One approach would have been to install a draw-through carb set-up from a '79-'80 Mustang. I had seriously considered this at one time and had even managed to scrounge up a junkyard turbo and intake from one. As I studied whatever resources I could find on turbo-charging the 2.3, I found myself increasingly less enthusiastic with this factory system. Yes there are those that have made some incredible power out of these, but looking at the factory intake with its awkward angles and the long lengths of exhaust pipe snaking clear across the engine bay, it just didn't impress me. It was around this time that I stumbled across an '86 Turbo Cougar in one of the local yards. Two hours, a couple of banged knuckles and a wallet $25 lighter and I was on my way to a new system.
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The first step in building my system was deciding on an intake manifold. While reading through a Racer Walsh catalog looking at the Mustang II suspension pieces (these guys are great!) I found a reference to using a '87 and up EFI Intake lower half, with one of their adapter plates to mount a carburetor. In their words "this base outflows anything offered to date!" Well being the eternal cheapskate, I purchased a wrecker '91 intake and set about modifying it to use on my engine. |
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First thing I did was tap the injector holes with a 3/8" pipe thread and installed plugs. The EFI intake is designed to be used for the later "D" port heads as opposed to my '78 "oval" port and one of the differences is the top front bolt was moved to provide clearance for the #1 injector. I drilled a new hole in the manifold to match my head. The next step was the carb adapter. Again I figured, why spend hard-earned money when I should be able to build it myself? I sawed off the bottom 1" from the EFI upper manifold. Following information on intake porting I found on the
TurboFord forum (one of my favorites), I "knife edged this piece to provide a smooth transition from the carb to each of the intake runners. Next I took a 1/2" slab of scrap aluminum and made a carb plate which was welded to my new "upper". The photo above shows the lower intake and the knife edged upper before the carb plate was attached.