Getting the most out of the Ford 2.3L

	2.3L Ford Modifications! This website is a little bit more than just performance tuning the 2.3L Ford engine. There's really not too much performance parts that will deliver inexpensive hp. It seems that when anyone wants power from these babies, they jump to turbocharging which is costly. This site looks at inexpensive ways of coaxing power out of the engine. The most expensive modification and probably the best place to start spending money is to go to a higher rear end gear ratio - documented farther down. These mods will work with pretty much any 2.3L Ford, I have one in my Ford Ranger and that's the basis that I will be working with. The 2.3L Ford Ranger engine is pretty weak and I've been slowly modifying it to get more push out of it. When I first bought the truck in 2005, anything below 2100 rpm was dogging it. It was pitiful. Here's a list of simple mods that have had good return, I noticed that after all of these mods, the useable rpm dropped from 2100 rpm until its now around 1200 rpm. At 1200 rpm in 4th gear, I can press on the gas and actually accelerate - nothing to write home about but compared with the nothing I had before, it's great! An added bonus is the increase in gas mileage. Gas Mileage There will be some confusion as to the gas mileage gains when you read through the webpages. I'll try to put the increases in gas mileage with the modifications: When I first got the truck, I was making about 20 mpg around town and not much better on the highway. Towing a trailer with my foot to floor on level road, I could go 70 mph unloaded and 60 mph loaded - highway gas mileage with a trailer was 20 mpg. When I unplugged the catalytic convertor and put in a freer flowing K and N style air filter, the highway mileage shot up dramatically to 33 mpg. This was still with the 3.08 gears and it was on very flat prairie highway. Performance was still pitiful. Surprisingly, around town, gas mileage was still only around 20 mpg. After doing all the other modifications including changing the rear end to 3.73 gears , the power increased dramatically (relatively speaking for a 4 banger). I could tow a loaded trailer on level road easily to 80 mpg with a little room to spare! I drove 3000 miles (5000 km) in 4 days from Calgary to Santa Fe New Mexico through Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and then New Mexico - all at high elevation (3200 to 7600 ft above sea level) towing a 1300 lb loaded trailer. Gas mileage varied from 23 mpg to a best of 27.5 mpg. Average speed for 3000 miles with rest stops was 60 mph typically between 70 to 80 mph I haven't had the chance yet to take it out on the highway on a long trip without the trailer yet and I can't wait. I don't expect to get as good as 33 mpg because the engine is revving at 2800 rpm at highway speeds with the 3.73 gears versus the lower rpm of the 3.08 gears. Around town the gas mileage jumped up to a best of 26 mpg during my normal driving which is not in the slow lane! 25.5 mpg city driving - Sept 2008 Increased the engine temperature and gained 3 mpg in the city during normal driving without a loss in performance! That's Imperial gallons which are a little bit larger than American gallons. Read about it in the "Turn up the Heat section" below. The Modifications Most of these modifications are damn cheap if not free (except for the rear end swap): Check your tire pressure! I receive a few emails from people who want to increase their gas mileage. Here's the simplest way that's good for 1-3 mpg, inflate your cold tire pressure to the maximum setting for your tires! Check your tires and on the sidewall will be written the maximum tire pressure. My front tires which are summer/winter radials have a max psi of 30. The rear tires which are mud and snow have a max of 40 psi. My trailer tires are 50 psi. Wind Resistance If you have a pickup, you can pick up a few mpg without the air restriction that the tailgate provides at highway speeds. Myth Busters has an online video with the science. for tailgate up, tailgate down, box cover, no tailgate, no tailgate/cargo net. Find out which is the best! Change your Sparkplugs The latest generation of 2.3L have long life sparkplugs, we're talking 50,000 miles. It is easy to forget to change them routinely. If your 2.3L idles rough, it could be that your sparkplugs are worn. The simple solution may be just to change the sparkplugs. This can also result in a 1 to 2 mpg increase in gas mileage and a performance improvement. Several people have emailed me that