Ford's 2.3-liter "Pinto" engine (officially known as the T88) was one of the first true marvels of four-cylinder engineering. Though fairly advanced by late-1960s standards, the 2.3-liter wasn't revolutionary in any single way. Overhead-cam four cylinders had been around for some time, but the 2.3-liter's strong engine block, decently flowing cylinder head, reliable performance and fully modern design made it the darling of racers and the king of American-made four-cylinders for decades to come.
The 1979 cylinder head has nothing specifically wrong with it, but later-model dual-plug cylinder heads are inherently more efficient and capable. Though Ford originally designed these heads for use with fuel injection,you can adapt them for use with a carburetor. A stock dual-plug cylinder head by itself will only boost horsepower by about 10 percent but will serve as an excellent foundation for future upgrades. If you want the best possible stock head, acquire one from a 1998 to 2001 2.5-liter Ford Ranger.
Intake gasket-matching is a good idea for any head, as is blending the bowl area behind the valve head into the hardened valve seat. However, take care when removing any significant amount of material from the short-side turn where the port bends down toward the valve. Removing too much material from the short-side turn on this head can kill low-speed flow. The 2.3-liter head will accept 1.89-inch intake and 1.59-inch exhaust valves, but you must have hardened valve seats installed and cut with a three-angle valve job to use them. Keep the stock intake valve if you plan to use a turbo, but replace the exhaust valve with a 1.59-inch unit.
A naturally aspirated 2.3-liter is good for 230 to 250 horsepower at most -- and only if you replace every single component in the engine. To really capitalize on the 2.3-liter's potential, do what Ford did and install a turbo. A T3 turbo combined with a ported head, forged pistons, forged rods and a steel crankshaft can net you about 400 horsepower while using a fairly mild camshaft. If money is no object and you desperately need four-digit horsepower, you can achieve 1,000-plus with a massive turbo, forged-steel components, a huge camshaft, a 2.5-liter head and block reinforcements.
By itself, a 2.5-liter stroker crankshaft from a 1998 through 2001 2.5-liter Ford won't increase power by any significant amount, but combine the increase in displacement with a free-flowing head and you've got a minimum 10 percent increase in horsepower and torque across the board. If you want to increase the displacement (or just buy a complete LRG-425 crate engine from Ford), do it only in conjunction with a turbo. A 10 percent increase in power becomes pretty significant once you get up to the 350-to-400-horsepower level, to say nothing of the 1,000 horsepower of which this engine is capable.
