My full size truck is a 1978 F-150 with a 400 auto and limited slip. I have done a few things to it (carb, intake, exhaust) but my real question involves a Mazda B2500 I recently bought (mistake). I am hoping that someone on this forum can help me out.

I took the Mazda to Illinois against a strong headwind a couple of weeks ago. I noticed that the pickup could not hold 75 mph on the little hills we have in Iowa. This was an empty pickup without the A/C on. I put my foot on the gas and was shocked to find it mashed to the floor on every little rise. Believe me the 1978 would not even notice it was going up a hill and if I mashed my foot to the floor I would instantly have been sucked back in my seat.

Is there anything I can do to give this little 2.5 liter a little boost or am I simply stuck with a gutless little pickup? I must admit it is OK for running around town and gets way better mileage than the big supercab.

Will a chip help this pickup? Will the PCM fit back in the cubbyhole in the firewall with the chip added to it?

I don't think it has any trouble breathing because the intake looks identical to the one used on the 3 liter V6. I am not sure if the exhaust is any real impediment either.

I appreciate any help anyone can give.

 

how many miles? Has the timing belt ever been changed. I have a 92 ranger and when i first got it , it had a hard time at top speed. I changed the streched out timing belt and now it does 90 mph no problem. its a 2.3 5 speed. If you cant get 70 mph out of it there is something wrong.

 

The little pickup only has 48K miles. I think it would do 90 mph if I had a long flat road to try it on. I was bucking a 30-35 mph quartering in head wind when I had trouble holding 75 on any little hill. The thing just feels weak to me. I was hoping someone would have a solution to give the little 2.5 liter 5-speed a little more power.

Thanks

 

http://www.therangerstation.com/

Here is a site that might help you out. Check out their forums on your truck. But honestly, they are not too powerfull to begin with unless you have the v6. But one thing that might help a little is a cold air intake.

 

Hi Todd,

Yes, we can tune those Mazda "Rangers," and it's not a problem to make the chip fit on the back of the PCM with how those PCM's are recessed into that little cubbyhole, etc.

Just give us a call at our number listed below & we can go over all of those details with you.

The 2.5 is a nice little motor that certainly can be improved upon, and enough to make driving it more enjoyable.

In our custom tuning, we can get more power & performance out of that vehicle than any other tuning product can provide - we have more control over the PCM and have many years of experience tuning these Ford trucks - in the Ranger, we tune the various versions of the 2.3, 2.5, 3.0 & 4.0 engines, no problem.

Good luck with your truck,

 

Mike, does it have to be a certain year? Can I tune my 92 2.3? or is it too old.

 

Thanks to Mike.

I will buy a chip for the little pickup. I will write back to let anyone interested know if it helped. I promise I will not bother your forum with any more questions about the little Mazda. I will continue reading and thanks for all the tips and trick I might be able to try with the '78 with the 400. I must admit I really like that truck. I think the limited slip differential is the best thing ever. That 2WD pickup has been in some places you would not believe, and it has always made it back out.

Thanks to all,

ToddR

 

Sorry All,

I should have asked before. Mike, are you suggesting the blue chip or are you suggesting the custom tuning 4- bank chip to try in the 2.5 liter?


Thank you,

ToddR

 

Hi Silver5.4 & Todd,

We can usually go back to about 1987 or so, depending on the exact vehicle - basically, it just has to be new enough to be computer controlled and fuel-injected.

Your 1992 is not "too old" to have a chip made for it - just give us a call at our number listed below & we can go over that with you. If you haven't done so already, you'll want to locate your truck's computer code, which you can find on a small white sticker usually somewhere on the firewall, or along the base of the cowl, etc. The code will generally be 3 letters followed by 1 number (like NUB2, PIG3, etc., there are many diferent codes) - though once in a while on early to mid-90's vehicles, it can be something like J3P2, etc. At any rate, the computer code & any mods you have done are what we need to know to tune the truck for you. If you have any problems finding the computer code, don't worry, we can help you with that, just give us a call.

For ToddRTruck2,

No problem, that "Mazda" you have there is still using a Ford engine & control system - and Ford uses Mazda truck transmissions in some of their vehicles.

I would recommend having us do the custom tune in the 4-bank chip. You *can* use the standard single-bank blue Superchip module if you like, and that will cost a bit less - but you'll get more power and performance by allowing us to do our in-depth custom tuning using the 4-bank style chip. This will also get you a chip that can be used on *any* FoMoCo vehicle (Ford, Lincoln, Mercury) that uses either the EEC-IV PCM (the pre-1996's) or EEC-V PCM (OBD-II) - it can be reprogrammed for *any* of those vehicles in the future, and address all banks in the newer 1996-1998 2-bank applications and the 1999 & up EEC-V's that have 4 banks.

Personally, I'd want the benefit of the additional power from the custom tuning, and having a chip that could be reprogrammed for any other EEC-IV or EEC-V FoMoCo vehicle and be able to fully address the newer 2-bank & 4-bank EEC-V PCM's - that by far outweighs the slight additional cost of the 4-bank chip over the standard single-bank versions.

Give us a call at our number listed below when you get a chance & we can go over all the specifics with you, if you like.