223 Has anyone modded one ?

[Finally1]

The car I bought has a Clifford intake with a holley 2 barrel carb and has a split header on it . I recently looked at the specs on the motor and info I found says compression ratio is 8.6 . Well Im a turbo guy and this is a good start if I was to turbo the car with premium fuel should be able to run 10- 15 lbs of boost fairly easy . My question is how strong is the bottom end on these things ? Im thinking I could get the 223 in 250 to 300 hp with the 10-15 lbs of boost fairly easy and car would still be original power plant and just fun as hell . I have a 2.3 turbo in a 88 Ranger that put 575.3 hp to the rear wheels at 26 lbs of boost on 112 fuel and can daily drive it if I wanted to .

[canadian_ranchero]

the crank is held in by 4 main bearings.not vary strong

[Hoosier Hurricane]

Around here years ago the circle trackers ran them.  Put 312 valves in the heads, Isky cams, and ran them hard.  I don't know how long they ran, but they were plentiful in the salvage yards so replacements were cheap.

John

[hiball3985]

Agreed, only a 4 main crank and I don't know what the limits on rods would be. But back in the 60's a friend was going to junk a 56, so we set the throttle wide open and let it run to see if we could blow it up. It ran for hours but never blew before finally over heating and the rpm's just kept dropping until it seized. I doubt it would take that amount of boost but it would be fun trying 

[Finally1]

Well I dont really wanna tear up a 19,000 motor I have a local who wants to buy it when ever I decide to pull it I just thought if it would take a lil abuse I would donate my time to do so .10-15 lbs of boost isnt that much when tuned correctly . I have ran the 2.3 to 30 lbs and its lived for 6 years . I also had a 4 dr Fairmont with a single turbo Explorer 5.0 ran 14.5 lbs of boost on it all day long and its still alive . My buddy who bought it drove it to Texas said he was disappointed with the fuel mileage but the giggle factor of busting ass in a 4dr all the way there was worth it .I have had several 2.3 turbo beaters and beat them to death a few head gaskets here and there and a bottom end once .

[hiball3985]

If that's the original motor and hasn't had the head off they only had a .025 thick steel shim type head gasket, they weren't the greatest at sealing .