they have had excellent results with the platinum plugs. Intake muffler modification The plastic tube between the air filter box and the throttle body housing has a muffler in it to smooth out the back flow from the cylinders when downshifting. It is very easy to take apart. Free flow air filter Adding a free flow air filter instead of the factory unit makes a huge difference and adds a growl when you floor it. Disable EGR The EGR (exhaust gas recirculation) valve's job is to introduce exhaust back into the intake manifold to reduce emissions at the expense of power and gas mileage. This seems to be utterly stupid especially because exhaust gases are added after the fuel/air mixture is determined. It seems to be defeating the purpose of a proper air/fuel mixiture! There is a lot of b.s. about how it lowers the cylinder temperature, etc.. but in reality, it replaces needed oxygen for performance with exhaust gas which produces about a 3% to 5% loss in power. Ram Air Adding ram air to the free flow air filter increases your gas mileage and your power at highway speeds as it acts like a mini supercharger. Still thinking about the easiest way to do this. One way is to move the battery to where the old air filter box is to make room for some mods to the radiator support. The other way is to add a small hood scoop to the passenger side of the hood. CK emailed me with a simple method to provide cool air to the KnN style air filter. It looks like a great way to start the ram air webpage! Throttle Body Spacer CK also had this trick up his sleeve - adding a throttle body spacer to increase performance. Synthetic motor oil This one surprised me as the engine really likes synthetic oil - it quieted down big time and added a couple hundred more rpm at the low end! Catalytic Convertor Tested out the catalytic convertor to see if it was plugged and affecting the performance by pounding out the innards. There are screens at each end of the catalytic converter that must be removed before the innards can be removed. In my case, it was severely restricted and performance improved substantially - especially the gas mileage which increased dramatically on the highway! I eventually replaced it with a straight pipe which is very easy to do (easier than pounding out the innards)! Went to a higher octane gas I was running regular and with the unplugged catalytic convertor, I could hear a slight pinging sound on acceleration. The old non computer controlled vehicles would make a hell of a racket if you were detonating but the new ones detect detonation and back off the timing. The result is poor performance. I switched from regular 86 octane to 92 octane and no more detonation and more power at low rpm in the 1300 to 1600 range! I've read where some people have even disabled the knock sensor. Turn up the heat: Modify the Engine Temperature This engine needs to warm up fast and run hotter than most engines for best gas mileage and performance. Electronic Fuel Injection Modifications I've been researching some inexpensive ways of improving performance by modifying the electronic fuel injection (EFI) components. Here's the theory behind what works and what may work. Change the oxygen sensor Change the fuel injectors Change the fuel pressure Change the Mass Airflow Sensor Advancing the camshaft timing. Advancing the camshaft timing in relation to the crankshaft will lower the power curve range on your engine. This means that the power curve will start at a lower rpm. Retarding the cam timing, increases the power curve - the power curve will start later at a higher rpm. One reader advanced his cam timing by slipping the timing belt by one camshaft gear tooth. He reported that it gave a lot more low end torque and power but that there were other problems. Advancing the cam timing in this manner would advance the cam by about 18 deg which is way too much and NOT RECOMMENDED. A safe range would be 4 to 6 deg with 6 degree probably ideal. I'll give this a try in the future. There are timing keys and adjustable timing gears that you can purchase to do this but I have to research it further. Racer Walsh sells adjustable cam gears., so does Need HP - division of Summit racing. Select a hotter cam The least expensive swap is to grab a used roller cam, followers and lifters from a 1989-92 Ranger or 91 and up Mustang if you have a hydraulic cam. Otherwise there's a lot of cams available for the hydraulic lifter but very little performance cams for the roller cam. I did find that Crane Cams makes a good series of Powermax performance cams