Has anybody ever tried to swap one of these into a maverick. I have an old thunderbird turbo coupe and just thought that it may be kind of interesting?
ive never seen this done but anything will fit with the right motor mounts, which most likley will have to be custom made from scratch. I dont know what tranny fit will be like either, most likley need custom hard ware as well. and once tou get it all in you have the task of hooking up all the electronics.
shock tower's in the way of the turbocharger and the lower intake on the other side. It can be made to fit though. Just a lil work.
Best thread of the year!! I think this is an awesome swap!! I didn't think there would be clearance issues though. Very interesting. Is that because the motor needs to sit really low to get the hood to close? I didn't think the 2.3T was wider than a 302. You can get a front sump for a late model pinto to clear the steering linkage. The EEC IV computer is actually pretty simple to get up and running once you get rid of all the excess wires. www.fordfuelinjection.com will clean up your harness for you, or they'll mail you a new one that only has the wires and sensors that you'll need to run your engine. What year is your 2.3T? As far as transmissions go, it's the same work as swapping a T-5 in behind a 5.0.
And every time I bring up a 2.3 swap everyone thinks it's a terrible idea... I'm already in the process of mocking a 2.3/T5 up in a parts car. And that's all I gotta say about that until it's up and running. The car in that picture is a Brazilian Maverick and came with the 2.3 from the factory. Not the turbo though. I've been going back and forth with the owner of it for a while now.
Pretty install. This one is carb'd. Probably helps the fitment. You can get 4v intakes for this engine. Turbo it through a hat like that one on top of a little 390 Holley. Custom make the headers and push it through a medium size turbo. Would be a neat project. Edit: Forgot about the good selection of nasty little 2.3 aluminum heads too! This one has a home fabbed intercooler, but I might use a Buick intercooler to make things easy. Heck, a stock Buick turbo would probably be perfect.
Yea, there is a pretty good aftermarket for the 2.3 engines. Cams, alumium heads, roller rockers, headers, underdrive pulleys, you name it. MSD has a distributor for 2.3's also.
And they are quite capable of annhilating a 5.0 even a 5.8 if the 2.3 is built right. Ask me how I know
You're right about the fitment. The fuel injected engines run the intake over the valve cover, and that eats up a little more room. You can rotate the upper manifold to get a little more clearance, but not a ton. The Buick turbo I believe, and correct me if I'm wrong, is a T3/T4 hybrid, which is a really good first upgrade for the 2.3. The next good upgrade is getting rid of that peanut cam. That is the most anemic cam grind I have ever seen. The iron head isn't bad, and there's plenty of meat to hog out, but the Esslinger aluminum street head is really awesome. Just be sure to use the new cometic gasket with the gas filled fire ring, because the 2.3s tend to chew up old style MLS head gaskets once you pour the coals to it. Mostly because the coolant passages in the head were poorly designed and leads to a lot of cracked exhaust seats and such. I've seen on head that had a braided steel line coming out above each exhaust port to try and get the coolant to flow a little better. Crazy little truck engine runs pretty good if you screw it together right.
