About an early Turbo head..

[John Smith]

Good evening all..I'm kinda slowly gaining traction to put together a TC motor for my BII and in my travels i have picked up a non-cracked D9EE-JC stamped head. It seems to have the oval ports on the ends and large rounder ones in the middle..I also have a later d-port head...according to my Ford sheets this head came possibly from a 79-80 version of an early carbed Turbo car..anybody ever run across the manifold for it? I have a 79 block as well that matches the head for numbers and sometime in the future i may put that together just for the sake of it...has anyone run across a draw thru carb and manifold for one?...I've only seen pictures..and very few of them....
regards>>>>

 

[Insanejughead]

Best of luck finding one man... I can't help you out there. I've never even seen a carbed turbo, though I've heard about their short history quite a few times.


I can tell you this... My '86 and '87 turbo motors both have the long oval intake ports on cylinders 1 and 4. If you can find an intake manifold from a turbo coupe or any '86-'88 ford 2.3 engine, it might bolt up. The only thing you'd have to worry about then is the fuel injector holes.

 

[John Smith]

thanks for the comeback...

I appreciate the input...I have located a "lower" today complete with injectors that i believe is off of an 87 or 88 TC..a local former racer near home here has a few extra parts and we are getting acquainted..I have bought Three heads from him and this manifold today. The head I mentioned in this post is a good head and has been converted to solid lifters. I'll just keep it and rebuild it. I'm actually just enjoying learning about the history of these cars. A side note..i bought also an 8UA computer today..It is a reman..i suppose it can be specked for an LA3...I also have the contact number of a gentleman who is able to reprogram the box for whatever spec want...for less than $60$...a good deal?..not sure...

Best of luck finding one man... I can't help you out there. I've never even seen a carbed turbo, though I've heard about their short history quite a few times.


I can tell you this... My '86 and '87 turbo motors both have the long oval intake ports on cylinders 1 and 4. If you can find an intake manifold from a turbo coupe or any '86-'88 ford 2.3 engine, it might bolt up. The only thing you'd have to worry about then is the fuel injector holes.

thanks much again for the comeback...

 

[Insanejughead]

Post a pic of the under side of the lower intake manifold. I'll be able to tell you which years it came off of exactly.


I had a problem with my car that cost me aLOT of gas, and I'll explain it in full after I can see a picture of your manifold.

I was getting 14 mpg, then after I fixed it, I was getting 26-28 mpg. (In my Thunderbird)


Oh, and I want to see the solid lifter setup, if you don't mind. I'm seriously considering that with both of my turbo motors.

 

[John Smith]

some updates

I would guess it's an 85?

I just updated my album with some pics ...

http://www.therangerstation.com/forums/album.php?albumid=1055

I like the idea of sold lifters..takes the guesswork out it..and very positive response ..but need to be checked more often...Oh well..something to do ever so often anyway..

 

[Insanejughead]

That lower manifold is from an '87-88 turbo coupe.

The sensors are different for the two eras of turbo coupes. Your manifold there has a knock sensor (the bigger one) and the other one is a ACT (Air Charge Temperature) sensor. You have the right manifold for the LA series computers. Once you get that computer flashed over, it'll work fine.


The problem I had was this: I had this manifold installed in my car, along with the LA3 computer. I didn't realize at first that the second sensor was the ACT. I thought it was the Water temperature sensor (the one that goes to the electric fan control relay). The problem with my gas mileage came from not having that sensor hooked up to the proper place in the computer. The computer didn't have any air temperature to read and thought the engine was always sucking REALLY cold air.

So what I had to do was swap computers so that my car had the '86 computer in it. Then I swapped lower intake manifolds to where the car had the original '86 manifold in it. This allowed me to reinstall my electric fan because the connector that went to the water temp sender had a place to hook up to. Also, the '86 VAM (Vane Air Meter, small version) has the ACT sensor built into it. So, now my computer knew how to regulate fuel for the temperature of the air coming in, and my fan knows when to kick on. The knock sensor is the same on all models of Thunderbird turbo coupes.

Let me know if that was confusing to you...

 

[John Smith]

no..not confusing..

