B II engine swap question

[rustygreatwhitenorth]

I've got a '90 B II with many, many miles on it and I'm thinking on an engine swap as I've got the rest of the drivetrain almost where I want it. I'm thinking of swapping out the 2.9 v6 for a turbo 2.3 4 banger which I think should give me slightly better gas mileage and power.......any thoughts or comments?

 

[ldbill39]

Why swap a 2.9?

Why isn't anyone looking into what the 2.9 can do? These 2.9's are German Cologne motors and the English equivalent is the Essex. The Essex version had some Cosworth parts, and these little motors were used in rally racing in the 70's. The major difference from the european version and the U.S. version was headers, and some head work. The european engine had shorty headers from the factory, where the U.S. version had cast exhaust manifolds. The cast pieces caused the heads to run hot, and they would crack, but with headers, they are fine. I have a copy of Sven Pruitt's book on CD-Rom that explains how to modify the 2.9. The 2.9 that I currently have in my off-road B2 has 265hp and 320ftpnds of torque, and I only did a few things to it. The next one I am going to build, will be a little bit better. So why swap?

 

[Mike828]

The 2.9 that I currently have in my off-road B2 has 265hp and 320ftpnds of torque, and I only did a few things to it.

How?

 

[Andres629]

Agreed. Do want to know!!

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

I'd also be interested in how you got your engine to that horsepower level! Details, please, with a cost breakdown.
Also, does anyone know if ford made a stock header for the 2.9 [North American] or 4.0. I read that the exhaust interchanges between the two.
Thanks,

Richard

 

[ldbill39]

Horsepower

You need to work on the valve train, it is inherently bad from the start. You need to change out the rocker springs, to metal sleeves. The heads need to be flowed, as well as the intake, and the plenum. Install a set of headers, and you get to the numbers I have. If you want more power, actually torque, you need to replace the cam, lifters, and rocker arms. At this point it would be a good idea to change the head castings to World Heads. I followed Sven Pruitt's book on how to modify this engine, and it works great. I have a digital copy of his book that I can send out for a $5.00 donation to cover the cost of the disk and mailing. It is a really good book, it covers the 2.6, 2.8, 2.9 & 4.0.

 

[ldbill39]

Forgot to add

You can find the headers on ebay, along with other parts, for the engines.