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Need parts opinions, blew up my engine...


scotts90ranger

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Yeah, it happened, #4 rod let go I believe as there's a hole in the block behind the starter... Don't know what happened, probably lost a rod bolt since I cheaped out and didn't get ARP or anything...

That said, my spare torn apart block will need boring, which means new pistons, what are my options? I don't want to spend a fortune but I don't want to screw with it for a long time either. My goals are ~225-250hp reliable with reasonable low end. If it's feasible I'd like to up the compression a little to get more bottom end...

Now might be the time to get my tachometer working, and switch over to the LA3 ECM I have... I'll probably hold out on intercooling for now though, I have a plan but it would be easy enough to implement after the engine is in and running...

So, are forged 8.5ish:1 pistons available in the under $500 range? If different compression ratios aren't feasible I'll stick with the stock 8:1, but if you have to go custom, might as well go big :)

I'm sure you're curious on what happened... took a drive on Saturday to the beach with my 3 wheeler in the bed of the ol Ranger to drive in the sand at Sand Lake, the sand wasn't pleasant with the trike in the bed so I parked the truck and took the 3 wheeler out... had fun for a while then headed home. My drive was over 150 miles long, the engine decided to go within 1/2 mile from my moms house while I was crossing an intersection, heard a ticking and lost all oil pressure so I coasted to a stop in a good spot and found a bunch of oil leaking. Towed it to my moms house on Saturday, then to my house on Sunday, while attempting to drive it on the trailer it locked up and a piece of engine block fell off so I found out the bad news, I thought I had just lost oil pressure somehow and it wouldn't be a big deal...
 


redhurricane

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Few options you can look at, the Icon forged flat tops are fairly inexpensive and will boost CR to 9.0:1. Not enough to cause issues on premium fuel, and give you a little bump on "off boost" situations like off idle.

http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Icon-23-Ford-Pistons-Flat-Top-5205-Rod,22488.html
(rings are not included in this price)

Note that Icon does not make these for boosted applications, they are for the circle track N/A crowd and if you are chasing big HP numbers the top ring land is not strong enough to deal with high internal cylinder pressure. If you are sticking to 200-250, I think you'd be just fine. Are you looking for 250RWHP or at the crank?

Stinger and Racer Walsh can get you forged 8.1:1 pistons, expect to pay 500-600 for them.

Any reason you want to skip the intercooler? a decent FMIC is a good way to make easy power and can be done on the cheap with ebay intercoolers, or the large NPR IC that is out there. I bought an ebay bar and plate IC for less than $100 and it's working just fine. from the compressor, I transition with a 90degree 2" to 2.5" elbow that points straight forward to the IC mounted in front of the radiator. exit elbow is also 2.5", right to my 65mm throttle body mounted to a 120 degree rotated upper.

the bottom ends on these engines are known to be reliable to 400+hp with stock hardware- ARP on rods/mains is overkill until you get to the 700+hp range in my opinion- you aren't going to spin this in the high rpm range. Head on the other hand would be good to go to studs versus the stock TTY bolts. the 8993 head gasket works well with this setup. save the money you'd spend on the 1035 and put that elsewhere.
 

scotts90ranger

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I don't want to have to get into the thing for several years, so I might have to spend a little more coin... Looking into esslinger I found THESE PISTONS. It says they can handle 600hp... doesn't say they're forged and the only forged pistons on their site are 2.5L... If I could find a '89-94 block and a 2.5L crank for cheap I'd look into that setup as I would end up with a small journal block and more power...

Temporarily skip the intercooler, I have a plan and half the parts I would need, just need a motorcycle radiator and cooling fan... I want to do air to water with a remote mounted radiator and cooling fan, don't get much airflow up front and barely enough to cool the engine, need to find an electric fan that fits in the 2" or less of space I have.

If I could get near 250hp at the wheels that would be awesome, I run (or ran...) it on premium only right now anyway so that's not a big deal, somewhere in the 225 or so hp at the crank would be fine though as I imagine I was just scratching at 200 as it was.

I'm curious to get the thing apart, and seriously hope my oil pan is intact as 4x4 2.3L oil pans are hard to come by...
 

redhurricane

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Call Bryan at Esslinger and ask him what he'd recommend on piston. If it were me, with your power goals I'd seriously consider the icon flat tops. you'll gain the low end off boost you want, and still have plenty of top end. If you're sticking to pump gas, premium will still let you get into the safe zone with some added boost (maybe up to 12-14psi). I'm at 20psi on pump gas and still have some headroom. my 42# injectors are at about 98% duty cycle.

