranks with the notches that can be interchanged with the 90TM/96TM cranks with the long keyway as long as the matching crank gear is used, and the various cam consolidations that are open for discussion. stroke by the time it grew into the 4.0L. in diameter. There’s a passage in each rocker that allows oil from around the rocker shaft to migrate out to the small hole in the top of the pushrod socket, but it’s wide open on the outer end so there is no pressure there to feed the oil down into the socket. We wouldn’t recommend using the F0TZ-B with an automatic, though, because the extra advance in the cam may affect the way the engine behaves with the torque convertor, so you should throw these cams away if you’re going to consolidate all of these engine applications. It’s hard to believe that any oil can actually get into the sockets, so it’s no wonder they wear out prematurely. The combustion chamber was changed in ’95 and the exhaust ports were revised in ’98. Use the F3TZ-B for the ’93-’95 engines that came with EGR and for all of the 4.0L engines from ’96 through 2000, except the ’96 Aerostar that should still use the FOTZ-A. There have been four different cams used over the last 10 years. It’s a completely new design that shouldn’t be interchanged with the earlier, deep-dish pistons. Dealing with all of these different cams can be a problem, because there’s no absolute right answer short of rebuilding each engine exactly the way Ford built it, but that creates more applications and more opportunities to sell the wrong engine, so every rebuilder needs to consider the alternatives and do what works best for his shop and his customers. While the transition from “off” to “on” is immediate the moment your foot comes off the brake, some buyers might nevertheless find the feature intrusive. The 3.0L Ford pushrod motor has been around for nearly 20 years. The block was redesigned again in ’97 to reduce noise, vibration and harshness (NVH). The early crank gear has caused problems for many rebuilders. Indeed, Motor Trend registered 6.1-second runs to 60 mph with the new 3.5 EcoBoost. 1 choice — underlined even more so with the introduction of the second-generation, aluminum engine. If this were 1970, jumping to the EcoBoost from a V8 would feel like driving a big block over a small block. Passing others cars is done in an instant. Each truck was a SuperCrew with 5.5-foot box. Some of the later heads have cracks around the oil drainback holes and quite a few are cracked in the chambers, so they should all be carefully inspected before being rebuilt. The original 2.6L engine was replaced by the 2.8L, which was upgraded to the 2.9L and then finally bored and stroked to make it into the 4.0L that was used in the Rangers, Aerostars and Explorers starting in 1990. © 2021 Postmedia Network Inc. All rights reserved. This approach looks good on paper, but you still need to know if the vehicle came with EGR from ’93-’95, and that’s not always predictable based on the year and application, so be sure to ask the customer before selling one of these engines. The original block was changed in ’95. At least until the diesel, and the hybrid, finally arrive. In our test, it hauled the 3,600-lb. It was replaced by the 97TM casting in ’97, but it was the same, so they can be used interchangeably. Some rebuilders weigh each rod and others sort them based on the appearance of the weight pads on the bottom of the big end (see photo). Rebuilders should definitely install a sleeve over the factory seal surface, but there are better alternatives in the aftermarket; Micro Sleeve (800-475-3383) and Classic (800-393-0544) both offer sleeves for the 4.0L cranks. Advertisement. The 95TM-AD casting that came out in ’95 had the heart-shaped, fast-burn chambers that shrouded the intake valves. For buyers of the pickup sales leader in North America, however, the engine options in Ford’s F-150 portfolio make picking the right power source a hard choice, especially when the four engines available are each and of themselves compelling. The original 2.6L engine was replaced by the 2.8L, which was upgraded to the 2.9L and then finally bored and stroked to make it into the 4.0L that was used in the Rangers, Aerostars and Explorers starting in 1990. on the 95TM/97TM castings. That all depends on who you ask. America's Best Engine Shops: America’s Best Engine Shops 2020, Features: Engine of the Week November 2020 Recap, Features: Diesel of the Week November 2020 Recap, Engine of the Week: Ford 5.0L Coyote Engine, Video: Ambient Temperatures and Diesel Engines, Engine News: Christopher Bell Gets First NASCAR Cup Series Win on Daytona’s Road Course, Engine News: Ty Gibbs Wins NASCAR Xfinity Series Debut in Super Start 188 at Daytona, Engine News: Ben Rhodes Wins Back-to-Back in NASCAR Truck Series at Daytona, Oil Clearances and Options for LS Engines. Ford had planned to discontinue the RWD Aerostar shortly after the FWD Windstar was introduced in ’95, but when it was realized that there were a lot of fleets that still liked the Aerostar, the company decided to keep on building it. The dish looked a little bit different this time, but the real difference could be seen from the bottom of the piston. in diameter. The new 97JM-AC casting came with an additional step, the long keyway and an eight-bolt flange for the flywheel. If going turbo, which one? After driving three 4×4 F-150s back-to-back over several weeks — each truck with a different engine — it’s clear the behaviour of each engine acts as differently as unsupervised kids in daycare. In fact, “It will burn the engine down in a few thousand miles,” according to a Ford engineer who worked on this engine program. There have been some problems, especially in Ford Focus RS models with the cylinder head gaskets failing. Impressive. It was replaced in ’93 by the 93TM-AA casting that was exactly the same. However, Ford chose to use the early pistons and the early heads with the 97TM block so there was no need to certify a new calibration for just this application. This has been a common engine in some of Ford’s most popular vehicles including the Ranger, Explorer and Aerostar, so there are over 3 million of them on the road and plenty of business waiting for the shops who know how to rebuild them and make them live. That’s the story on all the castings and the major components. Yes, the exhaust might sound a bit tinny, but it’s not unpleasant, just not as natural or as deep as the 3.5, and of course not nearly as satisfying as the V8. And engine choices are certainly plentiful too. F-150 is once again in a league of its own with the new, class-exclusive* available 3.5L PowerBoost ™ Full Hybrid V6 engine. Ford has used four different cranks with five different casting numbers in the 4.0L. See Chart A for information. It’s been used in several FWD applications including the Taurus/Sable, the Tempo/Topaz and the […] The tips can be ground if they’re not worn too badly and the sockets can be repaired by installing a special insert that’s available along with the tooling needed from Silver Seal (800-521-2936) or Goodson (800-533-8010). The notch in the original 90TM-AB shaft was 0.420? Ford introduced another new head in ’98. 365 Bloor St East, Toronto, ON, M4W3L4, www.postmedia.com. The key can be a little hard to find because it’s a metric size; it’s available from Ford as well (p/n W702979S300). Doug Anderson. It was originally introduced back in 1986 and millions of them have been installed in a wide variety of front and rear wheel drive cars and trucks since then. The rear seal on the 4.0L has always been prone to leakage. First up was the 2.7L EcoBoost, a V6 designed specifically for the pair of BorgWarner turbos it wears on its compacted-graphite iron block. 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