Hello all. What little bit of hair I have left is about to be pulled out over this. One of my customers brought me a ford lrg 423 engine out of a genie lift ( I do not have model number at this time) to be rebuilt due to low compression. Upon removal of head, found #3 piston destroyed and in oil pan. Cylinder wall is punctured. I priced them a new engine and with not getting a core back, they did not want to pay that much for the older machine. I found that a 88-91 Ford ranger 2.5 will work in place of a lrg 425 so I'm curious if the ranger 2.3 is an option for the lrg 423. The genie is set up to run gas or propane but has never been ran on lp. They always use gas so the valves should not have to be swapped out. After looking through the master gasket sets for both engines, only difference I found was the intake gasket has a oblong hole between the 2 center ports on the truck motor. The genie engine does not have this. The truck motor has 8 spark plugs, 4 of which would be plugged off. I generally like to replace components with a correct direct replacement but these guys are trying to save a buck. Just trying to help them out. If any of you have done a swap like this or has any insight, any and all help would be greatly appreciated!
How did you make out with the swap. I have found a Genie lift with same lrg engine that does not run, and would be good to know if the Ranger engine works.. Thanks
An older Ranger engine would be a better choice. Something without EFI and 8 spark plugs. Ford made a lot of 2.3 engines starting in 1974. Pinto, Mustang, Fairmont, Ranger, etc. A very common engine at one point in history. Not to be confused with the 2.3 use in the Tempo series.