Yet another 2.3 Turbo GT...

[tagger]

So I know that Ford 2.3 swaps have been discussed in many of the threads on here (I'm an active viewer of said threads). As of this spring I've started down the path of the 2.3 Turbo - I purchased a 1971 GT around June, then acquired a 1987 Turbocoupe in October. Since then I have removed the engine/tranny/interior from each car.

Now I am to the point of installing the 2.3 in the GT. I have a few questions which were discussed earlier, but no specific details were given. So to all the veteran 2.3 GT owners/installers:

How did you go about fabricating the motor mounts? Were they the stock Ford mounts?

Does the T-5 housing from an S10 place the shifter forward? Or is there another way to avoid the ~6 inch rearward position?

What suspension setup did you use for the rear end?

My plans are to have the 2.3 setup in the GT with a Bo-Port stage 3/4 head, Holset HX-35 turbo, methanol injection, and lots of boost to produce an awesome drag car, and decent street car. If anyone has any thoughts/comments/suggestions please let me know. For too long I have been just been the reader, without making an appearance on the forums, so I suppose it is time to ask the forum God's for help

Also, I will try to post pictures soon - I'm going to *attempt* to keep written and visual documentation on the harder parts of the install.

[namba209]

Tagger, the below link is for my Phase II Article on building the complete engine and tranny subframes on my V-6/T-5 swap. It may give you some ideas on how to setup a similar subframe that can be made for your application. One note on this, I built the subframes to center the T-5 shifter in the center of the console hole. That dictated the fore and aft positioning of the subframes to the engine and tranny. HTH.

Opel Forums - GM 3.4L/T-5 Swap In A GT Phase II

[BQS4]

You might want to PM "roosterrusek" or "cfrssy" direct, as they are the only ones I know of that have done this conversion.

[cadence]

Originally Posted by tagger So I know that Ford 2.3 swaps have been discussed in many of the threads on here (I'm an active viewer of said threads). As of this spring I've started down the path of the 2.3 Turbo - I purchased a 1971 GT around June, then acquired a 1987 Turbocoupe in October. Since then I have removed the engine/tranny/interior from each car. Now I am to the point of installing the 2.3 in the GT. I have a few questions which were discussed earlier, but no specific details were given. So to all the veteran 2.3 GT owners/installers: How did you go about fabricating the motor mounts? Were they the stock Ford mounts? Does the T-5 housing from an S10 place the shifter forward? Or is there another way to avoid the ~6 inch rearward position? What suspension setup did you use for the rear end? My plans are to have the 2.3 setup in the GT with a Bo-Port stage 3/4 head, Holset HX-35 turbo, methanol injection, and lots of boost to produce an awesome drag car, and decent street car. If anyone has any thoughts/comments/suggestions please let me know. For too long I have been just been the reader, without making an appearance on the forums, so I suppose it is time to ask the forum God's for help Also, I will try to post pictures soon - I'm going to *attempt* to keep written and visual documentation on the harder parts of the install.

i know the ranger transmission is weak but it's shifter location is really far forward. My friend has a ranger with a 2.3T swap, and stock tranny its been going for 4 years now without a problem with the transmission.

[SweetStreet]

Originally Posted by tagger Does the T-5 housing from an S10 place the shifter forward? Or is there another way to avoid the ~6 inch rearward position?

i was reading a book by keith tanner may have been Cheap Sports Cars its based around the Locost 7 Kit car, anyways it had a great solution for this type of problem more usefull for one peice transmissions. he used a ball joint to conect the original shifter position to were you wanted it. its hard to explain so i drew up a quict picture. of course the ball joint would have to be connected to the car.

[bigben]

Originally Posted by SweetStreet i was reading a book by keith tanner may have been Cheap Sports Cars its based around the Locost 7 Kit car, anyways it had a great solution for this type of problem more usefull for one peice transmissions. he used a ball joint to conect the original shifter position to were you wanted it. its hard to explain so i drew up a quict picture. of course the ball joint would have to be connected to the car.

