Thanks for the reply Mark, I am enjoying the build, I was skeptical about the little truck, when I bought it, it was a little older than I was looking for. But when I found out that it only had about 65000 original miles on it I decided to gamble on it. I am looking at intake and carb setups and headers from Racer Walsh and esslingerracing.com, I have decided on the Holley 2300, (I think) will these mods inprove my gas milage?
Tell me about the 2300 head, will I get a performance gain bolting on one of these? Can they be found in junkyards in good shape? What would be a reasonable price on one? Do they have a larger cam and or valves than the 2.0 cam / valves? How difficult is the install?
Thanks for the input.
Wow, this one sank fast...sorry I missed your post...
Not sure if the mods will actually improve your gas mileage...mine did only because the original equipment was not working properly. Typically, if you go with performance parts they are usually designed for increasing HP...so depending on how you drive will dictate whether you see any gains.
The 2300 head will improve performance without any mods because the ports are slightly larger or, at least, allow better fuel and air flow and can be better mated with the 2.3 intake (D ports). I paid $100 for the head from a JY in Canada...you should get it for that price or less...most likely much less...depending on how many are in the yard etcetera.
When I had the first head rebuilt I had them put in a mild racing cam...not even sure what the specs were as that was about 5 years ago...I could not use the same cam on the replacement head because it was a roller cam setup and they require a different cam.
I just visited the shop that rebuilt my current head and asked about bigger valves and cam. They quoted me another $400 plus, depending on the cam and the cost of the bigger valves. That would be almost $1000 in the head alone so not sure if I want to go that route.
As far as installing stuff yourself, I'm not sure...it's not that difficult, but you usually need to get the head magnafluxed to check for cracks before you do anything...and if you want to order the parts and do the work yourself a good shop will be able to get the parts for you and tell you what you should have (cam bearings should be included). As to what tools you may need to do the job I have no idea...never done it before...but if you buy a rebuild manual it should tell you what tools you should have...
I would recommend the head first if you want to modify and get some better performance. Getting a better intake, exhaust manifold (the shorty header works well and is lighter and cheaper), and carb would only add to your enjoyment. As far as recommending intakes and carbs I'm about as knowledgeable as you are on that...I've been looking into alternatives for my carb in case I can't get it working...but it looks like I may just have a fuel pressure issue...hopefully.
Not that the 2.0 can't be modified to give great performance...there was a member on here a few years ago that claimed to have modified a 2.0 and was getting 175-200 hp out of it...but I never did see the dyno results...
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