Hello all.
My next door neighbour is building a mk2 escort for some race series and needs to get the maximum power out of a normally aspirated ford engine. He's decided to go for a 2.3 duratec and has been browsing the tuning sites and found you can buy engines ready to go at up to 304 bhp, but at a price of about 12K. He is prepared to spend decent money, but preferably not that much! So, what does he need to do to get that sort of power from a duratec, and what gearbox should he get?

Thanks for any help
Hugh

http://www.sbdev.co.uk/History_files/History_DuratecTuning.htm

That page is quite interesting, with some good links. The principles of tuning are generally the same no matter what engine is used.

without a supercharger or turbo i would say he will have to spend a bit. i would say he has to look into a Jenvey or Omex Throttle body system with BIG chokes! uprated internals for sure, and uprated cams, big valves, porting etc etc

[Edited on 29/6/09 by omega0684]

That SBD link seems to have all the info in it, now just need to find out a cheap but good supply of all the bits, like cranks, pistons etc
Thanks
Hugh

quote:

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Originally posted by hughpinder
That SBD link seems to have all the info in it, now just need to find out a cheap but good supply of all the bits, like cranks, pistons etc
Thanks
Hugh

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300bhp from a 2.3 isnt that difficult and certainly doable NA. The thing to watch with the 2.3 is that you start with the right base engine as one sort has a balance shaft and one doesnt. You want the one without!

Scholar Engines produce some mean duratecs

http://www.scholarengines.co.uk/

For that sort of power you will looking at a decent amount of head work (£1200+), cams (£500 + another £300 for springs and followers), forged rods and pistons (£800) and possibly an overbore too. On top of that you will need all the normal stuff, 50mm+ throttle bodies + ecu (£1500), flywheel and clutch (£500), bellhousing (£250) and heavy duty type 9 box (£500)

Ebay is your duratec tuning friend. There are a set of scholar 270bhp cams for a 2.3 on there at the moment for £250 which is a bargain.

David

People over on the Turbosport forum have n/a Duratecs with new cams, pocketed pistons, some headwork (standard valves) and TBs showing 270bhp on the rollers.
If you want more than this it seems to be where BIG cash is needed.
Anything more needs more revs = uprated internals etc.

think i saw a bit in PPC mag this week in Walker’s Workshop about a 300bhp duratec in a Mk1 escort

get in contact with jon from shawspeed, very good guy, and very helpfully and alot cheaper than the big names, is a pain to get hold of though and he is on holiday at the moment

a good one for duratec N/A's who i am using for bits is: Raceco
search ion google

quote:

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Originally posted by goaty
a good one for duratec N/A's who i am using for bits is: Raceco
search ion google

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Wow, I'm impressed by the raceco site - will pass that on to shaun asap. Its quite nice helping him - he has load of money to buy all those bits I have to bodge somehow, but I still get to play with them, but don't pay

I'll let you know how it goes and what we finally get out of it

Regards
Hugh