turbo for a 98 2.3L
 

my buddy has a 98 2.3l ranger 5spd and he wants to turbo it. what yall think about the kits on ebay? http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/T3-T4...QQcmdZViewItem

r they hard to install? how much power do they add? worth it? he has almost 100k miles on it will it still be ok? can the factory internals handle the power it makes? do you need a blow off valve for it im not sure if it comes with one? what kind of intercoller do u use? would he need a turbo timer or boost controller as well? anything else im forgetting?

That kit will require further parts/work.

For starters, he will need a new exhaust system. If your goign for serious power ( 100hp can easily be haqd ) , an innercooler would be quite beneficial. Air intake and element will have to be changed, Dyno tuning..

His 2.3 is stock and has 100k on the stock rings/oilpump.. Wouldn't be worth the cost as that engine won't last long with boost.. its rings are presently seated and adding additional pressure to those rings may cause ' catostrophic engine damage ' as a service tech would state.

D.

Are they hard to install?
It will take at least an entire weekend to do it.

How much power do they add?
I’ve heard 50-60%

Are they worth it?
It’s up to you. Some say 302 swap; which is a more mechanical project; some say 2.3turbo which is a more technical project.

He has almost 100k miles on it. Will it still be ok?
It’s a good idea to rebuild the engine first; if not keep it on low boost.

Can the factory internals handle the power it makes?
Yes at low boost.

For the rest, I’m not sure.

ok, where to start...

1. the SSautochrome manifolds have been known to be of poor qulaity and the welds to crack.

2. you would need to keep the boost down to about 5 psi MAX or you will melt the cast pistons, to make real power you want forged pistons on a forced induction application.

3. you will have to pull the oil pan off to drill and add a fitting for the turbo oil return line, which means you have to pull the engine up to get the pan off.

4. you will need everything a turbo motor needs, being a bypass valve and all the vacuum lines setup right. oil lines too and from the turbo and most likely coolant lines to and from the turbo also.

5. you will need to do somethign to increase the fueling which can be quite difficult without going to a stand alone fuel system or really really understanding the EEC-V ford engine management.

6. the coil packs will most likely need to be relocated, and the heater box may need to be modified and the a/c system either changed around or removed.

you would be much better off doing a lot of studying up on turbo setups and the ford 2.3 lima engines, and getting the parts you would need from the junkyard from the 80s turbo coupes and svos and merkur xr4tis will save a lot of money and get good ford parts. the exhaust manifolds from any of the lima 2.3s will bolt up to his 98 2.3. there is a LOT of stuff that has to be taken into account in order to not melt down the pistons or destroy another part of the motor. it is also very difficult to keep a turbo down at 5psi of boost as the wastegates on most turbos run at a minimum of 8ish psi with no boost input to it, and with boost input it only goes up from there.

edit: also expected power output for a forced induction engine is 100% output over stock power for every bar of positive pressure (every 12psi), so if you have a 100HP engine, you give it 1 bar of boost its theoretical output is 200hp, 2 bar of boost over and its 300HP and so on. but if you give even one bar of boost onto those cast pistons they will melt down in the first pass down the road even if you managed to give it enough fuel to work correctly.

If it's a 98 then your buddy has a 2.5....which aren't good for boosting at all. Search around on rangerpowersports.com This has been covered many times there

wow, this is hilarious.

5psi, or melt cast pistons... i think not

you can run more than that easly as long as you have it tuned decently

if the motor is in good shape it will be fine. 100k is nothing.

i seriously doubt you could double the output of that motor at 12psi (unless the turbo is pretty good sized) and the pistons wont just meld. if they melt they got extremely hot which means the engine detonated a lot.

most likely what would happen is you will break a ringland on the cast pistons if you run a bit of boost and dont have it tuned right. if you had it tuned good and ran 12psi i dont see a problem. you would would have to get to some serious power levels to just outright break the piston with a good tune

well it doesnt matter anymore, he totaled it the other day when he nailed some guy head on. now he has a chevy cheyenne.