just bought a 4 banger coupe need performance

dyphicult said:

i just bought a 4cylinder mustang coupe for 100 buck it has 30,000 miles on it it has a dented fender which i have fixed i bought it to put a carbed 2v in it but i put it in a 82 capri as ive been driving around in the coupe im starting to like the 4 banger it has 8 spark plugs on a 4 cylinders and i would love to put some nitrous on it does anyone know any thing about these 4 cylinder engines

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Since you did not mention what year car but did mention you have a 8 plug head I assume its a 91 or later Mustang?

1991 was first year for the dual plug head in a Mustang and should have the Ranger roller cam which does not give a performance boost per se but does reduce friction which does free up a few horsepower. There are performance hydraulic roller cams but the prices seem to start around $365.00

As with most normally aspirated engines the 2.3L respond well to improvements in adding air and removing it.

The motor will have cast pistons so it will be very unforgiving of any detonation.

Weak point of the 2.3L is the rod bolts. I have revved mine to 6000rpm, accidentally of course, with no problems, but I dont recommend doing so, about 5500rpm should be the max.

You can get a Ranger shorty header from a junkyard or on Ebay. They looks alot like the 5.0L factory shorty header and flow much better than stock, plus more importantly...they look cool. Long tube headers are not recommended unless you are rebuilding for a purpose built high performance 2.3L.

You can also cut the bottom of the air box out and duc to inner fender or pull from under the radiator support. It is also highly recommended to install a K&N or any brand performance style high flow air filter.

On Speed Density cars the air silencer, aka the Strangulator, is inside the intake tube between air box and throttle body.

If I recall correctly the air silencer on the mass air cars is inside the inner fender.

The factory installed Strangulator is intended to deliberately slow down the rush of incoming air so you dont get that loud whoosing sound when you hit the go pedal.

The stock N/A motors typically have about 14lb/hr injectors but if you open up the intake for more airflow and open up exhaust for better flow the engine wants to run lean. Some people have had good success installing 19lb/hr injectors which would normally cause engine to run rich but since engine has gone lean due to being able to breath better it causes engine to go back to normal range. Be sure to disconnect battery and wait about 5 minutes to reset computer if you do this mod.

The intake is typically the four runners in a row which from testing seems to flow about the same as the E6 square style manifold but the 4 in a row style intake seems to have more equal balance and gives a better shot into the intake runner. The heads seem to flow a little bit better than a stock older style D-port head and so far looks to respond as well to porting.

Accel and MSD both make a high energy coil pack that can be used. IIRC you have to get two for a 96+ 4.6L mod motor.

Good luck and post some pics, would like to see the car.

dont waste your time on the engine. get gears. trust me. I did everything I possibly could to a 93 2.3 with very little gain.

stykthyn said:

dont waste your time on the engine. get gears. trust me. I did everything I possibly could to a 93 2.3 with very little gain.

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I'd like to see the list of things you did... there are people with all motor 2.3's who can turn 14's in the 1/4 mile.
And modded turbo 2.3 motors can beat those times handily.

Bolt ons can get you another 20hp or so, after that it's cams, porting, milling, eec software, and larger injectors.

My '91 was super slow when i got it, but with the usual cheap boltons it at least can get out of it's own way.

put a turbo on it

And break some ring lands. Then there's the fun of trying to get the NA ECU to play nice with a boosted engine and that's not going to be fun.

Swapping in a whole 2.3T engine/EFI setup is a bit of work, but by far the greatest bang for the buck.

dyphicult said:

does anyone know any thing about these 4 cylinder engines

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Nah, we just hang around here talking about cold air intakes that don't do anything and putting blowoff valve sound makers in non-turbo cars.

Anlushac11 said:

Weak point of the 2.3L is the rod bolts. I have revved mine to 6000rpm, accidentally of course, with no problems, but I dont recommend doing so, about 5500rpm should be the max.

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The 2.3Ts are rev limited to around 6,500rpm, so I think at least the 2.3T rod assemblies can handle that much. Perhaps it's different for the NA and/or dual plug engines, I don't know. However, the horsepower peaks well before 6,500, so there isn't actually a reason to twist one that high, even if it can.

years ago my grandfather use to race the 4 cyl ss class and he was making well above 250 hp on a holley 4412 2 barrel carb. He still has alot of parts leftover, I'm currently in the process of putting them on my stang. The head is shaved to the max putting it right around 12 to1 comp ratio. Full header, huge cam, the head has been fully worked. I'm hoping to get around 200 N/A and thinking about spray.

Getting horsepower out of 4 banger is easier than a 6 cylinder. In my opinion, buy a t3/t4 turbocharger, new performance charge pipes, under-pulleys, and a blow off valve for sound . The under-pulleys will allow you more horsepower for little money.

Getting NOS is very sketchy if you don't know exactly what you are doing. You will tear up your tranny reaalllllly quick. Because with NOS, you need to powershift. That is where you yank it out of gear and jam it into the next gear using NO clutch. You must also keep your gas pedal mashed to the floor at ALL times after activated.