can a 76 2.0 be brought up to 73 2.0 levels of power, easily
 

I searched and wasn't able to find an answer that didn't spiral off into custom engine builds by either Raby, Fat performance, or someone else.

I am just wondering if there is an "easy" 20 or so horsepower that can be had by a novice.

Thanks again

Actually, the difference between the US-spec 73 2.0 and the 76 2.0 is only about 7 HP. (95 HP vs. 88 HP.) You can get that back by changing the exhaust over to the earlier style. You can get another 5 HP by upping the compression to 8.0:1 from the stock 7.6:1 using the European-spec pistons. And that's about it for the stock-type stuff.

For "easy" power, you can bolt on a real tuned header instead of heat exchangers. Figure the Tangerine Racing header and muffler is worth 5-10 HP over the stock early-style pieces, so that comes close to your 20 HP bump over stock 75-76 power ratings.

Three caveats:
1- This is "easy" power--not "cheap" power. The Tangerine headers are works of art, and are priced accordingly. But they are the best headers hands-down; others are not as effective.
2- This loses you all semblance of heat (and windshield defogging) unless you spring for the extra heat-exchanger wrapping, which provides only a little heat, is extra cost, and is only available for the Tangerine headers.
3- Replacing the exhaust is flat-out not smog legal. If you live in an area that actually checks, like California, you cannot change it out.

If you consider changing pistons and cylinders to be "easy", then you can swap the stock ones out for 96mm P&Cs, bumping the displacement to 2056cc. Taking that up to 8:1 or 8.5:1 compression (will require super grade fuel!) will obviously get you more power. And the stock D-jet can be tweaked to cope with the displacement. But that is best done on a dyno, and that sort of tuning will take understanding and time and money...

--DD

Exactly the technical (without being too technical) answer I needed, thanks!

I may have to open up the 2.0 (when I get that far) so swapping the pistons/cylinders maybe an avenue I go down.

I'd like to go "stock plus" at this point.
Not looking for an AX monster, or anything too wild. Just looking to get her cleaned up a little, and while I am in there kind of stuff.

again, thanks.

The other issue is weight. The large bumpers and door beams of the '75-76 cars add 150-200lbs over the earlier cars. That's 10% of the cars weight! For instance, my 1970 was 1990lbs "prepped" for ax. My '76 was some 2200lbs.