2.3 Rebuild

Topic: 2.3 Rebuild (Read 1011 times) previous topic - next topic

2.3 Rebuild

January 25, 2006, 09:24:26 PM

I'm going to rebuild the 2.3 in my 87 TurboCoupe and I want to know what the best parts to use and everything I'll need to replace. I'm looking for about 280hp and 330ft-lbs. I want to build it as a strong street car mostly. If I finish the car I'd love to take it to Road Atlanta.
Douglas

2.3 Rebuild

Reply #1 – January 25, 2006, 09:44:15 PM

Shouldn't this be in Engine Tech?

Anyway, you won't know what you "need" to replace until you get the engine torn apart. How many miles does it have on it? I tore down the engine I rebuilt for my car, it had 145K on it, and all it really needed was a hone in the cylinders and I had the crank journals polished. If it doesn't need bored, just get it hot tanked and honed. You can get a full gasket set with rings and bearings at the parts store for around $135. From there...well, it kinda depends. ARP rod bolts & head studs are always a good idea. You might also wanna port & polish the head, and check the valve guides for excessive play. If you wanna road race the car you should look into a crank ser & a windage tray. You can get the crank ser on ebay for $50, the windage tray, well I made one myself (got pics on my cardomain page). If you wanna look at what I did to my engine, it might give you some ideas. I'm not running a lot of boost at the moment but I think that with my setup and 20 psi I could make close to 300 hp.

2.3 Rebuild

Reply #2 – January 25, 2006, 09:58:00 PM

How much boost are you running Red? Your setup is pretty much what I'm aiming for. Are you running the BOV with the stock EEC? Does it affect your drivablity? Sorry for the hi-jack you can pm me your response. Thanks.

Antonio.

2.3 Rebuild

Reply #3 – January 26, 2006, 12:33:47 AM

At the moment, I have the boost set at 16 psi, I'll probably put it at 17 when I get the car back out. I still have the stock fuel pump so I don't want to go too crazy with the boost. Planning on a 255 sometime this summer, then I would like to turn it up to 20, but who knows.

Yes, I'm running the BOV with the stock everything, but if you'll notice I changed to blow-through VAM. This is because with the BOV on, the car would idle fine, but if I was driving and pushed in the clutch, when the idle dropped it would just stall out. The Forge BOV's are supposed to not leak vacuum but apparently it still does. Switching to blow-through fixed the problem. Hasn't had any affect on drivability, although when I shift it seems to hesitate momentarily before the power comes on again. I think this might be because of how far the BOV is from the throttle body (of course, before I put it on the car everyone said to put it as close to the turbo outlet as possible...now they say to put it as close to the throttle body as possible :rolleyes: figures)

2.3 Rebuild

Reply #4 – January 27, 2006, 11:20:06 PM

I realized I had posted it in the wrong place after I posted it. IT has 173,000 and I bought it a year ago and it's been on the road about 5weeks out of that time and it wasn't 5 weeks in a row. Every time I get it running it only runs for a week and something else goes wrong. I'm rebuilding it now because I want it to run right.

2.3 Rebuild

Reply #5 – January 28, 2006, 12:41:20 AM

Well, like I said, strip it down, check the main & rod bearings (although they're probably showing copper by this point), check the journals on the crank. If they aren't scored, have the journals polished (cost me $35 to have that done). Check the bores & the cylinders. One thing to do is check the cylinder walls for any scoring or anything like that. I failed to do this and sent my block out to have it honed, and when it came back it had some deep scratches in the cylinders. I didn't have the money in my budget at the time to have it bored and buy new cylinders so I stuck it together like it was, and I have a little blow-by, but it's not a huge deal. You'll also want to check bore taper, you can do this with a new piston ring and a feeler gauge. Measure the endgap of the ring at the top, middle, and bottom of the bore. If they're all close, you can just have the block honed. You should also check the pistons with a caliper to make sure none of them have collapsed skirts. More than likely you will be able to get away with a hone & new rings, and reuse the stock pistons.

Oh yeah, get some plastigauge! It's just about THE best stuff for checking clearances on main & rod bearings. Get the green stuff.

Other than that...it's pretty straightforward, really. The engine in my car is the first engine I've ever rebuilt, I put about 6000 miles on it this last summer with basically no problems (except for a couple small oil leaks and some external stuff). Don't get a high volume oil pump, don't buy "rebuild kits" from anywhere that come with pistons and don't specifically say they are forged because they will be hypereutectics, etc.

I can't think of anything else off the top of my head. Check out turboford, lots of info there. If you have any questions just PM me.

2.3 Rebuild

Reply #6 – January 30, 2006, 06:43:00 PM

I would tell you that it would all depend on what you are haveing the problems with? Then most likely the bottom end it fine unless its knocking or something. I'm a firm believer in finding out what is really wrong with it and fixing that so you done rebuild the motor only to have the smae problem. Curtently my daily driver has a junk yard $200 motor in it. That is only after rebuilding a motor and buying everything brand new and then cracking the head. Any how you need to fix what is wrong with it first. then if you really need it rebuild it. Any how you need to check out http://www.turboford.net/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=forum;f=2