World's Quickest Ford Maverick Is Powered By A 2.3-Liter EcoBoost Engine

World's Quickest Ford Maverick Is Powered By A 2.3-Liter EcoBoost Engine

It can obliterate the quarter-mile in a scant 12.4 seconds.

It’s easy to see why the Ford Maverick is so popular with consumers. It’s cheap, practical, cleverly designed, and appealing. But is it fast? Not really. Even the turbocharged 2.0-liter EcoBoost only produces 250 horsepower and 277 lb-ft of torque. While that should be enough for most, Ivan Gonzalez – owner of the world’s quickest Maverick – decided it wouldn’t do and set his sights on something greater: a 2.3-liter EcoBoost motor.

Gonzalez recently told The Drive that he didn’t plan on fitting a larger motor to his speedy pickup. The idea came to him rather organically. While shopping around for a spare 2.0-liter EcoBoost, he noticed that the larger 2.3-liter wasn’t much more expensive.

He put in an offer on a 2.3 from a 2020 Lincoln Corsair and got the engine. He planned to develop his own parts from this engine, but with his original motor disassembled, Gonzalez decided to see if the larger engine would fit.

To his surprise, the bigger motor fitted perfectly, with Gonzalez describing it as “pretty much plug-and-play.” Interestingly, even the wiring harness was a near-perfect fit, with mostly identical plugs. Of course, there were minor challenges. The coolant temperature sensor, for example, was in a different location, but the crafty owner found a solution in no time.

Equipped with a more muscular heart, the drag-racing Maverick runs beautifully and has benefited from several performance-enhancing upgrades. There’s a custom intercooler, a three-inch downpipe, a ram air intake, and a cat-back exhaust system, among other things. Gonzalez opted to use a turbocharger sourced from a Ford Ranger. It’s slightly different from the one on the Corsair but is also cheaper to replace.

So what’s next for the mighty Maverick?

Gonzalez told the publication that he plans on fitting stronger Brembo brakes sourced from a Focus RS. He’s just waiting for the correct brackets on which to mount them. Remarkably, the rest of the drivetrain comprises stock parts, such as the eight-speed automatic transmission.

There are no performance figures, but the enthusiast owner says the Maverick’s best quarter-mile time so far is 12.4 seconds at 112 mph. That’s about the same as a BMW M3 (E92), Audi RS4 (B7), or a Ferrari 550 Maranello – not bad for a compact truck that costs less than $30,000. Gonzalez plans to breach the 11s soon, putting it on par with some serious machines. We look forward to seeing if he achieves this.

This isn’t the first modded Maverick that we’ve seen. Last year, we reported on a Maverick FX4 that could clear the quarter-mile in 13.565 seconds. It’s some way behind the 2.3-liter Maverick above, but it’s clear that enthusiasts are paying attention to the truck’s performance potential.