Increasing the fuel pressure in my Ranger?
 

Hello everyone,

I posted this same question on another site, but it isn't a place that is really into ecomodding. Thought I would ask here because folks here are in the same mindset. I was reading the other day on this link and, not being a real mechanic, had a couple of questions I'm hoping some of the "brain trust" here can answer. Here's the link........

Fuel Injector Flow Rate versus Fuel Pressure - Route 66 Hot Rod High

What I am understanding from the article is my '97 Ranger has the 14# injectors as did the '09-'01's. The '98-'01's with 2.5l had fuel delivered at 60 psi rather than the 40 psi in mine. This supposedly made the 14# injectors operate like 19# injectors. I am assuming this make for a HP increase.

These are the questions.....

Is there any truth to this article?

If it is true then how does the pressure change? Is it the different fuel pressure regulator or do the '98-'01 Rangers have a stronger fuel pump?

Again, if it is true, would changing out the stock 14# single hole injectors with 14# 4 hole injectors (maybe from a Focus with a Ztech engine) combined with the increase in fuel psi make for better fuel atomization?

Is this actually safe? The article states that 45 psi is about the safe limit for the 2.3l fuel system. If they had 60 psi in the '98-'01 2.5l then is it a "beefier" fuel system? Larger and stronger components?

The reason I am asking is I am always looking at getting better fuel mileage. I'm doing well now, but I'm always tinkering to find another couple of mpg's.

Thanks for the help.

Forget about that.
Just put newer generation injectors in.
They are designed to work off the same fuel pressure and are designed to get better mileage and give better atomization from the get go.

hat_man, you should be able to use EV6 injectors, #19, out of an 96+ Explorer. The Escort ZX2 runs #19 injectors with a smaller engine than yours, so you should be okay as far as I can see. Only difference is my injectors are EV1 or 4, while the others are EV6s, supposedly spray fuel finer. Equaling better atominazation.

Here is a link about different injectors - Fuel injector guide

Not rangers, but there might be some applicable data.

Found these injectors at Five O Motorsports. What do you all think? 18# and 4 hole disc.

1997 FORD RANGER L4, 2.3L, A, GAS Fuel Injectors

Looks expensive. I was thinking something more along the lines of finding new generation 4 or 5 hole injectors for your application at a junk yard and paying $40 or $50 for all of them.

Problem with 18 pound per hour is that the vehicle is going to tend to try and run rich. The closer you can get to 14lb/hr the better.
Also fuel injectors don't meter fuel on the low end real accurately. In theory you should be able to use a grossly oversized 25lb/hr injector on a weedeater motor but it don't work that way. You will find over sized injectors perform poorly at metering fuel on the low end of use at idle and cruising. They tend to dump too much fuel on the low end due to magnetic hysteresis, that limits the minimum time the injector stays open. If that minimum close-open-close cycle will let more fuel through than your minimum fuel requirement then you are going to run rich some where and there is nothing you can do about it, aside from put the correct injectors in. You can turn down fuel pressure then that limits atomization.

I think I see what you mean. How can I find out which injectors will swap into my engine? I have tried searching that online, but never seem to get any understandable results. All technical way over my head stuff. I guess what I need then is a modern 4-hole injector from something else that works in the 2.3L.

FWIW I read an old post here by a guy named Olympiads. I think that was his name. He was saying something to the effect that it might be better to have SMALLER injectors running at a higher pressure to better atomize the fuel. It makes sense to my limited understanding. Getting a finer mist than I have now has to be better and I would really like to find a way to accomplish it.

As for running rich (or lean) won't the O2 sensors help bring that back into tolerance?

OK. I found these on Ebay. Any better?

Ford Ranger Mustang Escort Tempo 2 3 2 5 1 9 Fuel Injectors Upgrade 4 Hole Spray | eBay

Or these

Reman Upgrade 4 Hole Ford Fuel Injectors 1985 1991 Ranger 2 3L | eBay

Scratch that. Looks like I want EV6. Probably has better spray pattern right?

You can go a little smaller if that is the direction you need to go from a money and part availability stand point.
But from what I can remember 14lb/hr is about as small as they get.

Just learn about the current and past generations of injectors. The 97 ford ranger likely uses the same foot print or style of injector that most of the vehicles ford produced from the some time in the mid to late 90s until recently.
The good thing is auto manufactures don't actually make the injectors, they use injectors provided by an out side company like Delphi, siemens or bosch (or else ford would come out with new style of injector every 2 or 3 years for each engine for absolutely no reason)
Once you find your injector foot print is then you just have different variations in numbers of nozzles and pounds per hour.
As you know, you want more nozzles from a later year with as close as 14lb/hr as possible.

The oxygen sensor will try to bring the fuel mixture to where it needs to be, but the computer is programmed to see that air flow readings into the engine, injector pulse times and oxygen sensor readings should fall with in an expected range. When you put in larger injectors the computer will expect to see different readings. Small corrections can be made but that is usually to overcome fuel pressure variations going high or low for whatever reason.

I did a little big of digging and it looks like the 2.3L ranger uses EV1 style injectors, which is just about the most common style of fuel injector in the world. The other style injectors might work too with electrical adaptors or cutting and replacing the injectors electrical plug.

I think any "upgrade" especially on something like a fuel injector would be an improvement.

Before you change anything run a couple containers of chevron techron through it. 230k miles, runnning fine and getting almost the same mileage as my 97 with half the miles (130k).

I say it ain't broke, save your money.

regards
mech