Hey guys,

How much boost could you run safely on a 305 with cast pistons, stock rods, etc...? I have a spare 305 sitting in my garage that I had rebuilt a while ago with the intention of dropping it into a Monte Carlo SS. I never ended up buying the car I had mind, but I found another dead one in the paper I may pick up. I also have two Garrett T3 turbos laying around that I would imagine would be a good match for the 305. Anyway, I am very familiar with turbos as I also own a Volvo 740 currently running 1.2 bar of boost, but that's on forged internals. I run an '84 B23FT-the only Volvo engine with forged crank, rods, and pistons. Subsequent years used the B230FT which was all cast. Those guys don't usually venture beyond 1.0 bar, and I've even seen rods thrown and pistons damaged when the motors were just barely out of tune. Of course I would imagine that even a lightly modded V8 would develop quite a bit of power on just .5 bar. Anyway, should I pursue the turbo route with this engine or scrap the idea for strength reasons? I thought about maybe swapping it into a stripped/gutted MG Midget. I figure maybe only build the motor to about 200 horses but get the weight down so that I have a p/w ratio to rival a Viper