Project Black Betty
So I named my car Betty and since she is gonna be black in the future...the theme song for my car Black Betty-by Spiderbait... lol anyway I started painting and fixing things in the engine bay. The plan is to turbo charge it in the future.
I think that you've made a wise choice. Slant sixes are GREAT engines... and because of the way the engine is designed, they seem to be excellent choices for forced induction (turbo- or super-charging.)
They are exceptionally strong engines; it takes a LOT to injure one because of their big bearings, their short, stout 4-main bearing crank and the fact that the block was originallly designed to be aluminum, so all the load-bearing cast pieces (main bearing webs, cylinder-head mating surfaces, and cylinder walls) are thick and strong. The cylinder head was designed to feed 170 cubic inches, which it will do really, really well. When Ma Mopar put a 1-inch-longer stroke crank in it to create the 225 motor, there was nothing done to the cylinder head to upgrade the breathing capabilities. What had been a free-breathing, high-winding (but, small) 170 slant six became an engine that didn't exhibit the same kind of competitive personality the little 170 had. It was still a strong runner, but the operating range that it had been most efficient in, had been moved down the rpm scale, considerably...
It is possible to end up with a 225 normally-aspirated motor that can generate enough power to pull a 3,000-pound A body Dart or Valiant around with a certain amount spunk, but getting it to run down into the thrteens is an uphill pull, unless you have a lot of money to spend, and/or don't mind taking a lot of weight out of the car.
Turbocharging isn't cheap by any means; to do it right, if you want to generate much boost, you need forged pistons and rods, (around $1200.00 for those two items) a turbo of course, and several other items that will allow your engine to live longer...
But, compared with buying a 360 VB, another transmission, an 8.75" rear end, and all the other stuff you have to equip your new V8-powered car with, I think it might be somewhat cheaper to bolt a turbo onto your slant 6.
The saying is, "Speed costs money; how fast do you want to go?"
If you could let us know what kind of car you want to end up with and/or how fast you want to go, it might be possible to provide some answers to just how much a turbo slant six car that will do what you want it to, will cost.
One guy on here, (FABO) put a Buick GN turbo on his otherwise stock slant 6 with a different carb, and ran 12.95-seconds in the quarter. Another FABO user has a '66 Valiant slant six turbo that goes 127 mph in the quarter.
There's a whole variety of ways to go with this, but it's all about money, of course.
My contention is this: Unless you want an all-out race car that will run nines, you can build it cheaper by turbocharging your slant 6, if that is the motor you already have.
Talk to us.... :cheers:
