Project D-$150

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Houseoffubar

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Joined
Jun 17, 2020
Messages
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Location
Puyallup Washington
No, my D-150 pickup is not an A body. It is a Mopar though! Out of respect, I will try to keep this to motor and drivetrain, and not clutter up the A-body thread with pickup trucks.
This thread is named for the model truck and the price I paid for it.
The theme of this build is going fast for extreme low cost.
I am not a total of:
$150-truck
$70-battery
$32-manual
$100 wheels and tires
$175-turbo
$50- suspension parts

The day I bought this truck (88 D-150) I went with a (reconditioned $72) battery and this 318 that had not been started in 5 years, popped to life and after blowing out 1 injector, and putting the wires on the right plugs, drove us home, and has run like a top since.
A fairly low mile vehicle, it all, especially the motor, looked and ran well.

the goal here is to turbocharge this stock 318, get some decent daily driver power, then build a new “turbo motor” to drop into the truck.
This 318 will then get touched up and be installed into our ‘67 A-100 van.
The goal is about 400whp with the current motor, then around 600 for the actual “turbo motor”.

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I grabbed some decent alloy wheels and a pair of 295/50-15 Cooper Cobra tires.
Ordered the turbo and mounted a steering wheel, with my homemade adapter.

C64F92A6-6173-495D-A0CE-E43FB100D188.jpeg


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Truck or not, I'm always interested in a turbo project. You say "injector", is it TBI? I'm curious what you intend to do for spark retard & fuel enrichment under boost.
 
No, my D-150 pickup is not an A body. It is a Mopar though! Out of respect, I will try to keep this to motor and drivetrain, and not clutter up the A-body thread with pickup trucks.
This thread is named for the model truck and the price I paid for it.
The theme of this build is going fast for extreme low cost.
I am not a total of:
$150-truck
$70-battery
$32-manual
$100 wheels and tires
$175-turbo
$50- suspension parts

The day I bought this truck (88 D-150) I went with a (reconditioned $72) battery and this 318 that had not been started in 5 years, popped to life and after blowing out 1 injector, and putting the wires on the right plugs, drove us home, and has run like a top since.
A fairly low mile vehicle, it all, especially the motor, looked and ran well.

the goal here is to turbocharge this stock 318, get some decent daily driver power, then build a new “turbo motor” to drop into the truck.
This 318 will then get touched up and be installed into our ‘67 A-100 van.
The goal is about 400whp with the current motor, then around 600 for the actual “turbo motor”.

View attachment 1715553192

View attachment 1715553193
No, my D-150 pickup is not an A body. It is a Mopar though! Out of respect, I will try to keep this to motor and drivetrain, and not clutter up the A-body thread with pickup trucks.
This thread is named for the model truck and the price I paid for it.
The theme of this build is going fast for extreme low cost.
I am not a total of:
$150-truck
$70-battery
$32-manual
$100 wheels and tires
$175-turbo
$50- suspension parts

The day I bought this truck (88 D-150) I went with a (reconditioned $72) battery and this 318 that had not been started in 5 years, popped to life and after blowing out 1 injector, and putting the wires on the right plugs, drove us home, and has run like a top since.
A fairly low mile vehicle, it all, especially the motor, looked and ran well.

the goal here is to turbocharge this stock 318, get some decent daily driver power, then build a new “turbo motor” to drop into the truck.
This 318 will then get touched up and be installed into our ‘67 A-100 van.
The goal is about 400whp with the current motor, then around 600 for the actual “turbo motor”.

View attachment 1715553192

View attachment 1715553193
Truck or not, I'm always interested in a turbo project. You say "injector", is it TBI? I'm curious what you intend to do for spark retard & fuel enrichment under boost.
Yes, 88 was the first TBI. It was also one year only and quite small, so zero performance potential. I will do a blow through carburetor, at least initially.
I intend for a digital wategate controller and perhaps an MSD that will allow ignition retard with boost, I will need to do more research on these two items before I settle on one however.
 
