The weak point of using these engines is the puny transmission. With big tires I wouldn't suggest side slipping the clutch. It tends to leave the bottom of the case and an oily mess on the road. Don't ask me how I know. I'd strongly suggest going with a T-5. I'm sure there is a way to adapt it. I think the Mercur had a more beefy transmission
cool! after working at a major ford remanufacturer in the mid 80's and driving 2.0 pinto's they are great motors but really seamed to have oiling problems causing the cam followers to go flat. every time i had one rebuilt (heads) had to bring in a 3lb coffee can full of followers to get one god set. have they solved this problem yet?
Chamfer the oiling holes on the cam. Cams failed because the oil holes clogged; chamfering keeps the holes from plugging.
The T-Bird used an Eaton M90 (see tech pic below). The outlet needs only a small plenum adapter to mate the blower to a manifold. Not very difficult at all. The inlet is at the back of the blower. Again it needs only a small elbow adapter to mount a carb....also not very difficult. The positives over a turbo in my book are A.) full boost always/no turbolag, B.) no computer control, C.) no unneeded electrical connections and troublesome/unsightly wires in the engine compartment, D.) Simpler over all installation, and finally E.) the Eaton blower just looks cool and turbo's don't look as cool to me.
Nope. They are junk. They are not even able to hold up to the stock engine if it's tweaked. Not for very long anyway.
If your gona stick a pinto lump in....either stay stock .......you bust the motor it's cheap for a replacement....or look at cosworth lumps from the Sierra or escort cosworth...16v, turbo and injected, 500bhp is possible and still streetable..
I sorta one step ahead of ya there. I've already got a Holley computer and I'm assembling the other bits I need. My donor car has a T5 and an 8.8 rear with a 3.73 gear, so I think that should be pretty bulletproof.
on my RPU I plan on putting a track nose on to hide the intercooler. And turbo lag is a courtesy head start.
True but you can also put a bypass valve in a Eaton type setup and only have boost when you hit the gas. At cruise throttle no boost and the blower takes only 1/3 hp to turn. Bottom line... both options are good. I've driven several blower and turbo cars and find I like the blower cars better.
Seems to be a lot of people on here that know a lot about these engines, good to know. I was just wondering if anyone knows how to identify what year/model 2.3 you have. Mine was already in the car when I bought it, so I don't know what it came out of, but I would like to.
No not now. Its all blown apart now. I had to re build the shock mounts, Which were part of the bracket that held the grill shell in place. I will get some pics soon I hope.
In the early 1980's I spent a small fortune developing variable duration valve actuators for this engine. I can state that this engine is almost indistructable and can make over 2 horsepower per cubic inch ( Hot Rod March 1981) The real sleeper technology that could be applied to this engine is to adapt an i-VTEC mechanism to the cylinder head. Would be so great to see a vintage two valve per cylinder blow a 4 valve Honda with like technology into the weeds. The head of particular interest would be the twin spark plug version that I believe was used in the small pick up trucks.
only a few pictures of the engine in the car , thanks for those posted much appreciated , anyone have anymore along with measurements for the placement of the engine mounts and such?
The Thunderbird Turbo Coupes 87-88 at least had T5 with 3.55:1 8.8 limited slip and disk brakes. The auto had a 3.73:1. There are so many T5's out there though that you have several gear ratio combinations to choose from. As for the dual plug heads, I'm sure someone could come up with a way to fire the plugs without using a computer. Possibly some modified V8 dizzy? Question whether it would be worth it.
why cant u just plug 4 of the spark plug holes? the t-cupe t-5 is the same ratio as any 2.3 mustang t5
Why would you want to eliminate the extra spark plugs? The problem with all engines designed to have high speed performance is how do you make them streetable. Thats because light load combustion characteristics are a disaster in high performance engines. Twin plugs and variable valve timing via a modified i-VTEC adaption would give you high speed power and lots of low speed torque which could paint a new future for 4 cylinder rods
I can t wait for more pics. Where did you get the track nose to fit the A.? The only ones I found were for a model T.
Glad to see the "Pinto" motor is getting some respect! I'll post some pics of what I've got, plus some things I've discovered along the way. By the way, one of the Goodguys Scottsdale show "top 10" cars is a 2.0 powered Modified that's the evil twin of the car I have. Joe's is much nicer and finished. Here's the manifold I build for 2 weber 44's. Its still not on yet... You can get a similar one from Esslinger. I have the engineering drawings for the head including the valve cover, intake and exhaust bolt patterns.
Here's another picture. I think this is the nicest 2.3 valve cover I've seen. You can get a SWEET finned cover for the 2.0. The other good one I've seen is a simple chrome one that Ford made. The rest of them are either plastic or say "turbo" or Fuel injection on them. My dad and I built this header from half a SBC kit. I got the flange from Esslinger. That one was 1 3/4" holes in it that are oval and tilted. I don't think I'll buy another one of those. There's a guy on ebay that's making a zoomie header for the 2.3 and will sell flanges for 25 bucks. thrashperformance is his EBAY name. I've never bought from him, but he's responsive and will make any header for $120, he said.
As for the engine, the head is ported and has a solid cam in it. The head needs some special machining to use a solid cam. I have a Crane cam with .533 lift and 284 duration. It lumps and sounds about as awesome as a 4 cylinder can sound. As for performance, I can't compare too much because its the only cam I've run. I know its a dog out of the whole, even with a 4.11 gears. The 29" tall tires make it tolerable on the freeway. Only about 3200rpm at 65mph by my calcs (and I do that for a living). I made an excel spread sheet to compare Eng rpm vs cruising speed if you want it, shoot me a PM. The trans is a C3. Shift hard with the shift kit but I got boned on the rebuild price. IT NEED A CONVERTER. That would probably solve my problems. Hughes said they'd build me a C3 converter for ~$350. Not totally unreasonable, I think. If you want to use a C4, you'll have to find a special 2.3 to C4 bellhousing that is RARE and expensive. I have one that was repaired (badly) but still is usable. I might keep the C3 now and buy a converter. I'll spend $350 rebuilding a C4 and getting a decent converter. C4 and C3 have the same gears. If you want to have fun, use a Manual trans. I would, but there's no room for a clutch pedal. The internal parts of the engine are stock. The intake's an Esslinger one with a 500cfm 2 barrel. I need to try a 350cfm cause the engine's never run right and I think it must be the carb. At high rpm though, this thing RIPS! My 2.3 takes an FL-1A oil filter, but its too long and I can't get it off while the engine's in place. I use the shorter equivalent w/o a problem. I've also read these engines don't like synthetic oil. I have no idea why and generally don't believe that, but that's what I've read a few times. I have a finished engineering drawing of the intake flange if anyone needs it to build a custom intake. It would be nice to give something back to the HAMB. (I usually do more taking) What else? You can get a little more displacement by using a later 2.5L crank from a Ranger. You'll need some crank journal adapters to use it on an older 2.3, but those are not to hard to find. There are MANY stroker kits for this engine, but they are PRICEY!! The lure of this engine is LOW COST, so I didn't want to screw around and end up saying, "I could have had a V8" (with twice the power!!) Any questions or anything else, shoot me a PM or email at pikesan99 AT hotmail Pike (I can send a video of the car running if you want to hear what it sounds like)
The Jalopy Journal
