What is the highest amount of Horse Power that I can get my N/a 2.3 up to. I am just wondering, and what modifications will I have to do. I also have a problem when I try to start my car all it does is clicks. Anyone know what is wrong. I am going to replace the starter and see if that helps.Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thanks John
hp- look at tech articles clicks- check battery and alternator before you replace starter. most likely starter is fine.
hey, don't forget to check out the starter relay. A lot cheaper than the starter to replace , but can cause many more problems ! I'ed try to power the starter directly from the battery, but watch out for sparks :d if it works, great chance you've got a bad starter relay. have fun !
Are you asking how much YOU can get out of it or how much others HAVE got out of them? I think we know it is clearly two different things. Stinger
Check or better yet replace the battery cables. They always made me feel dumb for taking off the alternator to check it at Autozone. Oh yeah and check my website. I didn't touch my n/a's head but I was one of the fastest here. My times page has the mods listed and the runs tell you what they were worth. 17's can be head with a different cam and porting. Fear not I will try again with a notch and go this route next time solidify my superiority for Fastest Speed Density N/A Mustang.
For your problem with the click... do your starter crank? or not? If you're hearing a click then your relay is O.K andyour battery too... because is your battery was dead, the relay won't do a click like this..So the battery is OK, If your starter cranks, so it could be 2 things: -Your fuel pump -Your starter If your starter isn't cranking, so it is your starter... but your relay could also be an option..
As mentioned it depends on how much you want to spend. Doing bolt on mods 150hp is not a problem but expect much more than that without getting into porting the head. With a good port and polish job and big valves and a better cam to use the better breathing 200hp is good, 225hp is not unheard of. The best setup I have seen was a very hot street Ranger that had a Canon intake and 2 x Weber sidedraft carbs. This setup was making close to 300hp. Im pretty sure this was crank hp and not rwhp. Chassis dynos were a pipe dream when these articles were new.
This is about what I heard also, that 150hp is the breaking point between making some real hp and the N/A breaking the bank I also heard once you get passed 175hp it stops sounding like your typical 2.3L. You could run a 90-95 ish GT MAF with 19lb injectors to help get a little more fuel for when you get to 150 + hp.
My dads 75 Pinto had a fully built 2.3L with 500cfm carb, solid lifter cam, and long tube header with 42" long glasspack muffler. IIRC he had Racer Walsh forged 10.5:1CR pistons, HD rod and main bolts, his own ported and polished heads, big valves which he hand polished, Racer Walsh stage 3 solid lifter cam, springs, retainers, keepers, etc. the head was also milled quite a bit. I dont remember how much it was milled but he calculated it was running 11.6:1 CR. He also ran his own homemade octane booster. He also had worked on the intake and was running I think a 1" carb spacer. He also had a MSD ignition module. When leaving the light it either wanted to stall or burn the tires off and would pull the fronnt wheels going 1st-2nd if he stayed in it. Going down the street everyone started looking for the Lotus. It didnt sound ricy, it had that burbling lopey idle that sounded like a highly tuned 4 cylinder like a Lotus Esprit or Fiat Abarth or Lancia Stratos. It was considered one of the fastest cars at the Ford plant where my dad worked. Sorry, but if I was wanting to build a hipo EFI N/A I would use a aftermarket standalone Fuel injection computer such as a Megasquirt or SDS (Megasquirt is a kit for $109, SDS is IIRC about $500). With a EFI and a Megasquirt you can keep the driveability of EFI and yet still make max HP. If I had the money I have often wanted to build a N/A hipo 2.3L just to show you young whippersnappers how its supposed to be done.
As for your not starting problem, the starter and solenoid should be good. I think the simplest thing would to charge up your battery or get a boost from someone. In my experiences, when you here a clicking when you turn your ignition it is the battery. As far as n/a max horsepower goes, I think the sky's the limit if you have the pockets.
Biggest problem is the head. You get a Esslinger Aluminum head and the rest is downhill. Im hoping once I can get a job and get some money saved I can get a Esslinger NASH
how much power can you get from that head, and how much does that head cost... damn that sounds dirty....
I got a quote on a cast iron head with a simple roller cam for 1900.00. I'm sure the Aluminum head is probly 1k more but not sure. Who knows how much Hp would a esslinger cast iron head would make on a 2.3T That is what I would like to know
Esslinger doesn't offer a cast iron head The D port street head is 1500 bucks with everything but a cam (and followers I believe). Stinger
Dude $1900 for a cast iron head? You should be screaming "NOT IN MY A**!! NOT IN MY A**!! " Because your getting bent over the table for that price. For that price it had better kiss you in the morning and make breakfast too. As Stinger pointed out the Esslinger New Aluminum Street head is $1500 and comes with everything but cam and followers. A simple Ranger roller cam and roller followers from NAPA is less than $90 new and I think it was even less than that. Out of the box the NASH head flows better than most ported cast iron 2.3L heads. With the NASH head you have eliminated the single biggest bottleneck in making power out of the 2.3L. In a turbo application the better breathing head will give you more of a power boost than a n/a application might gain but 35hp or more I dont think is unrealistic. And you will drop about 35-40 lbs off the front of the car. EDIT: The last time I remember seeing a price for a ported cast iron head in the Racer Walsh catalog they were around $1000. I can not imagine anyone paying $2000 for a ported cast iron 2.3L production head. Maybe thats Esslingers way of pushing their 2.3L NASH head. After all isnt aluminum easier to cast and machine than cast iron?