I have done a little reading about some of that..and after looking at the lower it makes sense.

I am taking the route of piecing a motor 2gether and so far I'm almost done..I need a maf..and an upper&throttle-body with the ISC mount...

I will use some type of front mount air/air inter-cooler..maybe Volvo or handmade..with that in mind i may look into getting a rotated upper if i find one reasonable..I have people to fab and weld one up if necessary...but I'm not rushing all that right now...

I have already decided not to push for more than what the stock 88TC specs offering the way of power..but with a ranger roller cam and a well built bottom it should be reliable power for quite a while...

I think in the long run...a new d-port Esslinger head may be the answer to reliable power since most of the older heads are getting so scarce...

actually my main interest in these older blocks are the fact that i can install a diz. even a points diz..and still drive it if the need arises...

 

[Insanejughead]

You're going with a Mass Air Flow sensor? I can't help you with that, so best of luck with getting that up and running.

Esslinger... *drool*


I love the reliability of the 2.3 in no matter what configuration. You're right about the distributor. I like being able to use points, if needed, too.

Oh, and I'm doubly glad that I didn't confuse you on all of that, and I'm contemplating the solid lifter conversion even more now.

 

[John Smith]

maybe i should've stated...

Maybe i should've stated VAM...I have access to whatever came stock on an 88TC...thru a friend locally here..maybe MAF wasn't the correct wording?...I am familiar (by research) with all of the ultra-high performance mods we read about...since I'm only interested in about 180-200 HP I am on a search to put together the parts that will more economically make this happen with predictable reliability/fuel economy/mechanical stability-reliability all in balance for longevity if that makes sense. I know this motor can make horsepower..all i want is about 180-200 of reliable/economical horsepower...sometimes that conversation puts the more energetic to sleep...but that's where I'm at...
It's neat to meet someone who can appreciate the simplicity of the motor and particularly the Diz advantages..

You're going with a Mass Air Flow sensor? I can't help you with that, so best of luck with getting that up and running.

Esslinger... *drool*


I love the reliability of the 2.3 in no matter what configuration. You're right about the distributor. I like being able to use points, if needed, too.

 

[Insanejughead]

Ok, I can definitely help you with a VAM issue. Hahaha! It's ridiculously easy to mistake one for the other, but as knowledgeable as you are on this entire subject, I wasn't going to be the fool to correct you on it.


Oh, but be sure NOT to use a high volume oil pump. I used one and in less than two years it caused enough strain on my distributor drive gear to shear off nearly all of the teeth. I can get you a picture of it if you'd like to see. I also searched around and cannot locate a higher quality gear than either bronze or cast iron... I believe both of which are too weak to stand up to years of abuse from the higher stress that the HV oil pump puts on it.

I just remembered that I need to check the head stamp on the cylinder heads I have... I'm beginning to wonder if Ford used the same head through all of '79-'88...


And about the dizzy, I like being able to tweak my timing instead of it being preset in the computer. I prefer to have as much of MY own control over the engine as possible.

 

[Lynx_Gen]

Maybe i should've stated VAM...I have access to whatever came stock on an 88TC...thru a friend locally here..maybe MAF wasn't the correct wording?...I am familiar (by research) with all of the ultra-high performance mods we read about...since I'm only interested in about 180-200 HP I am on a search to put together the parts that will more economically make this happen with predictable reliability/fuel economy/mechanical stability-reliability all in balance for longevity if that makes sense. I know this motor can make horsepower..all i want is about 180-200 of reliable/economical horsepower...sometimes that conversation puts the more energetic to sleep...but that's where I'm at...
It's neat to meet someone who can appreciate the simplicity of the motor and particularly the Diz advantages..

you're only lookinf for about 180-200HP?
correct me if im wrong, but wasnt the twittybird 220Hp stock??

I know my auto xr4ti was rated at 150, and the manual rated at 175.. and they had no intercooler and small vam..

a full thrre inch exhaust, 88TC puter and large vam, and an intercooler does amazing thigns for these engines.. say relisticaly around 240hp, conservatively..

just pointing out, all you need to do for your goals is run a basicaly stock engine.