I am running around 300/300 at the wheels on a 91 octane tune, soon to have the 5th injector with the slightly smaller turbo I will make a bit more WHP and maybe torque but will want the tune to bring in the torque as smoothly as possible and not to much down low in the rev range.
With 225 Rival S tires which are about as stick as you can get for a street tire, LSD, all suspension bushings upgraded, coilovers, etc and setup for road course use, it spools a bit late for my taste and makes the car very difficult on a tight canyon road to really get it on as too slow then way to quick in a sudden change that has to be carefully used.
Last time weighed the car was at 2275lbs, is less now.
Standing start.
1st gear, once I hit boost I am instantly hitting the rev limiter, shift and bogging.
2nd gear, warm out, tires warmed up, hits boost and rockets away, much quicker than it might seem
BUT, huge torque steer, I nearly ran into a car in the next lane when I first found out how bad it was, now I am more prepared but it is not really fun.
3rd gear is better but still has some and at that speed I really do not want to be darting around.
On a canyon run I have to use less of the road to ensure I do not run off the side of it.
A more linear power band will help a great deal but not if I have huge torque anywhere in the lower gears, not unless I was on a drag strip with slicks could I use it.
Again, I have great hopes the GTX2860R will bring the car into a more balanced package as I built the whole car as a unit as I always do, if the GTX does not quite get me where I want to be then I will go a bit smaller, it will have more than enough WHP and torque to make for a very quick car, just need to tame the instant spin at 4,000 RPM in 1st gear and a bit less torque steer in 2nd and I will be set.
Nice thing about a stock engine, cheap at a junk yard if you pop one, which I did in my last two boosted projects, just swap it in and go(unless of course a failure that takes the turbo and coolers out as well)
Engine swaps are cool, I have done them, just have to make sense to me before I would consider it, if the 2.0 was an easy swap it would be what I would do, not the 2.3, simply not needed with the weight of the car.
If there was a reasonable way to make the 1.6 into a 1.8 it might be all one could really want, 2.0 is more than enough I am sure.
Of course do as you will, many here just think it is simply not the best way to go and some of us have done these things or seen many done.