Miles Crouch's Triumph Spitfire with Ford 2.3 Turbo Engine
as published in British V8 Newsletter, Volume XV Issue 2, September 2007Owner: Miles Crouch
City: Atlanta GA
Model: 1979 Triumph Spitfire
Engine: Ford 2.3 turbo inline four-cylinder engine
Conversion performed by: Owner
| Engine: | the engine is from an SVO Mustang. It's been balanced and blue-printed,
and the head has been ported by Boport. Wiseco pistons. Chevy 5.7" rods.
I have adapted the 4g63 oil jets from a Mitsubishi engine into the Ford
2.3 block to cool the pistons better. |
| Induction: | custom intake with a 75mm throttle body, 96lb injectors, water methenol
injection, and an 1100cfm intercooler. |
| Engine Electrical: | SDS engine management, using the Ford factory harness. |
| Cooling: | big block radiator. It stays cool and can sit all day in traffic with
no problem. |
| Exhaust: | 3.5" down-pipe off the turbo into a pulse chamber. I made the exhaust
by taking 1.5" pipe and cutting it in two, then using a 7 inch flat steel
to connect the two halves of the 1.5" pipe. This will give a little more
than the 3.5" pipe and great ground clearance. Supertrapp muffler. |
| Transmission: | Performance Automatic C-4 3 speed with transmission brake and 1/1 final
drive ratio. 3000rpm stall, 9" torque converter. Custom driveshaft with 2
safety loops. |
| Rear Axle: | narrowed 9" Ford, with limited slip differential, 2.75:1 ratio, and 28 spline axles. |
| Front Suspension: | custom air-ride suspension. I made my own A-arms and used Mustang II
front spindles. Grand National shocks. Factory Spitfire rack and tie-rod ends. |
| Rear Suspension: | 4-link and Panhard bar, with airbags and camaro shocks. |
| Brakes: | four wheel disk. |
| Wheels: | 15" Prostar Street and Drag aluminum. |
| Chassis: | factory Spitfire frame supplemented with a full rollcage. The 4-link
structure runs rocker-to-rocker and was tied into the old factory frame
for the conversion. Trust me, the car goes straight out of the hole and
this is important. |
| Body: | Frenched antenna. Ford rear wing. |
| Electrical: | more room for gauges and I made a new wire harness that had more than
3 grounds and a few fuses. |
| Performance: | as originally set up, we did 511 at the wheels with 29psi and 116 octane.
93 octane @ 23 psi with water methenol made 348 rwhp. We're working on a
new set-up that should be better. |
| Weight: | between 1950 and 2000lbs. |
| Miles Driven: | thousands... to Montgomery AL and everywhere around Atlanta.
No trailer queen here! |
| Comments: | all the work was done by myself except rebuilding the turbo and
the transmission. This car is making over 500hp at the wheels with
race gas. I have to get an NHRA driver's license now because it was
too fast on the track! There are many other mods, but those are the
main ones. |
Ford 2.3 Engine with Intercooled Turbo
Custom air-ride suspension: Home-made A-arms and Mustang II spindles.
Air ride rear suspension with narrowed 9 inch Ford axle.
Ford rear spoiler. Supertrapp muffler.
15" Prostar "Street and Drag" aluminum wheels.