What SweetStreet is talking about is basically the same as the solution that I came up with for the Nissan tranny I put in my GT. The setup works pretty well although the shifter motion is a little different. You shift in a little bit of an arc for 1st, 2nd, and 5th. I described how I did it in my SR20DET thread, unfortunately the only picture that I have of the linkage is through the shifter hole.

http://www.opelgt.com/forums/engine-...ntation-6.html

http://www.opelgt.com/forums/attachm...ft-linkage.jpg

[roosterrusek]

Hi there, I will tell you all I can about my 2.3 turbo setup. First off, they (they being the people that did my engine and tranny swap) did have to make new motor mounts. In my case the engine still was a bit high necessitating a cowled hood that used to be sold on OpelGTSource. If you need advice on making your own, I can help with that too...I am in the process of documenting how I am making my own custom cowled hood.

Anyway, the turbo and the tranny came from a 1988 Supercoupe. Later on I replaced the top mounted intercooler with a front mounted intercooler and increased the boost quite a bit.

I choose a Ford engine for a few reasons, the biggest being that I wanted it to be fast and also easier for a shop to work on considering from at least my point of view the parts would be easier to acquire. As it stands now the car off the line is not super fast, but when you hit 3rd through 5th gear it will take off like a bat out of he!!. Being in 5th and then dropping it into 4th say if you are merging (translation = some dimwit wants to race a little) really gets the car moving. The combination of light weight to power ratio is kind of scary. At some point I want to replace the tranny with one that is more even...meaning I would rather have a better gear ratio and make my clutchwork a little less active....time and money.

Update...As it stands now my car has had all of the body work completed and the second coat of primer put on. The woman doing the work wanted to get it done by the 15th but her instructor encouraged her to wait and do it right since she has put so much work into it at this point. So when she gets back to school on Jan 5th the final real paint job will be going on. After that it goes to a restoration shop to be put back together and then I get to drive her (the car not the woman doing the work). I will of course be posting pics as soon as possible.

Pau

[SweetStreet]

Originally Posted by bigben What SweetStreet is talking about is basically the same as the solution that I came up with for the Nissan tranny I put in my GT. The setup works pretty well although the shifter motion is a little different. You shift in a little bit of an arc for 1st, 2nd, and 5th. I described how I did it in my SR20DET thread, unfortunately the only picture that I have of the linkage is through the shifter hole. http://www.opelgt.com/forums/engine-...ntation-6.html http://www.opelgt.com/forums/attachm...ft-linkage.jpg

That's the idea but do you have to have a piviting joint? i assumed a solid bar to be used, i should look over that book again, but its in kansas...hmm i suppose it would work either way, that may have something to do with the arc.

[SweetStreet]

hmmm im jelous of you guys and your running Opels....... ive been slowly working on mine for many moons...

[bigben]

Originally Posted by roosterrusek As it stands now the car off the line is not super fast, but when you hit 3rd through 5th gear it will take off like a bat out of he!!. Being in 5th and then dropping it into 4th say if you are merging (translation = some dimwit wants to race a little) really gets the car moving. The combination of light weight to power ratio is kind of scary.

I'd agree with that description of a GT with a turbo. Most of the time I'm not in 1st gear long enough to get the turbo spooled up nicely so 2nd and 3rd are where the real fun is at Although I have had the tires break loose a few times when I've stayed on it long enough in 1st for the boost to really kick in. (It's kind of like riding a two stroke.) In some ways the turbo lag is a lot better than having all the torque off of the line. (At least the drive line gets a lot less of a jolt and should last a little longer.)

[blancojp]

Originally Posted by SweetStreet That's the idea but do you have to have a piviting joint? i assumed a solid bar to be used, i should look over that book again, but its in kansas...hmm i suppose it would work either way, that may have something to do with the arc.

Try looking into a Lokar shifter. They sell a kit that relocates the shifter position for placement in a stock location.

Other than the above, I would make a "Z" out of round bar and relocate the shifter.