Well, I think I finally decided to scrap my V-8 swap plans, but then my buddy came up with an interesting idea. Turbo-charge my 200 I6. Said he saw a Chevy panel truck in Hot Rod with a turbo'd 250 that was running 10's. Kinda got my gears to turning. I'm still in the brainstorming phase right now so I was wondering if anybody knew of a write up of a similar project, heard of somebody doing it, etc. All opinions are welcome.
Turbo info
- Thread starter thunderkiss_66
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SadbutTrue
Founding Member
well, if you're dead set on building a turbo 6, which can indeed be fast (turbo anything can be fast).. you might want to go ahead and buy a 250 engine out of a boneyard... the extra 50 cubes will be very helpful. Won't cost a whole lot more in the grand scheme(shelll could probably be had for a couple hundred).
You'd have to set up a pretty much all custom turbo system. The cost could vary quite a bit depending on how much you yourself can do, but it will cost well into the thousands. Remember, you're still going to have to build your transmission , rearend and suspension to handle this power, just like you would have had to with a V8. It might be a bit easier than with an 8 because it is lighter and you probably won't have to deal with the same amount of torque as an 8.
I know theres a guy with a N/A six around here running 14s with all the basic stuff (rear gear upgrade, manual trans, bolt ons, aussie heads, nice tires, etc.), which is pretty good. Might want to go ahead and do that first, see if you're happy... then you can think about a turbo if you're not.
You'd have to set up a pretty much all custom turbo system. The cost could vary quite a bit depending on how much you yourself can do, but it will cost well into the thousands. Remember, you're still going to have to build your transmission , rearend and suspension to handle this power, just like you would have had to with a V8. It might be a bit easier than with an 8 because it is lighter and you probably won't have to deal with the same amount of torque as an 8.
I know theres a guy with a N/A six around here running 14s with all the basic stuff (rear gear upgrade, manual trans, bolt ons, aussie heads, nice tires, etc.), which is pretty good. Might want to go ahead and do that first, see if you're happy... then you can think about a turbo if you're not.
It just so happens I have a 250 sitting in my yard. Was in the car when I bought it. Could be wrong but I heard the 200 has a stronger bottom end, plus there are height concerns with the 250. My old hood had actually been raised to accomodate the taller engine, and that just looked too funky. As for the price, I was checking out a site called homemadeturbo.com and found that by getting the turbo, intercooler, etc. from junkyards and doing it all yourself price can be kept well under a grand. They even did one for under $500. I already have a V-8 rear end, tranny,rear springs, etc. so that part is not a problem. The only thing that swayed my from the V-8 swap was lack of engine, suspension bull$@#t, plus its what EVERYBODY does. I'm looking for something unusual.
SadbutTrue
Founding Member
the suspension swap won't be that hard. the stock rear springs would actually be nice for weight transfer, all in all you're probably only looking at a few hundred in suspension. If you have the rear and all that stuff, hell go for it. I think you might want to expect more than $500 in costs. But if you can do it yourself, it won't be that bad.
As far as bottom ends go, I won't say for sure (i don't know that much about sixes), but both are fairly tough (the 250 is a truck engine, so.. i dunno... i would expect to buy new forged components anyway, so thats a moot point).
And I agree with you, if you can get a 6 moving quick, its pretty damn cool. Good luck.
As far as bottom ends go, I won't say for sure (i don't know that much about sixes), but both are fairly tough (the 250 is a truck engine, so.. i dunno... i would expect to buy new forged components anyway, so thats a moot point).
And I agree with you, if you can get a 6 moving quick, its pretty damn cool. Good luck.
SandSprite
Member
Ro Jo
Founding Member
I looked at this option a few years back. The main problem is all of the engineering that has to go into the system (otherwise everyone an their brother would be running turbos in their IROC Camaros with T-tops). There are probably only a handful of guys out there who have slapped together a junkyard system and have managed to get the car to start, idle, and run. Heck, there may even be a couple of guys making decent power. The only cost effective and reasonable solution I came up with was a complete engine swap from a running donor. The only (affordable) turbo cars I found making decent power were the Buick Grand Nationals and I wasn't about to put a GM poweplant in FoMoCo's finest.
Man, do I sound like somebody's dad or what?
Man, do I sound like somebody's dad or what?
syberjunkie
New Member
I remember reading about a dude who slapped turbo on his stock inline 6 in a..im wanting to say....a 64 1/2 or 65....this was in either mustang monthly or mustang and fords or whatever it is called....ill look for it tonight...
If you hunt around there, you'll find a guy who put turbo on his 200. He goes by Import Killer, and I think he did a small write up on how he did it. Heres some of his pictures. TurboSandSprite said:
I think hes also running nitrous, so you can' say these little motors arent tough
. I'm having a little trouble finding the thread right now but he said that it ran very well and had a lot of power (I'm not sure if he had dyno'ed for exact numbers or not). NO2 Its certainly worth trying!
Most people use a 200 because of the shorter stoke (longer is more likely to fail on you), but I dont see it as a serious problem (see above). Its nice to see more and more people starting to think outside of the box. I've been thinking about a supercharger myself. I've seen a few that seem to have had good results.
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