Well that's pretty convincing for the 2.3t. My question now is how can you build the 2.3 without going into big $$$. I've worked on a 60's and a 70's mustang with all carbureted motors but I'm not in that price range, plus I like the idea of a small car with a big attitude. Do the 2.3 have computers in them (something i've never worked with) and if so, can you up performance through the computer (aka chip)? What should I run for rear end without killing my fuel mileage? What fuel mileage are you guys getting with your turbos? I'm already using the t5 tranny with my stock 2.3. Why would a non-intercooled engine be a better turbo? And what happened between 85.5 and 86 that made ford drop its hp? Sorry for asking so many questions. I'm younger and I was giving my grandma's ride literally.
Just by putting a 3 inch exhaust on a 2.3T, A Manual boost controller, 255 fuel pump (best to buy this when you do the swap), And a adjustable FPR. you can up the boost some and the Fuel pressure a little bit and i guarantee to would be surprised at how just those few mods push the power up alot and with how little our cars weight the power to weight is crazy.
the new 2.3t are fuel injected and yes they run a computer its a fairly easy swap.Like RKK said theres lots of help here and on turboford on the swap. The best harness to use is a merkur xr4ti harness (what i used in my bobcat) unless you wanna buy a new on from like the detailzone which is a brandnew plug and play harness.
they make chips so you can re-tune the stock ecu quarterhorse is a good one but unless your gunna go way into the mods (aka bigger turbo 20 psi of boost pretty much 300+ hp range) you Can get away without this but it does help alot.These motors can even be switched over to speed density thanks to SVOjohn and his work and writing all the code to do it.Lots of good reading on all of this over on turboford.
My motor and trans came out of a 88TC it had 3.55 rear gears and a T5 i got around 20-25 mpg unless i was on it hard.But that was a car that almost weighs double what my bobcat weighs.
The non intercooled/SVOs have a garret T3 turbo that had a .60a/r cold side and depending on what year of car they could have a .48or.63 a/r hot side the .63 is the biggest and would take a Lil longer to spool but can hold it alot higher in the rpm range.
The 87-88 intercooled turbocoupes used a Borgwarner IHI turbo which is smaller then the garret cause they wanted it to spool faster but it drops off in the rpm range alot faster. Plus max psi on this turbo is around 18psi anything past that is gunna be outta the usable range both versions of the T3 can go to 22psi maybe a Lil more.
Mostly the reason for the Hp drop between 85.5 and 86 was just a Lil tuning difference in the ecu due to lower octane fuel.