Guidance.....
Your computer won't work. Need a turbo specific computer. Find one from an '87-88 thunderbird, turbo 4. They are the latest revisions, and unless you go to aftermarket, that's the best you're gonna get. Then find a complete turbo 2.3 out of a Merkur, SVO, or Thunderbird, and drop it in. You will have to re-wire your harness. It's easy. Research stinger performance tech articles; plenty of how-to's.
How about power? If you do a front mount intercooler, T3 turbo (.63 hotside) with 3" full exhaust (turbo to bumper), and a free flowing air filter, at 18 psi you can and should be about 260 hp. That's plenty. If you want more, you're going to have to do a lot of work. Port the head, bigger turbo, better rods, block work, aftermarket standalone EFI (unless you tune yours with a quarterhorse--and can find the def and bin files to work with the LA2/LA3 computer), bigger injectors, more fuel pump, the list goes on and on. One can make 500-600+ hp out of them but not cheaply, nowhere near cheaply actually. A set of 4 rods is going to set you back $500. A set of 4 good pistons is going to set you back $500 or more. About the same as a set of decent SBF stuff, which is why a lot of guys get discouraged.
Mine is a '93 coupe, swapped with a turbocoupe engine, trans. Fun car but it's not that fast. Might be 300hp (flywheel) at the most. Real laggy, typical of 80's turbocharged engines. But the lag is what makes it kinda fun. All stock but a mildly ported head and cranked up fuel pressure, running 20 psi on the maxed out VAM and T3. I mean the VAM is pegged! So are the stock brown top 35 lb/hr injectors. It's done, but it's plenty to get around out here in the hills (not quite mountains).
Your computer won't work. Need a turbo specific computer. Find one from an '87-88 thunderbird, turbo 4. They are the latest revisions, and unless you go to aftermarket, that's the best you're gonna get. Then find a complete turbo 2.3 out of a Merkur, SVO, or Thunderbird, and drop it in. You will have to re-wire your harness. It's easy. Research stinger performance tech articles; plenty of how-to's.
How about power? If you do a front mount intercooler, T3 turbo (.63 hotside) with 3" full exhaust (turbo to bumper), and a free flowing air filter, at 18 psi you can and should be about 260 hp. That's plenty. If you want more, you're going to have to do a lot of work. Port the head, bigger turbo, better rods, block work, aftermarket standalone EFI (unless you tune yours with a quarterhorse--and can find the def and bin files to work with the LA2/LA3 computer), bigger injectors, more fuel pump, the list goes on and on. One can make 500-600+ hp out of them but not cheaply, nowhere near cheaply actually. A set of 4 rods is going to set you back $500. A set of 4 good pistons is going to set you back $500 or more. About the same as a set of decent SBF stuff, which is why a lot of guys get discouraged.
Mine is a '93 coupe, swapped with a turbocoupe engine, trans. Fun car but it's not that fast. Might be 300hp (flywheel) at the most. Real laggy, typical of 80's turbocharged engines. But the lag is what makes it kinda fun. All stock but a mildly ported head and cranked up fuel pressure, running 20 psi on the maxed out VAM and T3. I mean the VAM is pegged! So are the stock brown top 35 lb/hr injectors. It's done, but it's plenty to get around out here in the hills (not quite mountains).
