Hey, I just purchased a 1990 5spd Ranger, that ofcoarse had the 2.3L. The '90 2.3L Was swapped infavor of a 89, due to mileage. I recieved both motors from the purchase. I had to perform an oil pump pickup swap on the '89 2.3L, and I just have to fill the engine with fluids to get it running today.

I am primarly curious of what mods may be done, for a minor boost in power, and to help lower emmisions... The Engine is completely stock, it was set up to run on the 1990 ECU. Does anyone know of anything I can do? Perhaps in the future something decent, like a head swap/intake/throttle body swap? I have done some searching and I haven't found too much 2.3L performance parts... Most common places for performance parts, such as Jegs/Summit seem to be lacking even in OEM style parts, such as bearings.

I would be very appreciative for any help, and idea's on the topic. Thanks guys, James

 

turbo

 

I used to have a 2.3L Mustang. I thought I was going to straight pimp that thing out. I looked, and looked some more. Good luck with finding stuff, its not easy. The only performance part I found were headers. They were around 400 and it didn't seem worth it. I decided to invest my money wisely so I decided to get the engine swap. Now I have a 89 mustang with a 93 302 cobra. I'd say it would be smarter to get an engine swap. Its not that hard either. Let me know if your interested.

 

Get yourself a later model ranger header. You can find them on ebay rather easily. Its a tubular design, and should bolt right up, and have a 2.25" exhaust bent up with a high flow cat and a half decent muffler. That should help.

IF you open up the exhaust, you could make yourself some sort of cold air intake, the gain would be minor, but paired with the exhaust, it would be something. Also, you can advance the timing a bit. On my Turbo 2.3, im running 14* BTDC, but i dont know if you would need to run higher octane because i always run 93*.

Other than that, there isnt much you can do to nab power out of one short of port work, cams, stroking, etc.

What you can do, it set up an electric fan, which will take a little strain off of the engine, and put a 180* thermostat in it, which helps keep it in a more ideal temperature range.

Find out what rear gears you have, you may already have some decent gears back there, but if you dont, you could stick some 3.73's or 4.10's in it depending on the transmission you have.

 

I think it is around 3.73 on the rear end. It has the standard T-5 tranny, and with the 15 inch rims I have it top out at about 95/100mph's which is a major bummer.... I was thinking about waiting until rebuild time, and buy an esslinger aluminum head, new cam(and gear/belt) forged crank/rods, bore it over .0100 and add a svo exhaust manifold with a small turbo, around 10-14psi boost, an aluminum intake, and try to find someone who can burn me a chip, off of a dyno run, but thats like 6 grand worth of work, so I should just take my old 5.8L windsor, buy some CHI aluminum clevland heads, and intake and slap those on, knock out the firewall, do heavy duty suppension, and put a 9 inch rearend in it . I want to get the engine up to about 250 horses, and about 260 ft lbs of torque.... I like to run higher revs, which is part of the reason why I want to build up the 4 anyways... I also want to be able to have a peppy engine that still runs better mpg than a 300-400 horse small block...

I look on the internet, and see that there are very few mods that can be done reasonably to the 2.3L... I wanted to do a turbo, but I only found an aluminum SVO exhuast manifold for almost 700 dollars, and it is also back ordered untill further notice... I didn't find what type of turbo would bolt up to it, or any other parts such as an oiling line, or the similar... I had heard once upon a time, from a friend of a friend who races older 2.3L's on an oval track, that there were some DOHC heads that a person could be able to come across for the 2.3L. I have looked, and the best I found was SOHC aluminum heads from racerwalsh.com

Also, if I go about putting mods on it such as a new head/intake/exhaust, where would I be able to get an ECU upgrade? I have a lot of questions, and there seems to be very few answers floating around. Is it possible to make the 250 horse goal without spending more money than it is worth? I didn't want to have to spend more than about 1500 dollars or so on the engine, and that was around rebuild time... I was thinking new cam/head/intake/exhaust for about 1500, plus what ever it costs to bore/balance/deck/press rods :-\

I am hoping someone around here has a good idea on what can be done cheaply... I don't want to put a new cam in the old head, because it just isn't worth it, if I plan to put a new head on when it comes time to rebuild... I would rather just do it all at once, instead of have the motor apart several times. What would be some recomendations for a noticible performance boost, without spending large sums of money?

