turbo...

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nitrousrush said:
Should i turbo my engine.... or buy a turbo engine and put it in what is cheaper.... and what upgrades would i have to do if i turbo the engine i got in now...?
The best thing to do is get a engine out of a car that already has a turbo. You cant really just put a turbo on a dual plug motor. The best thing to do is to do a search, this has been talked about many times before.
 
I would find a donor car if all possible, it will make it much easier. 87-88 Turbo Coupes are probably the best option due to the intercooler, better computer, rear discs etc. I would suggest checking out Stingers website. It has alot of good information about doing a turbo swap.
 
(First, if you have an automatic, stop worrying about making it faster and swap in a T5.)

Here are your choices.

TURBO:
You are gonna want to find a donor car. The easiest one to find is a Thunderbird Turbocoupe. If you get an '87 or '88 model, you'll want to swap out the tiny IHI for a T3. Pull the motor and trans out, take it apart (the motor), and clean it up. Gather the remaining wanted/needed parts to put it in (i.e. new gaskets, boost controller, blow off valve, front-mount intercooler and ducting, 3" exhaust, LA2/LA3 computer or LB2/LB3 for automatics, 35lb (brown top) injectors, big Vane Air Meter (VAM), and any other modifications you'll want). Put it back together, pull out your old motor, and drop in the new motor. Get it running, and enjoy. That is just the simpllified process. In a stock configuration, running ~19lbs boost, you should make around 230hp. Mileage may vary.

Good step-by-step instructions can be found here:
http://24.91.96.177/stinger/turboswaphowto.html (Stinger's website)

NATURALLY ASPIRATED:
This is a much more challenging route. Pull out your old motor, and take it apart. Get the bare block vatted. Get high-compression forged pistons, and stronger rods. Shave the head a bit. Get a better n/a cam (the A237 is a popular one). Gather any other mods you'll want (bigger throttle body, mass air swap, custom-burn chip, 2.5" full exhaust, ported head, ported intake manifold, etc.). Put it all back together, and drop it back in. Get it running. This is also a simplified prcoess. This should net you ~140-170 total hp, depending on how extreme you take the cam, compression, porting, etc.

NITROUS:
Same as n/a. I would guess a 75-100 shot should be OK with forged pistons on the street w/ pump gas.

Be sure to check out the Tech Articles Thread at the top of the 2.3L forum page.

Some other good links:
http://gt350r.stangnet.com/index.html
http://www.40bob.com/index.html
http://www.wheelspin.net/projectcars/87coupe/87coupe.html
http://www.turboford.org/
 
ha ha I say turbo the old motor fill the plug holes for the second set of plugs and buy SDS engine managment setup with DIS then just install a second headgasket or copper spacer to lower the compresion and viola! LOL sounds hoky.... it is but you know what? It would work and work well. Have a nice Speed density turbo setup with stand alone so no bs maf sensors or any of that crap just good times, may need bigger injectors though ;) and a different map sensor as I dont really think the stock ford unit will recogize positive pressure, but I havent tried.... YET. Kevin says DO IT! lol just an option ive been thinkin about, I hate all that creepy crap ford plugged into their turbo motors and I think stand alone is definetly the best and simpilest way to go. SPEED DENSITY IS BETTER! (opinions may vary :p )

If your wondering where all this psycho bable is coming from, its from my extensive research on junk yard turbo VW setups lol thats how they do it and it works amazing. I tried it yes it does work really well on a VW but Im not sure how the old 2.3 would react. Just another option though.

I wanna do it but I dont have a 2.3 mustang to play with :( So I will try and live Vicariously through you guys :D.

Kevin