Turbo six on a Budget

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Slant Six Bumblebee

Slant Six Bumblebee

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Joined
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Messages
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Location
vancouver wa
I have a 72 dart swinger with a 225 auto in it. I am desiring more hp and decide to turbo the slant. I am only 15 so i dont have a huge pile of cash and am trying to do this build on a budget of 1500. My end goal was ~350 hp at the crank in a engine that can be a daily drive.
My plan was to run a
1: original bottom end with just a rebuild and larger gaped rings
2: original valve train
3: light clean up on the head (no major porting just cleaning up the casting slag)
4: stock exhaust manifold with a turbo flange mounted to it
5: 4bbl intake and carb with hanger 18 mods
6; The turbo kit T3/T4 turbo kit rinning 10~15lbs of boost.
My main question is this a viable way to get 350 hp reliably with out blowing up my engine.
 
Slant Six Bumblebee said:
I have a 72 dart swinger with a 225 auto in it. I am desiring more hp and decide to turbo the slant. I am only 15 so i dont have a huge pile of cash and am trying to do this build on a budget of 1500. My end goal was ~350 hp at the crank in a engine that can be a daily drive.
My plan was to run a
1: original bottom end with just a rebuild and larger gaped rings
2: original valve train
3: light clean up on the head (no major porting just cleaning up the casting slag)
4: stock exhaust manifold with a turbo flange mounted to it
5: 4bbl intake and carb with hanger 18 mods
6; The turbo kit T3/T4 turbo kit rinning 10~15lbs of boost.
My main question is this a viable way to get 350 hp reliably with out blowing up my engine.
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FABO is a good forum for A body info, but www.slantsix.org is the center of the slant six universe. Poke around over there and you will pick up a lot of info. There are several turbo slant six build threads. Over at .org contact a guy that goes by Dart270 he street drives and drag races a turbo slant successfully.
 
id add a set of forged pistons, stock can handle up to 7 to 10 lbs of boost for a while thay say! then thay say you can go forged after you melt the stocks cast ones! nice kit seems to have it all! youll get tired of playing with the carb so be looking at mpfi to add later on when you can afford it! slantsix.org has tons of info for you to drool over!
 
The trick is, if using cast pistons, is to limit the boost, of course, but don't mess around with trying to lean it out trying to get all the power out of it you possibly can.
 
dirty white boy said:
id add a set of forged pistons, stock can handle up to 7 to 10 lbs of boost for a while thay say! then thay say you can go forged after you melt the stocks cast ones! nice kit seems to have it all! youll get tired of playing with the carb so be looking at mpfi to add later on when you can afford it! slantsix.org has tons of info for you to drool over!
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forged pistons are just so expensive along with the machine shop fee, (if im going to get new pistons might as well have the cylinders bored)
 
RustyRatRod said:
The trick is, if using cast pistons, is to limit the boost, of course, but don't mess around with trying to lean it out trying to get all the power out of it you possibly can.
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i was also planing to get a A/F gauge for tuning. So the limit with boost is the pistons? how much Hp is reliable on the stock pistons. i am not set on the number 350 i am just waning more that the mustang down the street:lol:.
 
Slant Six Bumblebee said:
i was also planing to get a A/F gauge for tuning. So the limit with boost is the pistons? how much Hp is reliable on the stock pistons. i am not set on the number 350 i am just waning more that the mustang down the street:lol:.
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Why not just save up for the Weisco pistons and K1 rods? That way you can blow it out and not worry about it.
 
dirty white boy said:
pay once, cry once,...do it right once or do it over, witch is cheaper in the long run???
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i relisie this but me being 15 i am impatient and saving up the extra cash for the forged pistons and macine shop will take allmost a year with my cash flow. I am ok with turning down the boost and making less power too. My main goal is to make more power safely.
 
Slant Six Bumblebee said:
forged pistons are just so expensive along with the machine shop fee, (if im going to get new pistons might as well have the cylinders bored)
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Speed costs money. How fast do you wanna go?

I heated up a stock short block with a heavily milled head, big cam, 4 barrel and opend up exhaust manifold. Even on the next engine, with the ported head and big valves, I'm staying cast.....hyper, but cast. Were I to go turbo, there's no way I'd run a cast piston knowing what I know about slant sixes now.
 
Slant Six Bumblebee said:
i relisie this but me being 15 i am impatient and saving up the extra cash for the forged pistons and macine shop will take allmost a year with my cash flow. I am ok with turning down the boost and making less power too. My main goal is to make more power safely.
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good round cylinder walls are a must for any hp build n/a,blown, or turboed! if its all blowing past the pistons its not gonna give desired results! basic hotrodding 101, it all starts with a properly prepared cylinder block even if using cast slugs! ant no sort cut around it!!
 
dirty white boy said:
good round cylinder walls are a must for any hp build n/a,blown, or turboed! if its all blowing past the pistons its not gonna give desired results! basic hotrodding 101, it all starts with a properly prepared cylinder block even if using cast slugs! ant no sort cut around it!!
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In my gut i knew this i was just hoping to get around the machine shop cost. Look over all your comments i am realizing that is going to be more that expected what is a rough estimate (I can google prices all day but there are hidden costs and with everyone here being more experienced than me you will have a better idea at a rough price)
 
Slant Six Bumblebee said:
dont those pistons rase the comp to 10.25-1 too high for a turbo motor? or am i looking at the wrong sheet/
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They made a low compression at one time. Although they don't offer it off the shelf, they will make them to order.
 