Thanks for all of the help, and time reading my posts, James.

 

Theres a lot to address there James, but im glad to see youre doing your homework, which cant be said for 90% of the people here.

If it has 3.73's, id keep those in there, since its an overall good ratio. As for topping out at 90-100, thats not your gear ratios, thats either a speed limiter or lack of power.

I know you dont want to spend too much, none of us do, but when you talk about an Esslinger head, then youve already spent too much [8D]

Really, the easiest way to get the 250 horsepower you want is to transplant a turbo engine in. Itll have forged internals, proper compression pistons, proper exhaust valves, block is already tapped for the oil return for the turbo, and since you have a T5, no worries about transmissions or anything, it bolts right up. Youll need the turbo ECM, and to do some wiring, and adding of a sensor or two, but thats simple compaired to some of the work involved with a 351 swap.

With my car, according to horsepower/weight/ET/MPH calculators, i should be making about 240 horsepower at the wheels, which is probably around 265 at the flywheel. The mods i have are rather minor compaired to what youre willing to do. I have a hybrid turbo, intake, exhaust, a fuel pump, fuel pressure regulator, and a bunch of tweaks. I also run 21psi. Compairing that to an esslinger head, and aluminum manifolds and all that, i think im ahead of the game.

With putting a new cam into an old head, theres no problems, as long as your springs are up to the chore. Most of the more mild cams are designed for the stock head and stock springs. I have an Engle 55 cam ready to go in, im just waiting on other minor details so i dont have to have the front of the engine part a few times.

This is mostly food for thought, theres nothing wrong with your plan, but the costs would be crazy.

 

Yes, that is true, i don't want to spend that much money. I have looked around, but where would I come across a turbo 2.3, that is actually worth buying? I live in the center of missouri, basically... There are very few performance shops around, and even less cars with motors worth while around here... I have scoured junk yards for a few years trying to find a fox body, but we even seem to have a lack of those...

I would say it is a lack of power, because I struggle to stay at a steady speed in overdrive, lol... I wanted to just get some parts and do my 2.3 over. I had planned on doing all of the work, when it was time to rebuild, which will be probably 30k down the road, atleast.. The current motor, was pulled out of an 89 ranger, that has about 70k on it.(The ranger got rolled back in like 92/93, and set) It was done by the previous owner, then they needed some money(a friend of mine) and sold the pickup to me cheap. It isn't too bad, save for the temp gauge not working(yesterday I just replaced the thermostat itself, and it still fails to read out on the gauge) and an exhaust leak. I think if I were to get a stock SVO turbo exhaust manifold, and a stock turbo, new exhaust pipe, buy a manifold/throttle body/injectors from that racerwalsh website, and rebuild the engine with an svo rebuild kit, with a forged crank/rods i think i would be safe...

I am just confused why i need extra wiring... I was always under the impression the turbo required no ECU control... I have never modded a Fuel Injected motor before, though... I usually work with small blocks, and push rods, lol.

I want to boost my output enough to get around a little bit better, and have a little more fun in my spare time:-p. Ok, so, I will need a turbo ECU(where can I get one) A turbo Wiring setup, and tab the block for the oil to the turbo... I think that can all be done fairly easy, but I am more concerned about availability of parts. In the ranger, is the ECU located behind the passanger kick panel? I have been looking for it, but, I haven't got serious enough to start removing parts of the interior. Also, what do you think, may be the problem for my temp gauge? I was wondering if the guy who put the motor in did not hook up the sensor wires right, or perhaps on an 89 ranger, there was just a 'dummy' light saying overheated, or something similar.

Thanks for the help Tbird. Hopefully we can get me widdle down to some simple mods that will help get me pumping out atleast 200ponies at the wheels. Oh, I just have the stock 5bolt rims on the pickup, they are like 1567 or something, I think, maybe 15x5. Can you tell me what the numbers on the vin tag on the pickup will show for gear ratio's? Such as like AD177(random number of example) under the 'drivetrain' section on the id tag in the door, would be automatic tranny with 3.23's (just random crap).

