1992 mustang 2.3 naturally aspirated potential?

[Tod Lane]

This has the fuel injected motor' distributor less ignition with two plugs per cyl.
Rated at 125 HP in the guide at 2658 pounds, the car is a five speed stick. Its the two door coupe body.

[Joe Toller]

From what I have read and what the roundy-rounders say that is the best head for the 2.3. Hop up pieces like a header and cam gear are cheap through circle track outlets. Lots of chassis options for cheap too. A few guys over on the Stang forums mess with them.

[Tod Lane]

I should clarify, I meant potential as an NHRA stocker, as a dime rocket

[Sean Marconette]

Tod,
There have been a couple 2.3's in stock that were naturally aspirated, but earlier years. They were competitive and dime rockets if I recall, they were auto's though. Gear selection to wind them up is something to keep in mind for the stick. The dual plug head is a common swap as stated with the turbo coupe and other fox body crowd, so it must be a decent head. What trans and clutch are you thinking about?
Good luck sounds cool.

Sean

[Billy Nees]

I think that it's got plenty of potential but I don't see it being a "Dime Rocket".

[Tod Lane]

Originally Posted by Billy Nees

I think that it's got plenty of potential but I don't see it being a "Dime Rocket".

As I research it I see what you mean lol, I found the MSD box is around five hundred bucks new by it's self! Half what it took you for a whole car to get under the index!

[Ron Middleton]

Tod,
I played with an auto version of this car for a little while locally and did pretty well at bracket racing with it. Motor was reringed but stock other than that and had about 20k miles on freshening up. 4.56 gear in stock 7.5 rear end with stock 4ald trans with 175k miles on it. With nothing other than cone filter and gear and weighing almost 3250 lbs. with me in it the car ran 10.7 to 10.9 1/8 mile times with P275/60-15R street tire and full stock exhaust. I think potential is there and can be done reasonably. JMT.

[SSDiv6]

Originally Posted by Sean Marconette

Tod,
There have been a couple 2.3's in stock that were naturally aspirated, but earlier years. They were competitive and dime rockets if I recall, they were auto's though. Gear selection to wind them up is something to keep in mind for the stick. The dual plug head is a common swap as stated with the turbo coupe and other fox body crowd, so it must be a decent head. What trans and clutch are you thinking about?
Good luck sounds cool.

Sean

With the 8.8 rear, you have a good selection and if you really want to wind up the RPM's, Yukon makes a 5.71 gear set!

[Robert Swartz]

Originally Posted by Tod Lane

This has the fuel injected motor' distributor less ignition with two plugs per cyl.
Rated at 125 HP in the guide at 2658 pounds, the car is a five speed stick. Its the two door coupe body.

Just to jump in and get this going a bit more. although it's going into the weekend. We all (should) have things to do, cars to work on, race, the usual.

At 2658, and 125 horsepower, that computes out at 21.26, a natural U car. U weight with a driver, 2670. U weight starts at a 20 pound minimum. U index at 14.65/9.17. Doing a little motor math, you're looking at approximately 168hp to hit the index.

We can bump it up to V, which is a 22 pound break. V weight with a driver, about 2750. V index at 15.25/9.65. Same little formula for power, looking at approximately 153hp to run the index.

I also did the comparisons for an automatic car as well. It would take comparable power for the car to run those index's.

Tod and I chewed on all this last Sunday morning. It's a two door notch car. From the picture, paint looks fair. It's a 20+ year old used car, like all, imagine it has it's share of used car issues. You sure don't buy one of these things if you don't expect to work on it, LOL!

My thoughts on it. I'm positive a 2300 can be made to run. I know of one, an earlier version that's being prepped right now. Have no idea when that car will see the light of day. I really don't know if "this" version of the 2300 can run.

On the plus side, there's a ton of parts for these things. Be easy to put an 8.8 rear under it. Plenty of suspension parts. No shortage of engine parts for them. My reservation is it being a stick. You could put a bulletproof transmission, flywheel, clutch and pressure plate behind this thing. Probably never make enough power to hurt it! To be a competitve NHRA car, it would have to run deep into the 14's for V, deep into the 13's for U. On paper, I'd say a 2.3 is capable of this, just not certain this 2.3 is capable.

Like everything else in this game, how much do you want or have you got to spend?

[Mark Yacavone]

Nah..Don't like it.
Get an 88 Notchback...97 hp...Falls way heavy in W , but if you build it right, you should be able to get it light enough.
Not sure if 5.13 would be enough gear though..Maybe ,at 2600 # ,with short slick