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Category: General 2.3
Work to do:
a) Make sure the car is in PERFECT mechanical condition. This includes the
brakes.
b) Raise the boost to 17-18 PSI. Do not spend a lot of money on this step. Like
under $5. You're shooting for having the overboost buzzer go off intermittently. It
is set for 17.5 PSI. I don't recommend over 20 psi on a stock turbo. It
doesn't help and it will probably hasten the death of your turbocharger.
c) Measure the current performance, either at the 1/4 mile track or with a G-Tech Pro,
Vericom, or other similar device, so you have a baseline.
d) Learn to drive it quickly at your local drag racing track. It takes
experience to launch a turbo car quickly.
Parts to buy:
1) Get a BIG exhaust. 3" from the turbo outlet elbow to the
bumper. Include a 3" cat and muffler for those of us that breathe, and can
still hear. Duals are not necessary. I recommend a custom, locally made
solution to this problem. Don't skimp here. Expect to pay between $300 and
$600. This will be the biggest improvement you can make to your car. Do it
once, and do it right. If you're only going to do one thing, do this!
2) Put on an intercooler, or upgrade yours if you have one. 87-88 Turbo Coupe owners
can wait on this step. If you have an SVO, pick up a 87-88 TC intercooler, with it's
bracket. It's a good bolt on. Use the Turbo Coupe hoses & clamps.
They're available from Ford.
3) Port your exhaust manifold. Get a late model one, if you have an early model one,
with the allen pipe plug in it. The early ones don't flow as well as the later ones.
and they crack.
4) If you have a pre 85.5 car, or an automatic car, change the cam, NOW. If you have
an 85.5-86 SVO or a manual tranny Merkur XR, then you can wait, until step 7. Good choices
are; the stock 86 SVO cam, (which is equivalent to the Ford Motorsport -A231 cam, and the
Merkur XR4ti manual transmission cam), a stock Ranger Roller cam, or one of the Turbo Tek
Toys' Hot series of cams.
5) Upgrade your processor, VAF meter, and injectors, to 86 SVO levels, if you don't
have an 85.5-86 SVO or an 87-88 Thunderbird Turbo Coupe. This means, the big VAF and
accompanying computer if you don't have already the big VAF. See this chart for the stock 2.3 turbo calibrations and possible donor cars for the
better parts.
6) Now you've got more air flow thru the motor. But, you're going to need fuel to
keep up with it. Upgrade the fuel pump(s). A later SVO or Turbo Coupe will
need this sooner than an earlier SVO, or a Merkur XR4ti, because of those cars' Bosch
frame mounted pumps. Consider purchasing an adjustable fuel pressure regulator to
allow fine tuning.
7) Port and polish the intake manifold and head. Go for big valves if you can.
8) Now you need a turbo that can keep up. You could be using up all the air
that the stock turbo can flow, at stock boost levels, on a modified motor at this point.
Expect to pay between $500-$1000 for a good turbo. Put some real research
onto this step. Lots of places sell "upgraded" turbos that don't make much
of a difference. Talk to people who have bought the part you are looking at
buying. If you don't get a glowing recommendation, keep looking.
9) You should be going pretty damned fast, now! What do you want ? More?
Then send us an Email, for specific recommendations! Send comments to Turbo Tek Toys