Is the bottom end in one of these blocks have forged pistons and cranks or cast? What are some of the starting mods I should do?
keep in mind I'm still looking for a car to work on
forged pistons and rods, cast crank. there are several beginning mods to do. you could always start by bumping up the boost a bit. free up the exhaust. basically anything that will free up flow will gain you a lot. think of a motor as a big air pump... the turbo "boost" the power of that pump... the more efficiently you can move the air, the better it will perform. for performance mods on these motors, a website called turboford.org, is one of the best 2.3 turbo specific sites on the web.
I was planning at least a full 3" exhaust and somewhere down the line doing some head and intake porting. maybe front mount intercooler and some other things, but I don't know what will need to be changed with the electronics and stuff to handle that.
for intake, exhaust and intercooler, there is absolutely no reason to do any electronic modifications.
how about if I go to a different turbo? I'm not sure how far I want to go with it yet and still have it reliable for a daily driver
it all depends on what your end goals are. if you want something that's going to be fairly quick, but not a monster, then just stick with the t3. it's a good turbo that's efficient to about 22 psi. if you want to make about 400+, there's a LOT that needs to be done.
at 400 hp, it would be just as fast as my truck:D
hoping for maybe 275-300 wheel
I have a very not so modded 84 turbo coupe and I can whip up on stangs. I've got a 2.3 ranger unported small valved head. 88 intake top mount the brown top injectors a pc1 ecu with a T3-4 hybrid running 15psi. That is with a slavage yard bottom end with who knows how many miles on it. You want cheap HP besides the exhaust make yourself a boost controller. get ride of the factory Air filter box thingy. Then put you a K&N right on the front of the VAM. If you don't care about A/c delete the whole setup. Saves weight. My car has working A/c. These little motor are very easy to work on and mod to make power. Like Ranger said check out http://www.turboford.net/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=forum;f=2 There is one of the top places one 2.3 turbo. I learn something there every day. I will tell you to go there and search. It you want to see what they say goto this link and read read read. http://www.turboford.net/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=3;t=017352