Hi all, newbie here.

We have a ford ranger with a 4D55T diesel engine in it. I have yet to tear into the engine, but from what the driver told me, it has a blown head gasket (not leaky, BLOWN), it was towed home and has no compression while cranking.

Being and aluminum head, it may not be reusable, and since there are not many 4D55s in canada, I was wondering if a head from a more common 4D56 will fit, and if so what has to change (can I keep the intake and exhause manifolds?)? Has anyone ever done this swap before???

PS, does ARP make a head stud kit fore these engines?

from what I have read the head does work and is much more efficient...they flow alot better than the 2.3 heads....I am not sure what it does for compression though. do some reading on POCUK and you should find your answer there.

Thats where I am right now. I have done lots of reading on the topic, and so far it all tells me that its possible, but I have yet to find any example of anyone actually trying this swap.

Would you happen to know if the head bolts are reusable? or are they TTY?

when my 4d55 head blew, I ordered a bare 4d56 head, fitted all the parts off the old head, ordered a new head gasket for a 4d55 engine [4d56 has 2 types] and have been running 6 months now with no problems at all. Also there are 2 types of head, one with recessed valves the other with protruding. My head was recessed. Both available in the UK.
Gasket part # available from ajusa.es online catalog. Hope this helps <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />

yorkie55, thank you so much, thats exactly the info I needed. If I understand correctly, the change in head type of the 4D56(T) happened in 1992 or 1993? And I would need the older version, right?

Now is your engine turbocharged? Did you have any problems swapping over the manifolds?

not sure of the head changeover date. I just ordered the recessed valve head as that's what was fitted to mine. All manifolds[inlet/exhaust] just married up no problems. In fact I've now fitted an intercooler off the mkII model with manifold and that all bolted up just fine. Yes mine is turbocharged. Headbolts, well they recommend you change them, but I don't think the 2.3/2.5 bolts are stretch. I reused mine, just retorqued them after 500 miles, as said no problems after 6 months encountered so far. Hope this helps <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" /> ps my motor is in a Mitsubishi Pajero, hence the mkII comment. Also, gaskets available at rockauto.com based in the US but ship worldwide {I used to own an 88 GrandAm so used these people for the parts}

That helps a lot, thanks.

I wonder if my mistake was retorquing the bolts after only a few days of running, instead of after a few weeks.