What would you do with a 2.3 Fairmont? Inexpensively?

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What would you do with a 2.3 Fairmont? Inexpensively?

September 09, 2013, 09:39:32 PM

I have a 79 fairmont 2.3. It's my daily beater. It's actually in pretty decent shape. Anyhow, the head gasket blew the other day, and I am trying to decide what to do with it. My goal is cheap and easy (yeah, I know, not likely). I don't really want to do the head gasket since the bottom end is pretty worn out (burns a quart of oil every 100 miles). I was thinking of swapping in a modern 2.3 EFI w/A4LD out of a ranger or mustang. It currently has the C3 that is mysteriously losing fluid. A modern 2.3 would let me reuse my accessories, and the wiring wouldn't be a big deal.

I don't really want to spend more than $500 or so. That pretty much rules out a 5.0 swap. I had a couple questions for the gurus though:

-I found a couple 2.3's at the junk yard with standard transmissions. I have a C3 now. One candidate is a 90 mustang 2.3, the other is an 87 turbo coupe thunderbird. How hard would it be to use either of those engine/harness/ecm combos with a C3? Would everything work, except I'd need an auto ECM?

-If I used a 2.3 and A4LD from a ranger, would my fairmont driveshaft fit? Or is the A4LD a different length? If so, what about the driveshaft from the 2.3 manual mustang from above? Would it work?

-The fairmont has a block-mounted fuel pump (carbed). Anybody know a cheap pusher pump that I can mount underneath to get proper pressure to run a 2.3 EFI? I don't want to have to screw with modifying the tank. I read somewhere that some other makes/models had pusher pumps that could be made to work.

-Last question- anybody have a complete cheap 2.3 EFI A4LD drivetrain they wanna sell in Ohio? LOL

What would you do with a 2.3 Fairmont? Inexpensively?

Reply #1 – September 09, 2013, 10:21:13 PM

I'd stay far away from a4ld's, they are garbage!

What would you do with a 2.3 Fairmont? Inexpensively?

Reply #2 – September 10, 2013, 12:59:08 AM

if its a 2 door, sell for 1000 as is local; you would probably get someone wanting to do a V8 swap to snag it up

What would you do with a 2.3 Fairmont? Inexpensively?

Reply #3 – September 10, 2013, 03:31:47 PM

2.3t

What would you do with a 2.3 Fairmont? Inexpensively?

Reply #4 – September 10, 2013, 06:17:05 PM

Welp, I've been pretty much talked out of the A4LD. I don't like my DD to be manual, so I guess I'll keep the C3. I am leaning toward the TC engine. I am concerned about how long it has been sitting, and what might be wrong with it. The car is wrecked, so that's a good sign that it might have been ok before it landed in the junk yard.

From what I have read, it probably has the LA3 ECM, I would have to get a LB3 to run with my C3, right? Would I need any other wiring other than the ECM->Engine harness? I am gonna try to scavenge everything from under the hood, I just hope I don't need anything other than the ECM from the interior.

I still haven't totally decided. I am having a hard time making decisions these days...