2.3L ('83-'97) throttle body upgrade

[DTN753]

It my understanding that you can with an adapter plate upgrade your throttle body to a larger mustang throttle body but I can’t find which one is compatible, any help would be appreciated. 95 2.3l 5speed 2wd

 

[scotts90ranger]

I'm sure you can, but why? Unless you have changed camshafts to a high revving one and ported the heck out of the cylinder head you will gain about 0.1% power strictly at the top end...

Your butt dyno will show a difference because by changing the throttle body you will be getting rid of the linkage setup Ford used originally to give some natural throttle curve geometry for better drivability.

To quantify my reasoning, I tune engines at work and pay attention to things. In the industrial world it's common to use small throttles because the engines are low speed (3000rpm tops) and in that application we use a 40mm throttle on a 4.3L V6 that is rated for about the same horsepower as a 2.5L (it takes roughly the same amount of air to make horsepower no matter what...), I haven't measured a 2.3/2.5L throttle but they look like 50-60mm which should be plenty.

That said I haven't quantified the above on a Lima before, if you put a vacuum gauge behind the throttle and make more than 2" Hg vacuum at WOT full engine speed then a throttle could increase power, but again it isn't going to be a lot... the head porting on the intake side is MUCH more restrictive than the throttle... that I have quantified since I lost boost when I ported my turbo 2.3L... in forced induction a bigger throttle makes even less difference...

I do have a spare vacuum gauge somewhere that I plan to put in my '97 sometime just for curiosity sake, but that's a project for later...

By the way, welcome to TRS!

 

[DTN753]

The goal is an aggressive cam 8400rpm turbo 2.5 or 2.8 esslinger crank 3in down pipe and exhaust performance injectors and fuel pump stage 3+ clutch hurst shifter light weight flywheel 8.8 31spine rear end 410 or 456 gears so I’m going to be maximizing everything, going to get it tuned as I go. Thank you for the welcome. I looking to push the motor to its full capacity.

 

[scotts90ranger]

In that case you might gain a little, but forced induction will negate a lot of it until it is a bigger restriction than something else... If I had to guess some of the stock V6 or V8 throttles of similar era would probably fit, worst case you could make it work with a 1/2" aluminum plate drilled with both bolt patterns slightly rotated or just redrill the intake slightly rotated, if you make aluminum threaded plugs for the stock holes and put some "sleeve retainer" loctite to hold it in you can drill and tap even partially into the stock holes...