Not v8 but a late Ford question

jkeesey

jkeesey

Well-known member
First of all no one have a heart attack Im working on a Model A Shay. The car has the bone stock 2.3L Ford engine. What I was wondering was does anyone have any experience with these? This car seems very low on power for such a light weight car. It barely wants to push 45-50mph! Im planning on removing the muffler and making some form of one of these new fangled cold air intake tubes but other than that im not definite on anything.
 
My brother in law had a Ranger with a 2.3, sluggesh as all heck.
He had the timing set (it was way off) and then it ran like a thief in the night. :D









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First experience I had with one was a driver (dealer-owned) '74 Mustang II when they debuted. What a sad disappointment, having gone from the '73s to that POS!

I've owned 3 different vehicles with 2.3s in them. I bought all of them brand new. What a range in setup & power! First one was in late '74, I bought a Pinto mostly for the economy - remember it was during that gas scare, and much like most 2.3s from the 70s was pretty-much gutless. Second is a '87 TBird Turbo Coupe; my son in-law now has it and it and with only about 60K miles, still has lots of 'go'. Third was a '88 Ranger 4x4. I put well over 200K miles on it and it had plenty of power for what it was when I sold it.
 
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The 2.3 design was very good. Much of its technology is in use today. The early carbureted 2.3 engines we not known for power or acceleration. Consider a newer EFI version. It will all bolt in the Shay, and require some wiring changes. That will make a happy Shay driver.
 
Except for the price tag. Although hes probably going to spend the same amount for me to fiddle with everything in the long run.
 
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