let me explain my screen name, and introduce myself.
Hey, I'm Tom. longtime musclecar enthusiast and proud owner of a 1968 Barracuda fastback.
"meanwhile, I have questions. MANY of them....ha ha
"
"One such question might be, "Which engine to use?""
My choice would be a slant six, an early one with the forged steel crank (up through about 1974.
Why a slant 6?
Because it's a too-well-kept secret that a turbocharged slant 6 can, for the money, easily outperform most normally-aspirated small blocks. Forced induction small blocks and all big blocks are in a different ballpark, however (and, require a different bankroll.)
But, for the MONEY SPENT, the slant six with a single turbo can be a 500+ horsepower engine with lots of advantages.
For example, no expensive Dana 9.75" rear end (nor even an 8.75") is required, or even desirable; a 2.76:1, 8.25" (available cheap, at virtually any junkyard) will work great with that engine, and will exhibit excellent road manners and give you a workable hiway gear, as well.
Only six pistons and rods (not 8, have to be bought, and although headers CAN be built aand used, they are not necessary. A simple, 90-degree elbow can be attached to the stock exhaust manifold, and the turbo bolted to that.
The turbo homoginizes the sound waves and makes the engine quiet enough that no muffler is needed...
The turbo /6 makes its power below 5,500 rpm, so stock rockers and shimmed 340 valve springs are plenty to prevent valve float. Normally-aspirated small block V8's need a lot more rpm than that to make good power, which necessitates an expensive valve train.
Because it lives below 5,500 rpm, the /6 lasts a l-o-n-g time...
A variety of 4-bbl manifolds are available, both new and used, for the /6. A blow-thru 4bbl Holley 4150 is usually the carb of choice.
The stock compression ratio of around 9:1 works well for turbocharging this motor. Pump gas works unto you up the boost to over 10 pounds, or so...
One of our members here (Shaker223) bolted a Buick Grand National turbocharger from a junkyard, onto his mostly stock (stock cam, compression, pistons, etc.) 1970 Dart Swinger and it went 12.95 @ 102mph....
Now, with more mods, it runs 122mph at 11-seconds flat (3,300 pounds.)
A lighter car ('66 Valiant) is Ryan Peterson's with basically the same engine specs (both these cars have rear axle ratios in the 2's) has run 127 mph in the mid tens-second range in the quarter.
The point is, they were built a LOT cheaper than a normally-aspirated V8 with equal performance, in my opinion.
Just some food for thought.... :happy1: a different way....