As Dojj said.

- 2.3 scorpio bottom end (rebuilt, nasty balancers ditched, Sierra DOHC sump in place, bores "slightly oversize" )
- mildly-flowed 8v DOHC head with ground-out combustion chambers to reduce compression to 10.5:1. Ish.
- 250cc / 24Lb injectors.
- Piper 285 cams.
- Janspeed manifold and free-flowing exhaust (if that's what you call an exhaust full of holes!)
- Obligatory cone filter and powerchip.

It does 170 bhp and 171lb f ft of torque - practically 2.9 V6 power but without the weight. Makes it very nimble around town and on dual carriageways - the torque is right there off idle and right the way across the rev range.

Power's not quite what the 2.3 16v RS boys get I admit, and nothing like even a half-shagged YB but I'm using the 8v head and the stock Sierra management which isn't as aggressively tuned as the RS item is "out the box" so I'm a bit hampered in that respect.

Megasquirt is now in the car so I can run EDIS and a coilpack to give better control over the timing. Just wish the fooking thing would start.

From my perspective you'd probably get more out of a tuned 2.0 zetec but you have to think what it will cost you to do get it, and the costs to get it in in the first place. As others have said already: custom mounts, water rail to relocate thermostat, never mind playing mix-and-match with clutches, flywheels and starters to fit your gearbox.

It cost me less to build the 2.3 8v from scratch than it would have to rebuild the 2.0 that was in there which surely deals with your "cheap as chips" budget doesn't it?