Mods for 2.3L
 

Hi,
Can anyone recommend some good bang for your buck mods for a 2.3L Mustang?:tup

Thanks

There isn't much you can do... Other than going to a turbo motor out of a Turbo Coupe. If you don't want to go that route, you can upgrade your cam to a roller cam setup & tubular manifold from a Ranger ('91-up?).

TURBO MOTOR for sure, I mean same as any mustang I guess you could swap the rear gears out. You have to decide where the line is between sinking money into the 4cyl or just doing a 5.0L swap.

I want to stick with the 4 cyl to prove that those little things could go.
For the turbo what would be a good one to go with?

You can source parts from a Merkur, SVO, or Turbo Coupe.

Is there any way to buy a new turbo to put on the stock block or do you have to do a complete engine swap?

You can put a custom turbo set up on anything if you can Fab. I don't see why not about bolting the top end of a 2.3 turbo motor but I don't knwo all the differences.

What company would you recommend, to get a turbo from, if you were going to buy new and Fab it in

Just swap out of a 88 turbo coupe the bottom end of those motors is forged and with stands the punishment from the turbo much better i have one of my own 89 lx turbo conversion. Its fast 400 horse built motor.

ok first off go get yourself a t3/t4 turbo you can get them almost anywhere. hell if ur cheap u can buy a whole turbo kit for the car at ebay i mean everything intercooler ,BOV ,waste gate, piping, turbo, gaskets, header, the works man for like $700.... now the quality of the parts...not so great. i agree with what they say get a turboed motor out of a turboed coupe or even my turbo stang lol but i wont sell just the motor lol sorry. i know a good site with lots of good parts for turboing a 4Cylinder its called stinger-performance.com they sell almost everything all you need is a turbo. all there stuff is awsome quality

oh i forgot to mention you could always do the famous DOHC conversion.... take a volvo DOHC head and for the most part it a direct fit of coarse if you do this it needs to be tuned and what not. and it will be a turboed motor meaning you should put new internals in it

here is a turbo kit you can put on ur car

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/T3-T4...Q5fAccessories

and here is the volvo head
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/B234F...1%7C240%3A1318

know i know you dont have a svo or a ranger but the ranger is a mustang 2.3L right with very little difference so it should be just the same

i found a guy who did the swap and has alot of detailed info heres the link.... sorry not trying to be a post lol

Neil's 1986 Ford Mustang SVO-ND - Part II / Page 1

thanks for the help

ya np man glad to help

does anyone know how much it would cost to do turbo, exhaust manifold..... for a 2.3 without just doing a swap, and was looking at doing everything with new parts?

If you want to just add a turbo to your stock 2.3, it would probably live for a while. The drawback is the 9:1 compression ratio followed by the cast pistons and regular rings. Tune will have to be spot on and there will be very little room for detonation on a non turbo short block. Sunoco 94, about 7* base timing and at minimum a stock intercooler running around 11-12 psi is going to be as good as it gets for pump fuel and no alky. Race gas and alky, you can get braver, the shortblock will let go at some point, probably a piston first. Rods and crank are tough as nails and the same stuff as turbo engines.

You will have to, no ways around it, install a turbo computer preferably from an 87-88 turbo coupe, along with the vane airflow meter and brown top 35 lb injectors.. You will need to add 4 wires into the harness and pin them in where the eec plugs in. it's actually pretty easy.

Join a site like turboford.net and post up a wanted ad for an E6 exhaust manifold, a stock turbo, an oil feed and return. You will have to drill the block or pan to hook the return up and you will need the fitting that screws into the head for the feed. Also you will need a downpipe.

I had an 87 Cougar that had a turbo shortblock with a N/A head which bumped the compression to around 9:1 and for a heavy car it actually rocked out pretty good at 12-13 psi and 94.. I'd be willing to bet if you were careful and used a wideband for tuning it would live for a while and probably make in the 200-220 hp range on low boost like that just doing a good exhaust and cone filter.

Edit - what year is this? If it is a dual plug/DIS/coil pack/Mass air car [91?-93] the wiring swap will be quite a bit more involved and you'll end up moving around 30 pins, and a bunch of underhood wiring has to be changed. I've swapped a 93 over.

^^^ It is a 1990, and how much horse would you make with only 7-8 PSI or is it not worth it

For everyting you would have to do, 7-8 psi not worth it IMO.

Why don't you just install a good fuel 255 pump, cooler plugs, and put a 75 shot on. MM&FFs 4 cylinder test was a joke because they didn't bother to even upgraded the stock 88L/hr pump when they ran it with nitrous. They were more making a mockery out of it. If done properly it would make the power and be easy and cheap. Put a Ranger header, and a 2 1/4" mandrel bent exhaust and a good air inlet...

Quick question...what's the max amount of boost the 2.3 will take?

Quick question, but can make for a very long answer.

How much boost on which 2.3? Turbo or non?

Next, what type of fuel are we talking about? Full on leaded race gas or 94 Sunoco?

Lastly this is assuming you have enough fuel pump/regulator/fuel injector to just 'run how much boost ya want' and always have a nice safe 11.5 - 11.8:1 a/f ratio.

A bone stock turbo short block is right at the edge around 500 flywheel HP because the rod bolts start to stretch. Whether it takes 40 psi of boost on an unported stock head/cam to make that much HP, or 25 psi boost with a 250 cfm high flow head and big cam setup to do it..

A non turbo 2.3? I'd love to see, I don't think anyone has ever taken one, and then did all the necessaries, [fuel system, LOTS of octane] and let it rip. I would be willing to be the would hit the fan in the 300s. High or low I don't know, it would be a piston or ring that would go first. Might even go higher long as air fuel ratio is safe and there is NO detonation.

Boost is just a measurment of restriction at the intake.

If you were going to run 25+ PSI the stock engine would have to be overhauled, and replace almost everything,i think. otherwise i wouldn't mind seeing how much the little 2.3 can take. If I get the money I'll let you guys know.

No, you would have to put in forged pistons, good rings and a head gasket made for boost..

I already said the crank and rods are fine. but just buy a turbo motor, they are cheap and even the high mile ones have crosshatching int he bores... buy it re gasket it, use it.

Edit - Edit the exhaiust valves in the Turbo head are made of nimonic-80 [I think] to withstand the heat, so stock non turbo valves might not live long in high boost apps...

wheres a good place to pick up a turbo motor, and how much should it cost to do?

im new to this site so i'd like to take the time to say hey to everybody. now that thats over, if you want to stick with N/A i have a 1992 8 plug motor recently rebuilt with 9.5:1 compression pistons, shaved, ported and polished head with 3 angle valves, ported upper and lower intake, and as far as the cam goes, rollor cams came in 91-93 mustangs, or any ranger or mazda with an 8 plug motor. also as far a turbo charging a N/A motor, dont run over 6psi cause you will melt the pistons and pop the head gasket. not worth it for only 6 psi.

I agree.

The 2.3 can be made to make some really serious power but you have to build ANY engine correctly to handle the power.