Anyone Ever Build A Turbo Set Up From Scratch?

This really depends on the motor. If you have an older 4 plug head, then you have to modify the combustion chamber shape from its heart shape to more like a D shape like the turbo heads. Then you use the proper forged pistons. The rods may already be forged depending on the year, must '94 and older motors will have forged rods. If the motor does not have forged rods, you need to obtain some. Once you have the proper pistons, and the right shape combustion chamber, you have to decide how you are gonna tune it. you are also going to want to use the turbo sized injectors, either #30 or #36 or larger.

You have several available options, which vary by year. If you have a '95 or older, you can either swap in a stock turbo computer, and turbo wiring harness or repine your stock harness. You need to install the VAM that matches the computer you choose. Or you can retune the stock computer using something like a quarterhorse. This is not a user friendly option to those that are unacquainted with tuning. Or you can use a plug and play aftermarket computer like PIMP. I personally like the PIMP option because it eliminates the restrictive stock VAM and opens up a lot of custom modding options, and it is easier to tune in my opinion. Of you have an OBD-II system, they are easier to retune and can be done with something like an Xcal3. You need a larger MAF because the stock one won't handle boost well. The Lightning MAF is a good option. You can still use an aftermarket computer, but they are not (yet) plug and play, but instead have to either be spliced to the the stock harness, use a custom harness, or use some kind of adapter board. But again, I think they are easier to tune, and they can support some features a reprogrammed stock computer can't do. You can use Megasquirt or AEM, and there are other options too. I like Megasquirt because of the community support and relatively low cost.

Is it worth it as opposed to swapping in a turbo motor? Depends on what you have to start with. On a DP (8 plug) setup, you can use the stock head unmodified, use a turbo computer and a VAM. the turbo injectors, and do some minor rewiring, and it supposedly works well. But the whole motor swap is pretty easy too, and if one is readily available, I think is probably both cheaper and less involved. If you had a Ranger, it may be a different story though. The Ranger uses different accessory placement, and there are interference issues with a whole motor swap, so many Ranger enthusiast encourage swapping internals instead of swapping motors.

Red_LX said:

I don't want to scrap them, but my grandma doesn't want them at her house. Problem is that they're 45 minutes away from where I live, I have nothing to haul them in, nowhere to keep them at my house, I'd have to get my brother to help me load them even if somebody did buy them, and I'd have to coordinate everything to make a sale happen. I've had two different people tell me they were definitely coming to get them and never did, so I gave up.

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Where are you located? I am referring to the2.3 motors you have?

Northern WV.