I have a 1984 Ford Ranger 4x4 with the 2.8L V-6 4 speed manual tranny and the guy i got it from said that the jets were too big and i am starting to believe him because it is extremley hard on fuel and its pretty gut less pluss it smokes a bit too..i am thinking the carb isnt stock but what would be a good jet for a stock carb/modified carb? is there a difference in jetting size??just need some tips.

find out what carb you have first, then determine what jets it has in it now before you're worried about replacing them. What color is the smoke?

ok i will try and find out and post later tommorow.well its only smokes a little and its light blue but i know it burns oil.but you can smell gas like its running to rich..

Burning oil could account for the lack of power (not that the stock 2.8 made a ton anyways) since you've got ring/cylinder and/or valve guide/seal wear issues letting the oil by.

the carb is a motorcraft carb but that kinda tells me its a stock carb but im not sure.what would be the suggested jetting for this brand of carb?

If the engine is stock, then I'd stick with the stock jetting. Many stock carbs, especially the emissions ones toward the end of the run, didn't have any adjustments, so it was what it was. It's possible your's just needs to be refreshed after 28 years, or you could just purchase a rebuilt one that's been professionally gone through if you've never done it before.

yeah.the engine is stock and i put brand new heads on it but from the gas milage i am getting i am almost 100% sure they are not stock jets..i barley get 100 miles to a full tank if i am lucky.

Most OEM emissions carbs don't have replaceable jets on them - they often use fixed metering plates. I'd just consider putting a new/reman Holley 350 CFM carb in it's place if it uses a standard 2-hole mount. You can get them online (like this one on eBay (http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120360001364)) pretty reasonable.

ok so if that is the case what is some ways that i can lean my truck out..also my truck is idling really high and there is two screws on the carb.i turned both of them in tryin to turn the idle down and it did nothing but there is a linkage where the electric choke was and if i push on it pretty hard the idle goes down.not sure about this hole thing.

Hard to say what you're doing by trying to turn those screws - many emissions carbs had caps over the needles, so you might not actually be adjusting anything. Usually the idle is a stop screw on the side of the throttle plate near the base of the carb.

Is the electric choke working? If so, it should be opening up the choke plate on top of the carb after a couple minutes - if not, then that could certainly hurt your mileage.

The two screws are the mixture screws. Turn them all the way in ( not too tight or you will damage the seats), turn them out 1 1/2 turns. Start from there. Adjust them in increments of 1/4 turn, in/out til engines runs smoothly.

You should really think about doing the Duraspark conversion, if you can where you live. The Duraspark conversion allows you to get rid of all the sensors, computer and the POS feedback carb. I did mine about 8 mos ago and no regrets.

the butterfly is always open and it never seems to be closed when its cold..could the electric choke be stuck one? this seems to be a plug in on the left side of the carb and there use to be wires but they were cut off..not really sure?

The choke is supposed to keep it open when it's cold, but after the bi-metallic coil heats up it should pull off and let the carb go to a lower idle as set by the idle set screw. If this never happens, then it's most likely your electric choke isn't hooked or or functioning properly any more. Anytime you've got cut wires it's a bad sign as that usually means it was worked on by someone who didn't know what they where doing or there's damage.

Taking the suggestion of doing a duraspark conversion and running a standard carb might be the best bet.