I am, of course, glad I found out about the issues w/ a 120° intake and the stock alternator location, but then again I wasnt planning on going that way, anyway, and I had no plans of doing it in a vert either. But anyone else who wants PS and AC and needs to keep their stock internals there, and also for those who wanted to rotate the intake there for shorter IC piping, found out c/o Jess.

 

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What's a 2.3 from?

 

2.3's were found in the following motors:

Non-turbo: Pinto, Ranger/Mazda B-Series, Mustang, Taunus Argentinia models

Turbo: 1979-1980 Mustang (carbureted), Merkur XR4Ti, 1983-1986 Thunderbird Turbo Coupe, 1984-1986 Mercury Cougar XR7, 1983-1984 Mustang Turbo GT (W Code)

Turbo/Intercooler: 1987-1988 Ford Thunderbird Turbo Coupe, Ford Mustang SVO

The Block is the same among them all (the NA ones had the boss to drill for a oil line for the turbo, just not drilled/tapped yet) for the distrubuter blocks, and the crank and rodss are the same. The only differences are heads and pistons.

So, Im sure you can realize how utterly abundant shortblocks are and theres a long existing aftermarket for turbo pistons and strong forged rods to take all the power, rpms, or both youd ever want to throw at it. Just thought ID mention, though, that the stock rods with new rod bolts are quoted by Esslinger to be good up to 6800 rpms, and have oil squirters built into them - so if you went with aftermarket ones (like sportsmans, those are good to 8600 rpms) you might want to have a machine shop put in oil squirters to help cool the pistons. Theyre pretty strong, its usually rod bolt failure due to high rpms that make them fail, but its still probably a good idea to change the rods out if youre pushing over 350-400 whp. You could easily make that kind of power below 6500 rpms, however.

The best head for porting is the Turbo Iron D-Port, which Ive seen taken up to 250 cfm (@ .500" lift!) and the best flowing stock head was the late dual-plug head, which peaks at about 170 cfm. However, if youre doing the swap theres no reason not to go ahead and get the Esslinger Turbo D-port aluminum head, which is basically a replacement for the stocker iron, except it flows much much better (as much as a pretty well ported iron head).

Intakes and Exhausts have their own aftermarkets, and a log header will do you well, definitely better than the stock log - the stock intake can be gutted for shorter runner length, and ported, and rotated if you want (which is probably a good idea as it seems youll have to mount the alternator low on the motor to clear the hood, so you might as well have it go through there instead of back over the motor for shorter piping from the IC).

The most commonly used turbos are T3/T4 Hybrids, or holset turbos - Holsets are espeically used on stock or mostly stock heads becuase they support insane pressure ratios (high boost) to just force air through ports that dont breathe very well... A guy on TF is making 260 whp with no tune, a slipping clutch and a HX35w (with a divided housing on a stock log header) on a mostly stock motor, except he retarded the stock cam. With everything opened up Ive seen 400+ whp. Holsets are also extremely cheap.

Its definitely not a high tech motor, but it gets the job done for cheap with good reliability (as far as reliability with a turbo motor goes, at least) with plenty of torque without having to rev super high or spend lots and lots of money. The most money youd spend on the motor would easily be an Esslinger head, or a standalone if you pick one of the more expensive ones.

So, naturally, you can see why I was attracted to it.

 

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1967 Ford Falcon
1993 Ford Taurus SHO
1985 VW Scirocco
1988 RX-7

They all drive and the Falcon is in the process of restoration. So it's bodywork isn't the best.

 

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Let's start over....

Hi, I'm Jesse... I have spent much of my time and not much of my money on a project that sits in MY garage. So, if you do not have something positive to say to ME, about MY car, please refrain from posting in MY thread. If you feel there are engines better suited for your dream conversion than the 2.3L Turbo Ford, Please go find a post that related to your subject and have at it.

Findings: If you put a 2.3 in a Vert 2nd gen, you have to work on the 2nd crosmember. If you use a 120 degree rotated upper, you WILL have hood clearance. Using Grant's kit, you MAY have to "adjust" your hood supports to clear the following: cam gear, alternator, and rotated upper intake. Also, using the rotated upper, you have a make a slight dent in the strut tower to clear one of the arms on the throttle shaft. I could of ground the lever, but I figured a little dent won't hurt anyone.

Attached are some of my pics, these will show the progress of this swap.

Thanks in advance for NOT messing up this thread like the last.

JesterJess

 

More Pics.

 

More pics

 

Here are some more pics.

 

Im just adding in a thread regarding the vert subframe for future reference:
http://www.torquecentral.com/showthread.php?t=35711

Apparently its common with all engine swaps, and its removeable so you can service the area it might be obstructing, so its not that big of a deal.

 

I think this is a great thread with a lot of usefull info. its a good resource and deserves to be here for everyones benifit.
THERE WILL BE NO MORE PERSONAL ATTACKS IN THIS THREAD by anyone.

everyone is guilty of messing this thread up and you guys know who you are.
for future refrence, if you are guilty of making personal attacks against someone when you havent been provoked, learn to take whats comming. dont run to moderators or report posts when ppl attack you if you know you're the one that provoked it.

With that said, lets get back to the swap, everyone has been warned and no fingers have pointed. I wont close this thread if ppl keep acting stupid, i think the thread is too important. instead i will ban anybody who cant act like an adult in here.

 

Yeah, great information here and kudos to the guy actually doing the work.