2.3L ('83-'97) More 2.3L power? Where to get parts?

[scotts90ranger]

I haven't played with much other than stock parts and some mods, my turbo engine is just a combination of stock parts with a ported head and some intake manifold work (minor, just took out the bumps for the injectors)...

My '97 for whatever reason already has 4.10 gears and it helps as long as I keep the revs up... I upped tire size some too but am thinking of going down a little... I'm somewhat used to gutless hoopties so I just drive to what it takes to do what I want... when I want to get up to speed the rev limit hits at about 55mph with my current tire size in second gear so I do that... but going up one hill on my commute takes all it will do in 4th gear to hold 55mph which I think is 2700rpm.

I've heard the injectors are a little undersize so am thinking of stepping up, from stock they come with reasonable exhaust manifolds so not much to go there. From what I hear porting the head is where to get power but that's a commitment not for a daily driver that can't be down for a while unless you're really committed... After I get my shop built I'll be more open to projects and I have enough vehicles one can be down so I'll play with things some...

Long story short, short of turbo's there's no quick easy horsepower that will actually help the seat of pants dyno, everything worth wile takes either time or money...

 

[Dustnesko]

Hey y'all I drive a 97 ranger xl 2.3L, its a rwd with a 5 speed manny. I know theres not a lot to do for BIG power gains but id like to be able to get on the highway or pass people without pissing my pants. What I've found so far is; headers, intake, 19lb injectors and possibly a tune. What truck/car could I get the 19lb injectors off of at a junk yard? And are there any other suggestions for a little extra power?

If yours has 2 coil packs, what I did was switch the wires around on the bottom coil pack. Your normal wiring on the bottom is gonna be,
4, 2
1, 3.
What you wanna do is unplug all 4 from the coil and rewire them to,
1, 3
4, 2.
You'll get better gas mileage, a little more kick on acceleration. Hope this helps!

 

[PetroleumJunkie412]

**** a tuner.

Megasquirt was made for 2.3 and 5.0.

Get a ms from efi performance in Philly. Comes with a base tune. You will never regret it.

Listen to fredness. He knows his sh*t.

Ms and 4 hole 24lb injectors would be $500 investment to keep learning since you have the heart of an efi build down.

After that it becomes easy. Add headers, retune for free. Port and polish, cams (any grind), valves.... all free re tunes. It pays itself off the first time you reflash.

Tons of 2.3 options out there. Turbos can be had from mystang so, turbocoupe, etc. Any direction you go, the beginning two mods of standalone efi and bigger, easy to control injectors makes sense.

 

[scotts90ranger]

If yours has 2 coil packs, what I did was switch the wires around on the bottom coil pack. Your normal wiring on the bottom is gonna be,
4, 2
1, 3.
What you wanna do is unplug all 4 from the coil and rewire them to,
1, 3
4, 2.
You'll get better gas mileage, a little more kick on acceleration. Hope this helps!

I haven't looked at a coil in a while so I don't remember the order, but I'm assuming you are swapping 1&4 and 2&3, that's a waste of time, there are only two circuits on the coil (3 wires on the control side), it's a batch fire system, and being a normal inline 4 cylinder cylinders 1 and 4 are at top dead center at the same time, and cylinders 2 and 3 are 180 crank degrees off from those two. With two pairs on the coils that leaves cylinders 1 and 4 to fire together (one on compression stroke, one on exhaust) and 2 and 3 to fire together (again, one compression stroke, one exhaust stroke).

Not to say it isn't a good idea, but it just doesn't work out, the system isn't nearly as complex as legend leaves you to believe... I'm running both output wires from the DIS module spliced together going to both circuits on a single coil pack on my turbo engine, runs the same as when I was just running the drivers side coil output but now the stock tachometer works... yes that's the only advantage in my setup.