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88 turbo coupe performance upgrade questions

11K views 6 replies 4 participants last post by  MadMikeyL 
#1 ·
Hi, new to the whole turbo coupe scene. Currently been given the opportunity to build one and have some questions. Any input and any of the following questions is greatly appreciated. I should mention I want this to be a street reliable track ready car just nothing too wild.

•Gutting upper and lower intake worth it?
•Switch to a t3 or keep ihi
•Can I mount the stock Intercooler as front mount temporarily?
•mild cams? Hydraulic?
•stock throttle body? what could I run?
•changing pulley size going to make a difference?
•how much power can I make with how little money?
•how much timing should I run?
•bigger fuel pump?
 
#2 · (Edited)
Hi, new to the whole turbo coupe scene. Currently been given the opportunity to build one and have some questions. Any input and any of the following questions is greatly appreciated. I should mention I want this to be a street reliable track ready car just nothing too wild.

•Gutting upper and lower intake worth it? You don't "gut" anything, you carefully "port".
•Switch to a t3 or keep ihi Start with turning up the boost, and adding a boost gauge
•Can I mount the stock Intercooler as front mount temporarily? Not worth it.
•mild cams? Hydraulic?
•stock throttle body? what could I run? Start with stock.
•changing pulley size going to make a difference? 2 HP, not worth it.
•how much power can I make with how little money? Got to pay to play. Don't cut corners or you'll really pay
•how much timing should I run?
•bigger fuel pump? YES
I answered a few of your questions. I have a lot of turbo experience, but not with the Turbo Coupe. When modifying a turbo car from stock, the order is:
Full Exhaust - as little backpressure as possible with straight-thru muffler. 3" dia is good.
Fuel pump
Wideband 02 sensor kit
Aftermarket boost gauge
Boost controller. Most stock setups can handle up to 20 psi, but carefully monitor air fuel ratios. 18 psi is good for everyday use. 93 octane is mandatory. Standalone or other tuning device may be necessary at this stage.
Stronger Clutch - you'll see what I mean after a couple pulls with the higher boost.
Port the exhaust manifold/turbo discharge.
Larger intake pipe to the turbo.
Change the intercooler piping to larger hard pipes, if available. MAKE SURE all connections are tight. A pipe blowing off ends your drive for the day, or until you figure out what happened. ALL pipes need a sealing bead if you are making them yourself.

Start with those mods, and when that's fine tuned you can add a front-mount IC and larger turbo, larger injectors, standalone or other tuning device.

Last on the list are the intake manifold/throttle body. Those give the least gains on a turbo car. Modded intake manifold goes along with a ported head. By that time, you are fully entrenched in modifications, and a built motor is likely needed.

Be careful with that boost knob. Keep that air/fuel ratio at around 11.0 at WOT on pump gas. Can lean it to 12.0 on race gas, but that's at the advanced level.

Good luck with it.
Al
 
#4 ·
I found this site years ago when I acquired (and then flipped) a stock 2.3T turbo coupe ECU

I would imagine that after 35 years, your stock internals are not going to be happy with too much boost even if your get your heads to flow better.
You might want to save up your pennies and fix up the bottom end first.
 
#5 ·
Worn out bottom ends are actually better for boost. With the rings worn, there is more end gap, which means it can take more heat before the ring ends meet up, which is what causes pistons to break. I wouldn't go digging into the bottom end just yet. As for the specific questions;
-Gutting intake - I assume you mean porting it, in which case, it depends how much time you have. This costs almost nothing other than time, so if you have all the time in the world, go for it. If your time is valuable though, you aren't going to gain much from this on a boosted application.
-Switch to a T3 or IHI - Neither. Upgrade to either a T3/T4 hybrid, or a straight up T4. Turbo technology has come a long way in the last 30 years.
-Cams - An early 90s Ford Ranger 2.3 has a roller cam factory. Get the cam and followers out of one of those, and it is a direct swap into your existing cylinder head.
-Throttle body - find someone parting out an SC or a 5.0 Tbird. You can use the stock SC or 5.0 Tbird throttle body as an upgrade on your 2.3 turbo.
-Pulley size - Pulley changes are for SCs. TCs have a turbo, not a supercharger, so there is no pulley to change. Unless you mean underdrive accessory pulleys, in which case they will have little effect, better to spend your money elsewhere.
-How much power can you make with how little money - Without going nuts and spending tons of money upgrading everything, you can likely get to around 300hp with the old 2.3T. This will require a newer better turbo, front mount intercooler, larger injectors, larger fuel pump, around 20psi, and a real good tune.
-How much timing - 2 degrees less than what causes it to ping
-Bigger fuel pump - this is a given. Walbro GSS340 should be good for what you need. Just make sure to get an actual Walbro pump, and not a chinese knockoff.
 
#6 ·
Thanks there’s a lot here I will be referring to, would a t4 bolt on the stock e6 manifold? And should I also use the cam from the ranger or just rollers, I read doing the swap will give me more bottom end but I’m looking for something to carry me all the way through. And what should I tune with any recommendations?
 
#7 ·
You can't use a flat tappet cam with roller lifters. If on a budget, use everything out of the ranger, but upgrade the valve springs to deal with the higher rpms. If you have some money to throw at it, there are some aftermarket cams out there for the 2.3 in both roller and flat tappet style, but if running a new flat tappet cam, you also need new flat tappet lifters since they break in together. As for the tuning, the Moates Quarterhorse and Binary Editor are the cheapest way to get set up, but they are not as user friendly as the SCT Pro Racer Package. But really the only reason to get into tuning yourself is if you are going to be changing things all the time. If this is something you are going to build all at once, get it dialed in, and then just drive it, then just pay a professional to tune it. It will cost the same or maybe even less than buying everything to tune yourself, and you will save many hours of headaches.
 
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