Slant Six Bumblebee said:
In my gut i knew this i was just hoping to get around the machine shop cost. Look over all your comments i am realizing that is going to be more that expected what is a rough estimate (I can google prices all day but there are hidden costs and with everyone here being more experienced than me you will have a better idea at a rough price)
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hard to say im in a totally different area than you! we got machine shops all over the place, im way out in country and got a machine shop with chassis ans engine dynos a mile up the street and 3 more within 20 miles! find a shop thats willing to listen to you and willing to explain to you to!! itll take a lil longer but the end results will be worth it with durability and longevity! thats alot better than building,..then rebuilding over and over! look in turbo build section on slantsix.org and study while ya saving money up! get your plain together and follow it, youll be miles of smiles ahead in the end!
 
You can certainly do this with stock cast pistons. Many people have. But you know you're gonna want more and more. The cast pistons have their limits.
 
RustyRatRod said:
You can certainly do this with stock cast pistons. Many people have. But you know you're gonna want more and more. The cast pistons have their limits.
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yes and i want to do it right. Looking over this i kinda see two paths keep the stock internals and get the turbo but keep the boost down or build the engine without the turbo then save for the turbo and add it latter. If i run the turbo stock and risk breaking a piston would the block most likely be done?
 
Slant Six Bumblebee said:
yes and i want to do it right. Looking over this i kinda see two paths keep the stock internals and get the turbo but keep the boost down or build the engine without the turbo then save for the turbo and add it latter. If i run the turbo stock and risk breaking a piston would the block most likely be done?
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They're pretty tough, but you never know. United engine sells the 1291H hyper pistons for the 2.2 that works with the 198 rod. Those are what I have on my 198 rods for my next build. I have a set of the 1293H pistons that are new I am not going to use, but they are flat tops with a single trough valve relief and would require a thicker head gasket to get compression down to be turbo friendly, but they could be made to work. The piston material isn't the most critical thing, the ring gaps are. As long as you run the correct ring gaps, you'll probably be ok.
 
RustyRatRod said:
They're pretty tough, but you never know. United engine sells the 1291H hyper pistons for the 2.2 that works with the 198 rod. Those are what I have on my 198 rods for my next build. I have a set of the 1293H pistons that are new I am not going to use, but they are flat tops with a single trough valve relief and would require a thicker head gasket to get compression down to be turbo friendly, but they could be made to work. The piston material isn't the most critical thing, the ring gaps are. As long as you run the correct ring gaps, you'll probably be ok.
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What do you think would be the better option. How well would a turbo engine run without a turbo? If I don’t upgrade the pistons then I will have blow by because I would have the stock cylinder walls. I don’t see a good option here but to save for the whole build all at once.
 
Slant Six Bumblebee said:
What do you think would be the better option. How well would a turbo engine run without a turbo? If I don’t upgrade the pistons then I will have blow by because I would have the stock cylinder walls. I don’t see a good option here but to save for the whole build all at once.
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At high boost levels with a slant you will run into head gasket sealing issues long before you run into piston issues when using stock pistons in a properly sized bore. That assumes that the AF mix and the timing is correct. With the fuel mix or timing out of wack even forged pistons will get hurt.
At medium to low boost levels stock head gaskets will hold up. Some slant folks have got ARP to do special runs of slant head bolts with higher tensile strength to increase the cylinder head clamp load. There is another guy at .org that got a run of multi layer slant head gaskets produced to help with the head gasket issue.
Basically the head gasket is the fuse, you will blow a head gasket long before you loose stock pistons.
And a turbo motor without a turbo will be run like a basic low compression engine with a smallish to medium sized cam.
 
my68barracuda said:
At high boost levels with a slant you will run into head gasket sealing issues long before you run into piston issues
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What kind of boost numbers do you imagine are "safe" for a stocker/ stock gasket?
 
my68barracuda said:
At high boost levels with a slant you will run into head gasket sealing issues long before you run into piston issues when using stock pistons in a properly sized bore. That assumes that the AF mix and the timing is correct. With the fuel mix or timing out of wack even forged pistons will get hurt.
At medium to low boost levels stock head gaskets will hold up. Some slant folks have got ARP to do special runs of slant head bolts with higher tensile strength to increase the cylinder head clamp load. There is another guy at .org that got a run of multi layer slant head gaskets produced to help with the head gasket issue.
Basically the head gasket is the fuse, you will blow a head gasket long before you loose stock pistons.
And a turbo motor without a turbo will be run like a basic low compression engine with a smallish to medium sized cam.
Click to expand...
I assume I should still bore the cylinders and get oversized pistons
 
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