I have a very nicely prepped engine bay making room (lol) for a 2.3 turbo that I just rebuilt and painted. Everything looks great. I went to put the engine in today only to realize that the oil pan is hitting the part of the frame that the steering rack is bolted to. The engine is out of an 87 T-bird and I'm assuming that their's a special oil pan for the II for this engine since I know the 5.0 has a different oil pan in the II too. Can someone confirm this for me please? I'll go take some pictures of what it looks like if need be. Or if someone has pictures of an oil pan for a 2.3 in a II that may help too.
Doesn't the Turbo T-Bird 2.3L engine have a rear sump oil pan? Or am I thinking about Ranger 2.3L's? Which part of the pan is hitting the crossmember? Bottom of the pan, back of the sump?
Ah...the MII 2.3 uses a front sump oilpan and a different pickup. Maybe a different oilpump also. If your MII originally had a 2.3L engine, the original parts would probably work. There are a couple of folks here already running a Turbo 2.3 in their MII. Maybe one of them could comment. I think that A351Must2 is in your state. http://www.a351must2.atfreeweb.com/ I'm considering this swap, so I'm interested also. Do you have any pics of your project posted anywhere?
I have some pictures, I'll see what I can do about posting them tonight or tomorrow, I'm heading to work now. The original engine was the 2.8 so I'll have to hit up the junk yard and get another pan, pickup and oil pump. If someone has a spare pan they'd like to sell I'd be interested, mainly because the j/y out here drills hols in them and plugs them up...really irritating becaues then you have to seal it up yourself. I don't trust their gasket sealer to plug the hole. Right now the engine compartment is gutted so I could prep it, but I'll take some current pictures with the engine sitting in there...leaning to the front it is...lol..