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No, my D-150 pickup is not an A body. It is a Mopar though! Out of respect, I will try to keep this to motor and drivetrain, and not clutter up the A-body thread with pickup trucks.
This thread is named for the model truck and the price I paid for it.
The theme of this build is going fast for extreme low cost.
I am not a total of:
$150-truck
$70-battery
$32-manual
$100 wheels and tires
$175-turbo
$50- suspension parts

The day I bought this truck (88 D-150) I went with a (reconditioned $72) battery and this 318 that had not been started in 5 years, popped to life and after blowing out 1 injector, and putting the wires on the right plugs, drove us home, and has run like a top since.
A fairly low mile vehicle, it all, especially the motor, looked and ran well.

the goal here is to turbocharge this stock 318, get some decent daily driver power, then build a new “turbo motor” to drop into the truck.
This 318 will then get touched up and be installed into our ‘67 A-100 van.
The goal is about 400whp with the current motor, then around 600 for the actual “turbo motor”.

View attachment 1715553192

View attachment 1715553193

I grabbed some decent alloy wheels and a pair of 295/50-15 Cooper Cobra tires.
Ordered the turbo and mounted a steering wheel, with my homemade adapter.

View attachment 1715553196

View attachment 1715553197

View attachment 1715553198
Awesome! Doing the same thing myself with a '80 Dodge (my avatar). We almost went turbo 318 but decided to go 440 instead. And there are a lot of threads that aren't A-bodies, including my truck so no problem there. :)
 
Awesome! Doing the same thing myself with a '80 Dodge (my avatar). We almost went turbo 318 but decided to go 440 instead. And there are a lot of threads that aren't A-bodies, including my truck so no problem there. :)
Nice truck!
Looking for info online, I kept finding the answers here, and everyone has been very knowledgeable and friendly. I’m glad everyone has been so welcoming!
Yeah, 440 is hard to beat! I had thought about a big block swap, but with our old ‘67 A-100 van having a 318 as well, I like the idea of sharing and passing down parts.
 
So, I have been collecting parts and finalizing the plan.
One major change is for now this truck will stay a daily and keep my expectations realistic (400-450hp) as I will be using this truck to pull my dragracer!
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10DED80D-C71F-417A-AD74-5789AEBDDE92.jpeg
ABCD3F34-235B-47C6-A856-F3BA1AC4A85E.jpeg
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I picked up a little 65 Datsun that I am putting my 600hp Turbo 5.0 into.
Just based on power to weight, it should do mid 8’s. I will be pretty content with anywhere in the 9’s, this tiny thing should come in just under 2,000lbs, so it should be a handfull

Anyhow, back to Mopars!

I believe there are simply times money must be spent for quality, but the older I get, the less I like to waste money for bling or anything unnecessary to accomplish the goal.
As I am learning I have found several ways to save big on this build and still get what I need to go “fast” and keep the motor healthy.
The first is: no intercooler! Never thought I would say that, but as I am learning, low boost (or lots of fuel) through a carburetor cools the incoming charge as much as an intercooler, and sometimes even more.
I also found some ignition cheats I will try to save several hundred $.
I need a distributor and planned a fancy setup/MSD w/ boost retard, but read about running an HEI module wired to a stock Mopar distributor from an 80’s GM car. These (5 pin) HEI’s have a 5 degree retard simply by grounding the 5th pin using a Hobbs pressure switch.
The new OEM HEI unit was $10 and an adjustable Hobbs Switch $25
Watching Roadkill’s $3 Hooptie challenge, I added my parts in my head and realized I think I can have a 12 second truck for $1,000!!!
Well, not quite, I added on paper (always gets more expensive when I do) and I am at $1,040 and still need rear slicks and a posi.
So my goal is to turn a 12 second pass in my daily driver for under $1,500, cost of truck included.
I may have to drop a welded rear end in to make this happen, but we will see.
Thanks for watching. I will start the fab work very soon
 
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