turbo motor help
- Thread starter nextgenponyfan
- Start date
79'293stang
Active Member
Wont work, the pistons are different. You are better off just finding a complete turbo engine, you will probably spend comparable money or more trying to piece it all together. Stinger-performance.com has a good write up on the swap once you have your donor engine and ecm. Check out the site anyway and read some of the articles you will get some good info to study before you dive in.
79'293stang
Active Member
79'293stang
Active Member
If you dont believe me go ahead and do what you wish. If it were as easy as putting 2.3 turbo pistons onto a 2.5 rotating assembly 90 percent of the 2.3 turbo crowd would have found an excuse to do the swap by now. The only way I myself would do the swap is if I had to buy new pistons anyway, but the new pistons run around the same cost or more than you can get an entire turbo engine for so it comes down to budget at that point. Also the 2.5 engine in itself has a different block and does not have provisions for a distributor so you would need to get the wiring harness/ecm and something to tune with.
no no no your taking the wrong impression of this i'd like to check everything and was thinking about wiseco pistons. i have connections i worked at an auto salvage yard for about two years so they help me out. as for the block from what i saw it does have the provisions for a distributor but instead it has a cam sensor there.
79'293stang
Active Member
How much are you looking to spend? I priced this conversion when I rebuilt my engine 3 years ago and decided cost vs. gain just was not there. But if you can get it on the cheap then maybe it is worth it to you. You will not be able to put a distributor onto the 2.5 block. Also most do not like to use the 89 up block because it is considered to be alot weaker. Heres some info for you.
Major engine specs are
.......................................2.0........ .2.3 Early....2.3 Late.....2.5
Bore...............................3.520........3. 780.........3.780......3.780
Stroke............................3.126........3.1 26.........3.126......3.401
Bore Spacing...................4.173........4.173...... ...4.173......4.173
Main Journal Dia..............2.3986......2.3986.......2.2055.. ....2.2055
Rod Journal Dia...............2.0468......2.0468.......2.0468. ....2.0468
Con. Rod Length..............5.2047......5.2047.......5.204 7.....5.457
Crank Center to deck.......8.368........8.368.........8.368......8 .368
Piston pin height...............1.583........1.583.........1. 583.....1.2105
Differences between major engine parts are as follows:
Blocks-
2.0 is an underbored 2.3, with the exception of the bore the blocks are identical to all
2.3’s.
’75-’88 2.3’s are interchangeable.
’89-’94 same as ’83-’88 2.3’s but have a smaller main journal saddle, the oil pan seal
surface was changed in ‘87 to eliminate the 4 piece seal and holes were added in
the front to bolt on the DIS’s crank trigger assembly.
’95-‘01 similar to the ’89-‘95’s but a Cam Position Sensor was added behind the aux
sprocket, the hole for the distributor was eliminated and the oil pump was moved
in place of the aux. shaft itself.
Turbo blocks are identical to the ’83-’88 Ranger blocks but have an additional boss w/ a
hole threaded in the pass. side about ½ way back that provides a place to drain the
lubricating oil back into the engine from the turbo.
Cranks-
2.0 and early 2.3 cranks are identical.
Late 2.3 cranks have smaller main journals.
2.5 cranks are identical to 2.3’s except they have a longer stroke.
Rods-
2.0 and 2.3 (including turbo) rods are identical up through at least ’94. In fact they still
have the original D4 (’74) casting number on them.
Pistons-
The 2.0 pistons are unique and don’t interchange.
The 2.3 pistons are all the same excluding the turbo versions, which were forged. Low
compression (8.0-1) in the ’83-‘88’s and high compression (9.0-1) in the ’79-
‘81’s.
The 2.5 pistons are similar to the 2.3’s but have a different wrist pin height.
Major engine specs are
.......................................2.0........ .2.3 Early....2.3 Late.....2.5
Bore...............................3.520........3. 780.........3.780......3.780
Stroke............................3.126........3.1 26.........3.126......3.401
Bore Spacing...................4.173........4.173...... ...4.173......4.173
Main Journal Dia..............2.3986......2.3986.......2.2055.. ....2.2055
Rod Journal Dia...............2.0468......2.0468.......2.0468. ....2.0468
Con. Rod Length..............5.2047......5.2047.......5.204 7.....5.457
Crank Center to deck.......8.368........8.368.........8.368......8 .368
Piston pin height...............1.583........1.583.........1. 583.....1.2105
Differences between major engine parts are as follows:
Blocks-
2.0 is an underbored 2.3, with the exception of the bore the blocks are identical to all
2.3’s.
’75-’88 2.3’s are interchangeable.
’89-’94 same as ’83-’88 2.3’s but have a smaller main journal saddle, the oil pan seal
surface was changed in ‘87 to eliminate the 4 piece seal and holes were added in
the front to bolt on the DIS’s crank trigger assembly.
’95-‘01 similar to the ’89-‘95’s but a Cam Position Sensor was added behind the aux
sprocket, the hole for the distributor was eliminated and the oil pump was moved
in place of the aux. shaft itself.
Turbo blocks are identical to the ’83-’88 Ranger blocks but have an additional boss w/ a
hole threaded in the pass. side about ½ way back that provides a place to drain the
lubricating oil back into the engine from the turbo.
Cranks-
2.0 and early 2.3 cranks are identical.
Late 2.3 cranks have smaller main journals.
2.5 cranks are identical to 2.3’s except they have a longer stroke.
Rods-
2.0 and 2.3 (including turbo) rods are identical up through at least ’94. In fact they still
have the original D4 (’74) casting number on them.
Pistons-
The 2.0 pistons are unique and don’t interchange.
The 2.3 pistons are all the same excluding the turbo versions, which were forged. Low
compression (8.0-1) in the ’83-‘88’s and high compression (9.0-1) in the ’79-
‘81’s.
The 2.5 pistons are similar to the 2.3’s but have a different wrist pin height.
79'293stang
Active Member
Basically. Once you are up and running and know the ins and outs it will give you a baseline to improve off of.
79'293stang
Active Member
Depends on what year engine you start with. If it is older than 86 it most likely has an E3 turbo manifold, swap it out for an E6. Manual boost controller, k&n on the vam, porting the upper and lower intakes, really anything that works on another engine will work on these. The first step before modding is making sure it runs right first. Get a motorcraft tune up kit(plugs, wires, cap, rotor, pcv valve) dont skimp and get other stuff, motorcraft parts are key to getting these engines into shape. LA3 ecu's are preferable but others are good such as the PE they will support the larger vam and 35lb injectors. If you have to start with the smaller vam and another ecm dont sweat it you can always upgrade down the road or pick up a quarterhorse and upload whichever tune you want into it. Once you have it up and going then you can really focus on making it faster.
79'293stang
Active Member
He wanted to put 2.3 turbo pistons into a 2.5 and drop it in. I was explaining that it just was not possible to do that and offered up some ideas on what to do.
