Am I a 4 cyl guy now?
I must be.
For me, the choice to flog a 4 cylinder is purely because it's not as common. Unfortunately, "being different" alone is not always the best path to justify spending money on this engine. Given the fact that the engine is less than half the displacement of the vastly popular 5.0,....you really have to decide what you want out of it to justify dumping any real money into modding it.
Naturally aspirated,..you have to really step up to get it to make enough power to even compare to stock 5.0 specs,...and if you go that route in the end, you'll have a temperamental, pis sy little brat that will only make power in a narrow little band, really up high,..and for a very short time before you gotta shift.
Left alone to the same standard beginning 5.0 mods ( C.A.I.; header(s); exhaust) you'll barely net a noticeable gain in power.
But.....Put a turbo on it and all that changes however.
There are examples on the internet, and youtube of the same little engine making obscene power on a stock block ( like 500 or more WHP obscene) Granted, it's the same benefit on any engine,....but once there is a hair dryer blowing air into the intake of a 2.3,...... as long as you take care of the rotating assy,.....the block itself will never be the weak link.