for the 88 to 98 2.3l with my choice being the #199501 for street/strip: Camshaft - Crane Cam part #199501 (around $400) Valve seals - Crane Cam part #99820-8 (around $18) Retainers - Crane Cam part #99967-8 (around $38) Dual coil valve springs - Crane Cam part #99884-8 (around $72) Here's a performance roller cam from the Ford Motorsports catalog:M-6250-A237 for a decent price of $275 Part Number Type Application Intake/Exhaust duration Intake/Exhaust lift M-6250-A233 Hydraulic Flat Tappet Good idle with good mid-range horsepower for turbo and naturally aspirated usage 270°/270° 0.404"/0.404" M-6250-A234 Hydraulic Flat Tappet Good to fair idle with excellent mid-range horsepower for turbo and naturally aspirated usage 272°/280° 0.420"/0.420" M-6250-A237 Hydraulic Roller Follower only from M-6252-A230 camshaft kit Good to fair idle with excellent mid-range horsepower for turbo and naturally aspirated usage 274°/280° 0.420"/0.420" Here's a great website that discusses the many cams available: Merkurencyclopedia Lower gear ratio This one is a must to do if you plan on spending money! I've replaced the 3.08 gears with 3.73 gears. The 3.08 gears are way too low - I hardly use 5th gear! At 120 km/hr (70 mph), the engine is turning around 1600 rpm and nothing happens when I floor the gas pedal. I want it to be in the beginning/middle of its power band which is about 2500 rpm. The 3.73 gears are fantastic! What a difference, I have pulling power down to 1500 rpm - not much but at least its usable now! I've found that my shifting habits have changed, instead of shifting at 3000 rpm, I'm shifting at 2500 and driving around town in 4th at 1600 rpm with no problem. If you are going to spend money on a modification - CHANGE THE GEAR RATIO FIRST! After driving for a couple of months now, I would even consider going to 4.10 gears with my tire size. I've listed some gotcha's at the end of the page. Exhaust Modifications I recommend going to a free flowing non catalytic convertor exhaust system if possible. I do NOT recommend adding headers. The stock exhaust manifold is well designed and perfectly adequate up to 5000 rpm. If you have a pre 90s 2.3L, you may want to consider swapping in the header style cast exhaust manifold from a 90s Ranger - they 're plentiful at the junkyards and cheap. I've studied swapping in headers and free flow exhausts for about 40 years now and have concluded that any performance gains you will see from headers will only been seen above 5000 rpm. Around 3000 rpm, you won't seen any performance increase at all. I've replaced the catalytic convertor with a straight pipe and it works great. The stock Ranger muffler gives a nice throaty sound. I've left it at the stock 2" dia piping as I've heard that going larger will hurt your bottom end torque which is exactly what I don't want to do. I picked up some exhaust pipe tape/wrap (header wrap). It is an insulation material that you wrap your exhaust pipe and manifold up with to keep the heat in. It's costs about $50 for a 2 inch x 50 foot roll. It serves two purposes: Keeps the underhood temperature lower. Engine runs cooler and cooler air to the intake. Supposed to make underhood temperatures lower by 50% Keeps the hot exhaust gas in the exhaust pipe which increases the exhaust gas speed providing better scavenging of the cylinders during the exhaust cycle. Engine breathes better. Supposed to be good for 2 or 3 hp. Here's a website that shows how to wrap an exhaust pipe with the exhaust wrap as an example. Intake modifications Over at Merkurencyclopedia they have some nice instructions on porting the upper and lower intakes for maximum flow - doesn't look to hard (famous last words!). Head Work Essingler Racing has race proven heads but make sure you bring your checkbook cause they ain't cheap! If you want to get down right radical, you can put a Volvo DOHC head on your 2.3L that flows absolutely amazing. Of course there is a little bit of machining and fabrication required to make it all work. Adjusting the Idle Speed Not a performance modification, but it may result in better fuel economy if your idle speed is lower. I felt that the idle speed was set a little bit too high at 800 rpm and tried the procedure on the Adjusting the Idle Speed webpage to reduce it. It didn't work for my 1992 Ford 2.3L but it may work for your application. Tips and Tricks If you have some tips and tricks that squeeze a little more power out of your 2.3L Ford and you want to share them, contact me at: Return to the Getting the Most out of your Ford 2.3L Website