If it is 3.73's like i think it is(i can accelerate pretty fast for damn near bald tires-going to be replaced within the month, lol) I was going to keep them. It is just the standard t-5 tranny, I am sure, it is 4 gears, overdriven 5th, and kind of sloppy on the shift. I was thinking of pulling the bench seats, and putting in bucket seats, lol, with a hurst shifter(we all love positive gear shifts) I don't know if I will really do that... I may just go to the junk yard, and pull some bucket car seats, and see if those will work, lol... I dislike sitting up so high... Not sure, but I know I want to work on putting out more power than what it has.

How hard is it to change the cam bearings in an OHC engine? I was thinking it would be similar to putting in main bearings on a small block(just push in) because, I think I would like to replace the bearings if I put in a new cam(just because 20 bucks on the bearings, to ensure no failure/cam damage is worth it, IMO) Thanks for the time reading all of this spam, James

 

If youre serious about trying to find an engine, check out the turbo ford forums like turbotbird.com, turboford.org, svoca.com, and those forums, they might have cars theyre parting out and things of that nature

Sounds like the temperature sender. Off the top of my head, i cant remember where it is.

You can pick up manifolds from all kinds of cars, not just SVO's. Remember, SVO's arnt the only turbo 2.3 cars. Best manifolds to get are the 86-88 ones. The casting number beings with E6, which is how you identify the better ones. Its easier to find them on Thunderbirds and Merkurs. Dont bother with the manifold, throttle body and injectors from racerwalsh, the factory manifolds are the same as your rangers, as is the throttle body, and the injectors are 35# injectors. People have sets of those laying around. I have 2 sets sitting somewhere. The reason i brought up getting a turbo engine, is that they have forged pistons with low compression, and if you find one in decent shape, theres no need for the rebuild and the extra money. For the money youd spend on buying the rebuild parts alone, you could buy a complete running engine. Also, the heads on the turbo cars have different exhaust valves, and the chambers are shaped differently.

The turbo doesnt need ECU control, but the fuel, and spark tables do. The turbo engines use a Vane Air Meter, which measures the amount of air coming in the engine, so say youre at 3/4 throttle, and full boost, it will know how much air is coming in, so it can compensate for fuel, where as a normal, speed density computer just says "3/4 throttle, it needs _____ fuel", and you can run lean and blow it up.

[quote]Ok, so, I will need a turbo ECU(where can I get one)[quote]
Check out the forums i mentioned earlier

You may not need all of the wiring, just the wiring to run from the computer to the sensors you need to add. i think rangerpowersports.com might be able to help with the wiring and whatnot.

There is a gauge sender, if i do some more looking around, i can probably find it, but that is most likely the problem with your gauge, if thats not it, it could be broken or frayed wires around the sender.

200 at the wheels may be difficult if you dont go very drastic or turbo, but with enough knowledge and research, youll be able to pull something off.

I think theyre 15x7, but dont quote me on that, my friend had an 88 and i think they were 7" wide.

Its usually on the door tag, and it should say "axle" and have a letter or number under it, let me know what the number is, and i might be able to figure out what gears and differential you have in the rear

The seat thing has been done before, you might be able to mount some mustang/thunderbird/cougar/escort seats pretty easy. Each of those seats are compatable with eachother, so if you can get one of those seats to work, you have some options.

Well, with a small block, you have caps, where as the cam towers on these dont have caps, theyre basically solid with holes in them. Ive never done the bearing, but im pretty sure they press in

 

Ok, Thanks alot! Sounds like I have lots of stuff to look for, lol... I need to start getting to work hunting down seats... Then I need to find a turbo motor, lol... Even if I find one that is shot, would it still be worth while to buy it/rebuild it, with a new cam/slightly bigger turbo? I am just trying to finish up on what would be the best route to go, lol. Once again, thanks for all of the help, and time.

 

I personally think a turbo engine would be best, because even if it needs a rebuild, you have all the proper things, rather than converting to the proper stuff. Its easier to get lost in a conversion than it is in just a rebuild.

Just whatever you do, if you get pistons, be clear that you want turbo pistons.