If you want to, I know of a BUILT longblock that is likely for sale in Jackson MS. I sold it to the guy and he has cold feet on his build. freight might be $500 to move it, but it's a solid and fresh bottom end with ARP rod/mains, heavily ported head with studs, etc. Owner is currently in Kuwait on tour of duty, but will be back soon I think.
 

ghunt81

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I always heard the stock rod bolts were one of the only weak links in the bottom end on the 2.3L. When I built the engine for my old Turbo Coupe I used ARP rod bolts, but that was the only upgrade to the bottom end.

Too bad you're not closer, I have two 2.3L turbo blocks I would give you, they've been sitting around at my grandma's house for probably 10 years.
 

redhurricane

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I always heard the stock rod bolts were one of the only weak links in the bottom end on the 2.3L. When I built the engine for my old Turbo Coupe I used ARP rod bolts, but that was the only upgrade to the bottom end.

Too bad you're not closer, I have two 2.3L turbo blocks I would give you, they've been sitting around at my grandma's house for probably 10 years.
Many opinions on the strength of the rod/main bolts. there are a number of guys that have run 400hp consistently without issue.

Where might these blocks be located, and bare blocks or complete short blocks?
 

ghunt81

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West Virginia...one is a mostly complete '87 Turbo Coupe engine, the other is a complete (minus all external accessories) '88 Turbo Coupe engine.

Tried to get rid of them for almost 5 years, nobody would come get them. My brother was going to take them in for scrap because my grandma was complaining about them but he never did, so they're still sitting. I never wanted to junk them but nobody that wants them is actually close enough to get them.
 

Hagan

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Scott, you ever check out TRF?

I sold my 2.3t two years ago for $250. Came with the wiring harness and everything. It's still running because the guy swapped it into a b2 and I see it around all the time.
 

scotts90ranger

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No, I haven't been to TRF in a long time, I might have an account there...

The last turbo parts I bought were from Craigslist, got two mostly complete engines for $240, came with one mostly complete harness and LA3 ECM but not a big VAM...

Just as a refresher as it's been a few years since I've looked into this stuff but my stock brown top injectors with a big VAM, LA3 and so forth should support the power I'm looking for, right? or do I need to look for bigger injectors?

It might be a couple months before I get this project going, I really need to finish the back wall of my garage so I can start putting stuff away in there so I can get to my turbo 2.3L parts... I would like to have a solid plan in place though. If memory serves there was a pretty good ridge on the cylinder walls of my spare torn apart block but it's been over 2 years since I looked...
 

ghunt81

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250 hp is easy on brown tops but you need some supporting work (not sure what else you have done)

When I built the engine for my Turbo Coupe, I P&P the heads and intake, ran a Motorsport A237 cam, Bob's log, T57 hybrid, 3" elbow with 3" full exhaust, also had 60mm TB, blow thru VAM, FMIC. I ran about 17 psi and while I never actually dynoed the car or made a quarter mile run, I did a little heads up racing at a local event (no lights or timer) and I was keeping up with guys in mid-13 second cars, so I was guesstimating hp at around 275-285. The A237 and T57 were not ideal but pulled like crazy above 3000 RPM.
 

redhurricane

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larger power can be achieved with more mods, but with what your goals are I agree- stick to the brown tops and vam/factory eec. the intercooler, porting of head and E6 (or log header for even better performance)

you want as little backpressure as possible. I just bought one of these and am installing this weekend as 3" from housing to bumper. Should breathe just fine. I previously had the stock cast elbow.

http://www.atpturbo.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=tp&Product_Code=ATP-FLS-067&Category_Code=ATP-FLS4

and this
http://www.atpturbo.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=ATP-FLS-091&Category_Code=ATP-FLS4
 

ghunt81

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Yep opening the exhaust helps a ton...I always heard guys complaining that a bigger turbo with a Stage III turbine spooled really slow, but once you open up the whole exhaust side (porting, better manifold, 3" elbow, 3" downpipe) you can spool a hybrid like the factory T3. The factory exhaust setup is not all that great.
 

scotts90ranger

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I think I'm running 2.25" exhaust with just a thrush muffler, factory down pipe running straight back with no bump over the axle so it's pretty decent. I'm running an E6 manifold

I ported the head as much as I was comfortable doing at the time, and whittled at the intake a little.

I have the Ranger roller cam in now, and the Garret turbo, I think I was getting 14psi.

I found a short block for $100 on craigslist, I'm gonna have a look at it, it's supposed to have pretty straight bores apparently, I'll go look at it next week.
 

ghunt81

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When I built my engine, I tore apart a 145K mile engine out of an '84 Turbo Coupe and the bores were great...all I did was have it hot tanked and honed, and put in new rings. The blocks hold up pretty well.

Also, you might consider going to a 3" downpipe and a 3" exhaust...you'll like the difference just that makes.
 

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