Any more little tweeks for a bit more umph?

[Clumzi]

Alright. I'll get all the best suggestions out of the way first.

1) Drive downhill (my favorite )
2) Push it off a cliff
3) 302 swap
4) turbo

Now. Moving on. I've re-geared (3.08 to 3.73 l/s and I really wish I'd gone 4.10 or even higher but... oh well), K&N, high flow cat and exhaust, new plugs, sea foamed for carbon build up (and WOW did that help), throttle body cleaner (again, wow), cleaned the MAF, too the slack out of the throttle cable, electric fan, seems like the air muffler was removed by a previous owner - think that's about it.

So, considering this is an old truck, I've a hunch my best bet for improving the drive-ability of the thing still lies in cleaning up bottle necks. I didn't remove the throttle body to clean it, so I'm thinking maybe removing the throttle body for some deeper cleaning would help? Maybe? What about removing and cleaning the intake manifold?

I seem to recall something about a lighter pulley off an old Escort but I couldn't find anything when I searched for it. CAIs, throttle body spacers, chips etc seem to be no goes.

What else have people found helpful to get a little more umph from their 2.3s? I'm not looking for 20hp. Just little things to help the motor do it's thing a bit better. What I've done so far has helped TREMENDOUSLY and I just don't want to be done fiddling .

Oh, plug wires. They're grey and I'm pretty sure I saw "Ford" labels on them so I'm guessing they're original to the truck. Might help?

Last thing. I saw this... http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/ramair2_3.shtml

That seems rather kooky but every time I look at the intake I feel like there has to be a better way. It seems ideally set up to draw nice cold air from outside w/out having to worry about drawing water or anything nasty but the size of the intake hole seems so small and the ducting from there to the box is all accordion style and up and down - has anyone had any success improving the 2.3 intake?

 

[Mark_88]

You could look into a longer duration cam...there are plenty of threads and information about this on here but, essentially, it will add a bit of ummph to the 2.3...but it would also a good idea to Port & Polish the head...or get another head and build it up and when it's done plop it on...Fairly inexpensive and will give you quite a bit more power...

It will also use more gas but that's a direct effect of having more HP...

 

[Clumzi]

Porting is something I'd like to look into at some point. I have the .pdf from the tech article section saved to my desktop but it's WAY over my head. To be clear, I'm a n00b . As the .pdf suggests I'd like to find a junk head, order all the abrasives and start making mistakes and learning but just the idea of digging the head out gives me the willies. Replacing the coil springs up front was a huge achievement for me, to give you some idea . And yea, I paid someone to change the gears in the rear axle.

Can you give me any more info on the longer duration cam? I tried searching but didn't find much. Again, n00b. What does a longer duration cam do?

What're people's thoughts/experiences on aftermarket and adjustable underdrive and timing pulley's?

EDIT: http://auto.howstuffworks.com/camshaft.htm actually has a great animation that explains longer and shorter duration cams. Helped my brain

 

[Hagan]

Have you seen the throttle cable mod? It could be a possibility that your butterfly isn't opening all the way.

 

[Mark_88]

Have you seen the throttle cable mod? It could be a possibility that your butterfly isn't opening all the way.

Yes, it was on his list...looks like he took care of most of the basic stuff...

Porting is something I'd like to look into at some point. I have the .pdf from the tech article section saved to my desktop but it's WAY over my head. To be clear, I'm a n00b . As the .pdf suggests I'd like to find a junk head, order all the abrasives and start making mistakes and learning but just the idea of digging the head out gives me the willies. Replacing the coil springs up front was a huge achievement for me, to give you some idea . And yea, I paid someone to change the gears in the rear axle.

Can you give me any more info on the longer duration cam? I tried searching but didn't find much. Again, n00b. What does a longer duration cam do?

What're people's thoughts/experiences on aftermarket and adjustable underdrive and timing pulley's?

EDIT: http://auto.howstuffworks.com/camshaft.htm actually has a great animation that explains longer and shorter duration cams. Helped my brain

Porting isn't that difficult...only thing you have to watch is to not take too much out of areas where there is a water passage...and nothing around the valves...unless a shop does it for a valve reseat.

The underdrive pulley gives you a bit more as does an electric fan because it helps remove parasitic drag...as does removing A/C and PS...but PS doesn't take much away and you will probably save gas if you do plenty of parking in tight spots...manual steering really is the pits for that.

A longer duration cam is called by other names or more specific terms, but I used longer duration because it makes sense in my mind...but it simply opens the valves longer allowing more air/fuel into the combustion to give it better bang. The guy that installed it for me many years ago (long since gone) called it a "mild performace cam" but the more specific terms indicate how much lift and duration...but I haven't looked into it lately and not up on specifics.

Do a search on performance cams might bring up more...I can only think of one or two user names...kenneth S posted a few things on this and I can't think of the other guy right now...Mikelbus or something like that...check the 2.3 forum past posts and you'll see his name...and search specifically in the 2.3 threads because it is more pertinent.

Don't worry too much about being a noob...I did mine when all I knew about head were they were f'n heavy...but relatively easy to remove and install...

 

[Mikel89us]

Take the head off, port around the valve seat to clean it up. Then have .100" shaved off the head. This will bring your compression ratio up to the mid to high 9's. This will improve throttle response and torque. I would also buy a quarter horse tuner from www.moates.net

^thanks for the reference, nice to see some people acknowledge that other people have knowledge and are willing to share. We posted at the same time, lol

As for the cam, in his truck, without a tuner the cam is useless, my suggestion is the tuner first. You are on the right track with the duration theory Mark. Duration is as important or slightly more than lift. The problem is, you don't usually get one without the other, so using mild, medium, and high performance are great terms for cams. If he's not looking for more than 10-20 hp, he can do it all with the stock cam.

 

[Mark_88]

Cool...thanks for looking in on this...I could have posted and tried searching on your name (the search tool brings up a list and I would have remembered that way) and come back to edit it but I figured you'd be lurking...lol

Haven't seen you posting in a while so didn't know what to expect on feedback...I'm still kicking my own butt for not having the head shaved just a bit more...

 

[adsm08]

Have you considered getting a second hamster and wheel?

Also, check out some of the products over here. These guys have some good HiPo stuff.

http://kalecoauto.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=11&zenid=IPi8GIoz0x8eKS,oAyYyz1

 

[Clumzi]

Have you considered getting a second hamster and wheel?

Also, check out some of the products over here. These guys have some good HiPo stuff.

http://kalecoauto.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=11&zenid=IPi8GIoz0x8eKS,oAyYyz1

The adjustable power band is fantastic.

So I'm definitely getting the impression that anything there is to do from here on out is higher ticket and more involved.

 

[adsm08]

Probably. You could try these guys:
http://kalecoauto.com/index.php?mai...2&products_id=49&zenid=NHUGyESaxa9ClxXQI97rc0

 

[Mark_88]

Probably. You could try these guys:
http://kalecoauto.com/index.php?mai...2&products_id=49&zenid=NHUGyESaxa9ClxXQI97rc0

I was about to order the brass balls but noticed there were three of them...my, uh, seating arrangement only fits two...

 

[Clumzi]

Thread jack!!!!!!!

 

[Mikel89us]

Have you considered getting a second hamster and wheel?

Also, check out some of the products over here. These guys have some good HiPo stuff.

http://kalecoauto.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=11&zenid=IPi8GIoz0x8eKS,oAyYyz1

Lmao! I wonder if people actually fall for this stuff..