I ended up deciding to change course and do the dual spark plug head thing that some guys on the internet had developed. Thanks to Jaime Nieves and Brad Anesi, I was able to learn a lot about the dual spark plug setup that was used on the 1989 to 1994 or so, Mustangs and Ford Rangers that came with the 2.3L engine. There is a yahoo eGroup devoted to this modification.

It was around this point that I had decided that it was not only the destination, but the journey. I decided to have fun putting it all back together, and to me, this meant cleaning, polishing, coating, or chroming a bunch of the parts that I was about to re-assemble. I ended up selling some of the engine parts from my old engine on eBay and began working with the new stuff. I bought a 1989 Ford Ranger 2.3L engine from a guy in Dallas TX to use for the dual plug conversion.

You can see that the dual spark plug head does not utilize the same intake manifold and it also uses a serpentine belt drive setup. It also has a different timing belt cover design (improved) and lots of other little changes.

I began by porting the intake manifold and cylinder head. I had larger valves installed in it and re-used the higher rate valve springs that I had purchased long ago from Racer Walsh. My plans are to start off with the Ford Motorsport A237 camshaft, but I will likely end up with a cam from www.automotosport.com as this is most likely the best cam for this motor.

I smoothed out the runners in the lower intake half, then turned my attention to the upper. At first glance, it doesn't look like there is much to do in there, but there are two large protrusions into the front upper intake where the throttle cable bolts to the intake. I ground off both of these lumps inside the intake and smoothed out the whole inside. It had it ceramic coated by a company called HPC coatings in Tulsa Oklahoma. At $140, it was definately not cheap, but it was one of my favorite things about my old motor.

The next stage is what I refer to as "the slippery slope." It begins by polishing one bracket or bolt or whatever. Then you decide to polish the throttle body, then the turbocharger, then pretty much everything has to be improved or shined up in some way or another. Have a look at my page called "the Slippery slope" to see what I mean.

This is where I am now. I am re-assembling items and getting ready to put the motor back into this car after it has been without for more than a year and a half.

Future plans include:

Installing the T-5 and exhaust system.

Stripping and saying goodbye to the 1985 parts car.

Installing and wiring the Euro headlamps

Getting the car Road Worthy then....

Installing the David Godfrey big brakes on the front and converting the rears to disks

Converting the front Koni Struts to coilovers and doing something about the rear springs and shocks.