Ford Mustang Forum banner

Building 2.3 EFI

7K views 11 replies 4 participants last post by  Neilap 
#1 ·
Hello everyone, I have a 1990 mustang 2.3L EFI 4 plug head. and well, I want to build the head up some and retain the EFI system. What would I need?
I have never modified a EFI engine. its all been 302's or 305's and quite frankly I dont want to go through the trouble of converting my engine to a carb.
What would I need to run a hotter cam? (keeping under 5-6k rpm range) on the EFI system. I assume I will probably need to get a aftermarket ECM to take advantage of it.

Any comments are welcome, and thank you for your time.
 
#2 ·
Does the car have a MAF or is it running on speed density? Either way you can run a hotter cam with an adjustable fuel regulator, a fuel guage, and a retiming. You could also put bigger injectors to make some more power using a hotter cam. I would also recommend getting the upper and lower intake ported, you could do the same with the head. You should also look at a long tube header and some bigger valves. Are you planning on keeping it NA or turbo? That makes a difference, if staying NA I've been informed the stock ECM can handle up to 200 hp, if going turbo you need a lot of other stuff depending if your car is running a maf or not.. Like pistons, a different head or your current head milled to get the right compression, a turbo manifold, a VAM depending if you're running a MAF of not, and other parts... This is just a quick list of things, tell us more specifically what you want to do so others can give you better suggestions/info
 
#3 ·
This would be interesting project. Stinger has a standalone 2.3 that is tuneable with wideband. Unsure if available with non turbo app. Also wondered if using the holley system would work. I know the stock computer has been hacked using chips just not read of anyone going the non turbo method. Keep us informed. Sorry couldn't give no advice. There is a few extremely well knowledge 2.3 engine builders that can help more. Maurice
 
#4 ·
Over the years I've built and modified more than a few N/A and turbo FI engines. Tuning with the stock EFI system can be accomplished with the addition of a tuning device like the "Moates 1/4 Horse" which plugs into the stock computer. Tuning EFI systems require some knowledge and you may want to join an online forum specific to that, since it is such a broad topic.

Stock 2.3L ECU's for N/A cars, don't have a lot of options when it comes to strategy files, so tuning with them can be a challenge, but a V-8 computer from a 5.0l Mustang can be used in a 2.3 without much effort and there is plenty of support for those. I use an A9L in one of my 2.3 cars along with a Moates tuner.

It helps to know what direction you are going; N/A or turbo?

Here is a link to the Moates website. 'QuarterHorse' for Fords [QH1] - $249.00 : Moates.Net
 
#5 ·
Its running off speed density. I plan on staying N/A. I live in West Virginia and frankly if i had that much power it would be nearly unusable because as soon as i hit the gas I would have to slow down for a corner lol. And this 1/4th horse is a very viable thing to me thanks. I was only aware of PiMP ecms at near 1,000. Also my check engine light doesnt work so that sampling info is very valuable. How big of a cam could i realistically run without causing the ecm and/or the 1/4 horse to be dumbfounded and the car just not run. I read on here something about not going over .42 lift? All in all im looking to make my DD into something that can be drivin spiritfully in these mountains without exceeding the handling capabilities of the platform. As well it was the first car i spent my own money on to buy outright so you can understand the sentimental feeling about just improving upon what it is already
 
#6 ·
It's not the valve lift that will cause instability, but the lift profile (combination of lift, duration and overlap) which can begin to degrade the vacuum signal of the engine as you move to a more aggressive cam. As the vacuum signal begins to degrade, so does the computers ability to maintain the fuel mixture. Speed density system are far more sensitive to these changes than a MAF, but either system can overcome these issues with tuning.

Realistically, your limit on cam choice will depend on what ECU you're going to use and weather or not you use a tuner like the Moates and the addition of a MAF. The .420" lift cams are OK for mild street cars, but I'd much rather tune for a more aggressive profile. I think that you'd be much better off with the cams linked below, especially if you're going to build up the cylinder head. With a bump in compression and tuning, these cams will give you a strong bump in HP without going overboard; similar to what an E303 would do for a 5.0L.

Ford 4 Cyl 2.3L OHC Hydraulic Cam- 226°/226° @.050 .455/.455 lift - USA Performance Parts

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/cca-70-127-6/overview/make/ford


Spending some time researching the Moates system and reading about tuning will help you a lot. I think you would be best off looking into a MAF with an A9L 5.0L ECU for engine management. Moates has a tons of support for GUFB definitions.


89-93 Ford Fox Body Mustang 5.0: A9L / GUFB family « Moates Support

Is your car a manual or auto?

BTW, 4 cylinder Mustangs can be set up to handle like a Ferrari if needed.
 
#7 ·
Its a manual of course lol. Im saving this so i can come back to it later. I just realized after inspection during the daytime that my cam is advanced and is probably causing my low end sputtering as i have been adjusting timing according to the crank. I dropped it from 12 to 10 and massive improvment. The cam on timing mark shows 4 bdtc on the crank
 
#9 ·
Well, you can go crazy on the cam and still support it, but above .450ish lift, I'd recommend cutting the valve guide bosses for more clearance as well as other high lift prep work. It's a matter of how much $$ you want to spend on the engine. In general, N/A cams that exceed .450" lift, will make their peak HP at a fairly high RPM. At that point it makes sense to start looking at rod's, pistons, light weight retainers, precision cylinder boring, balancing, head work and so on.

If you keep it simple to start with, it will be a lot easier to tune your engine and actually get some use out of it. To get the most out of the cam, I'd also increase compression (mill the head .100-.110") install a header and 2.5" exhaust and make sure you install the recommended springs with the new cam. Then of course you would need to swap to bigger injectors (24-30 lb.) and tune with the Moates.
 
#10 ·
All right. so if I get this right, I cant run stock sized injectors running a large cam (I am just going to stick with under .450 being a daily driver. if I go higher I will build an engine and drop it in) Though I am curious if I go with a .442 cam can I just install it and the springs for it and wait to do injectors and MOATES to gain the most use out of it or is it something that needs done all in one go?
 
#11 ·
"All right. so if I get this right, I cant run stock sized injectors running a large cam"

Actually you can, but since you need fuel to support HP, the stock injectors will hold you back on making more than 120 or so HP with the stock injectors.


"I am curious if I go with a .442 cam can I just install it and the springs for it and wait to do injectors and MOATES to gain the most use out of it or is it something that needs done all in one go?"


Well, with anything larger than the .420" lift, stage 1 cam, your engine won't start, it will just flood. The ECU will simply read the lower vacuum signal as a large increase in throttle position and it will do what it's designed to; give the engine a bunch of fuel.

You could install injectors at a later date, but you'll want to get the Moates system and software early on, in fact I'd get that first so you can play around with it a little bit. There's some power left out of the factory tune, which you can find when you have the ability to tune the engine yourself.

I suggest you check out the site link below, you can get a little more acquainted with EEC tuning. When you get your tuner and software, it will make a lot more sense. At some point, you will want to look into using a better supported ECU.


Here are some links to follow. Start with the one below and then start reading through the FAQ's, things will make a bit more sense.

(1) http://eectuning.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=13425

(2) http://eectuning.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=6399

(3) http://eectuning.org/forums/viewforum.php?f=5&sid=d40fb32d3c755b8845220d3050f5b8ff
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top