Performance Questions 225 vs. 360
OK...maybe he could buy a decent 360 for a few hundred bucks. Then all he would need is a tranny, tranny linkage, tranny crossmember, driveshaft, steering linkage, exhaust, motor mounts, and wiring. That's just to make it driveable. To make it safe and roadworthy would need V8 torsion bars, possible radiator upgrade, and a possible brake upgrade. This is starting to be quite a shopping list.
Also, getting all this done in an afternoon would be AMAZING!
Of course there is going to be things on the periphery that need to be taken care of. But tranny cross member? Never heard of any difference in cross members between a slant and V8.
To my knowledge, all pass. car 904s are the same external dimensions so he doesn't need a drive shaft. The bells are indeed different so yes, he'd need a tranny and linkage. There were two 904s on CL last time I checked, both under a $100. Throttle/kickdown linkage can be sourced from the aftermarket relatively cheaply enough.
See here for an example. If I'm not mistaken, there is a lot of interchange in linkage parts, basically anything with a small block/904 can be made to work. I have a box of linkage parts in my garage from various things, I'm sure he could find it all here as well without issue.
Does he absolutely
need v8 torsion bars? Not really, lots of guys drive around with 6 cylinder bars and small blocks. Probably not the best set up for road racing but that's a whole other scenario that's not being discussed here. In fact, the Slant 6 w. A/C bars are
basically the same as a 318 without a/c.
Only difference in steering linkage might be the center link but AFAIK the only ones that are different are the early As. Not 100% sure on that but 99.9 is close enough.
Does he need a brake upgrade? No. I drive my 340 Duster with front drums. Do they stop like 13" Brembos? No, but the the car stops sufficiently.
Radiator upgrade is a toss up. I mean, would you run the stocker Slant rad with a turbo? What if he has a regular 22" a body rad with a shroud? A 360 will be fine with that.
Not trying to argue minutiae here but a swap to a small block can be done using factory/OE parts
relatively easily. That means you should be able to come up with said parts
relatively easily, like junkyards, parts stores, web forums etc. As opposed to a turbo Slant where you're
making it up as you go.
And just for the sake of argument, people yank out Slants for small blocks
all the time and have been doing so
for years. Anybody with a modicum of mechanical know how and basic tools should be able do that job. Guys on here would be tripping over their keyboards to help out with tips, etc.
Putting a turbo on a Slant is not something that Chrysler ever did. Should they have? Probably. That being said, you'd really be on your own. Probably not the best way to go about your first major car project.
I understand the idea that doing it on the cheap would mean keeping all the 'peripherals' to a minimum but how do you know all the stuff under the car is good? My own car runs hard but I look under it sometimes and wonder how well the original 40 y.o. parts are holding up. Not real interested in finding out the hard way so I'm planning to replace all the obviously worn stuff soon. I would factor all that into any build no matter what engine is going in.
Plus, it's somewhat common knowledge that when you start putting any sort of power to Slant specific stuff, there's always the increased possibility of breakage because of the nature of those essentially weaker/lighter duty parts. Wouldn't that be the same as putting more power to the existing Slant? Just sayin'.
