My first 2.3 build. July 15, 2008, 03:36:51 PM After having an amazing time with the short amount of time I got to spend at Cat Jam I've decided to keep the 88 TC a 2.3 powered car. Going for a ride in shawns 2.3t car I was very impressed!, had alot of fun in it. On the way home my girlfriend ask me what it would take to get the TC running. I grinned from ear to ear after that. :D So I've decided to tear into the 2.3t here that came out of Johns gold TC. The engine would not rotate so I pulled the pan and unbolted everything to pull the crank out. The crank looks very good, the rod and mains look great, no scoring. A wrist pin was seized on the number 3 and 4 cylinder. Number 4 moved with a little persuasion and number 3 took a breaker bar to line it up to get the piston out of the bore. The cylinder walls look good too.Now that it looks like I have a bunch of good parts I'm asking what direction I should go. I don't want a stock engine, but I don't need a race car. Never done anything to one of these motors.What parts for this?1. Engine bearings.2. Rings.3. Gaskets.4. Head bolts/studs5. Main bolts/stutds6. Rod bolts/studs7. Water pump.8. InjectorsI plan on running a T3 with a FMIC, Would like to run the max boost I can with the T3 safely. After reading on nato and the likes I want to run the moates gear and tune the eec for a maf. Looks pretty easy. Quote Selected
My first 2.3 build. Reply #1 – July 15, 2008, 04:59:52 PM The stock 2.3 bottom end is a stout piece, and really the only thing that is "needed" to be added are perhaps ARP rod bolts. A good "rebuild" kit for bearings and gaskets would be fine.You can bang on the stock bottom ends pretty hard. Std Moly Rings are good too.No real need for head studs, the bolts do just fine. The benefit of the studs is reusability. The stock head bolts (12-point) are reusable a few time, but I wouldn't use those in that engine. If you don't have the head/block surfaced, stay away from the FelPro 1035 gasket and just use the std FelPro one (9883 I think).I would check those parts over carefully. IIRC the reason the car was parked be because the owner didn't notice that the engine/oil light had come on (driving into the sun) and then the motor locked.Stock water pumpStock oil pump (Melling M86E) Quote Selected
My first 2.3 build. Reply #2 – July 15, 2008, 05:11:00 PM Thanks Chuck.The motor had 5 quarts or so of oil in the pan. It was black and dingy. Well the block is back in the cuda cleaner right now getting a good scrubbing. So far the block is coming out nice. It looks to have a good coat of gray paint on it. Is that stock? Quote Selected
My first 2.3 build. Reply #3 – July 15, 2008, 06:34:07 PM Quote from: CougarSE;227528Thanks Chuck. The motor had 5 quarts or so of oil in the pan. It was black and dingy. Well the block is back in the cuda cleaner right now getting a good scrubbing. So far the block is coming out nice. It looks to have a good coat of gray paint on it. Is that stock? With 4500 post ,seems you should know! what coler is what.I could be wrong. Quote Selected
My first 2.3 build. Reply #4 – July 15, 2008, 06:45:40 PM Smart ass, gray is stock but I know nothing of these 2.3's or if they were painted.Now shew. Quote Selected
My first 2.3 build. Reply #5 – July 15, 2008, 07:56:44 PM Quote from: CougarSE;227544Smart ass, gray is stock but I know nothing of these 2.3's or if they were painted.Now shew.Grey is stock most of it usually falls off:D Quote Selected
My first 2.3 build. Reply #6 – July 16, 2008, 03:30:43 PM Quote from: CougarSE;227528Well the block is back in the cuda cleaner right now getting a good scrubbing. So far the block is coming out nice. It looks to have a good coat of gray paint on it. Is that stock?83-86 is gray, 87-88 is black. Why? I don't know.Pretty much everything Chuck said is what I would say. You can get yourself a gasket set from Advance or your parts store of choice, but no matter what, get a Motorcraft valve cover gasket, and Motorcraft oil pan gasket. They are worth every penny.I'd get new headbolts whether they are 12pt or not. Who knows the history before Chuck had it. It could have had 2 or 3 headgaskets swapped (like my car :hick:), they are just cheap insurance.Also, something else to look into, I havn't had experience with this, but a lot of people have auxiliary shaft issues, and a lot of it is due to worn bearings. Now would be a good time for new bearings. Quote Selected
My first 2.3 build. Reply #7 – July 16, 2008, 03:42:32 PM The Motorcraft v/c gasket would be the "Ranger" gasket from the Ford dealer.If it's not a steel-cored piece, it's not the Ranger gasket. Quote Selected
Topic: My first 2.3 build. (Read 890 times)
previous topic - next topic
