hey guys,
my car sucks it runs like a 17 second quarter mile. if a few years I want to do something a bit different once I learn how to weld. would it be easier to drop a turbo 3.8 motor in, or would it be better to go with a single or twin turbo 350. if I go with the 350 could I retain the carb, I know they have supercharger kits now for carbed engines, what do you guys think, and whats easier twin or single. could I rob the system off an 81 turbo trans am?

 

Blow through forced induction is better suited for dry flow intake systems (mpfi, tpi, etc.). To use a turbo on a carbed system they have a sealed box that the carb sits in and the turbo pumps boost into the box. If I were going to go through the trouble and expense of fabing up a turbo system I would go ahead and convert to TPI.

 

but the thing is everyone who has a turbo has fuel injection, I'm looking for something different, and not so reliant on computers, just basic machinery at work. plus I'm not a fan of tpi, is there anyother fi I could use that would be cheap still.

 

The reason most people who have turbos have EFI is because it's the best way to do it. While there's always a time and place to do soemthing different, if you want the best results, follow the crowd and use EFI in this case.

The main reason that turbo applications are much more prevalent and successful these days, vs back in the 70's and 80's is due to EFI. Carb' s are simply not as effective at providing the correct air/fuel ratio at all rpms, under all load conditions, and under the specturm of manifold vacuum/pressure conditions that a properly tuned EFI system can. Proper A/F ratio is the most fundamental aspect of a good turbo system, arguably even more important than in an NA application.

If you want to run more than about 10 psi of boost, and you will, a carb will not cut it anyway. A blow-through design is your only real option, since it will have better starting, throttle response, and allows the use of an intercooler.

If you're serious about converting to a turbo setup, go with EFI.

 

well thats upsetting, to be perfectly honest I'm an idiot when it comes to major undertakings, I can to little stuff but this will be hard. maybe I'll stick with a supercharger. but it would be cool to have a nice blow off valve to hear pop.

 

You don't neccesarily have to go to EFI if you don't want too. Check out www.toohighpsi.com. Thats Mike Sitar's web page. They've got a twin turbo capri that I think was running about 17lbs of boost and running tens using a holley carb. If you check out the links there you'll find some more turboed and carbed cars. Hope this helps.

 

I agree with greasemonkey. I look at Mike's page daily to see if it has been updated. You can use a carb on a turbo application. Just watch the A/F ratio. It will work. I would have to agree, FI is easier to run with on a turbo setup, but it is time consuming, and way to damn expensive.

 

what about the turbo off of a 80-81 turbo t/a, could I just piece it together on my own car?

 

If you were wanting to use the manifolds and such off of the Turbo TA it wouldn't work unless you're using a Pontiac engine. I don't think the turbo itself would be the proper size for your engine. If you really want to put together a turbo setup for cheap check out the link I posted earlier for Mike Sitars web page. He built a twin turbo 351 that runs tens for very cheap. For my turbo project I'm doing something very similar to what he has done, using two T3's from manual trannsmission turbocoupes, which you can pick up for <$100. HTH's.

 

run far away from the Pontiac turbo 301!

 

wow, I can so do that, except for the part with the extra injector and fuel pump mod. but just putting on the turbos and plumbing it I could do. by the way what controls how much boost you run, what if I just wanted like 4-6lbs whould I still need the extra injector or could I just adjust the carb, and do they sell the bonnets for q-jets

 

The fuel pump mod I'm not so sure about, go to yahoo and do a search for the junkyard turbo board. A lot of guys hang out there, and there's lots of info. I believe that they actually scrapped the extra injector and bought the right carb when the engine was swapped into the capri, so as long as you have the proper carb don't worry about an extra injector. I'm not sure about blowing through a quadrajet, it would probably need some stuff done to it or you could just pick up a holley. I think the bonnet they use would work on a quadrajet too. HTH's.