225 turbo headers
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I'm gonna try a Pishta "inspired" set up. I will let everyone know when I have failed miserably
I don't think you'll be sorry!
In order to have a slant six powered street car that will get out of its own way, about 250-300 HP is needed.
You're not going to get that kind of power with a normally-aspirated 170 or 198, unless you build a full-race motor with all the driveability issues that go with a motor like that; wild cam, really high compression, a really efficient intake system and some very efficient headers. Even then, the 170 would not be much fun to drive on the street.
That leaves the 225.
The 225 stretches the breathing ability of that 170 head to the breaking point and beyond. There's just no room for the kind of valves that are needed to make a "breather" out of the 39 cubic inches per cylinder that the 225 has.
So, people try anyway, spending money on headers, cams, 4bbl intake manifolding, headers, and high-compression pistons in an effort to get some reasonable grunt out of a normallly-aspirated 225 motor.
Guzzi Mark runs fast with a N/A 225 in an A-Body, but he has a strong, full-race engine in a super-light, "generation one" A-Body (about 2,350 pounds, I think) and if you bear in mind that a typical street-driven '70 Dart will probably weigh 1,000-pounds more than his race car, you begin to see the problem.
Tom Wolfe's '70 Dart made 300 HP out of what was basically, a stock 225, that had had a Buick turbo and a 4bbl carb, and nothing more.
He needed 20 pounds of boost to do it, but it shows what is possible with a hairdryer motor and not much else.
That "stock" motor probably wouldn't live very long at 20 pound boost levels, but at 15 pounds, with an alcohol injection system, a 200 horsepower mill that COULD "live" indefinitely, is a real possibility.
I am thinking that the PISHTA-mount turbo and a Snowperformance Boost Cooler might give a reliable 200 horsepower with good street manners and fuel economy, in an A-Body weighing about 3,300-pounds.
That would give you a /6 car that could run toe-to-toe with a '68 383 Road Runner (14.80s.)
Hard to beat that "bang for the buck" with an engine that doesn't even require the head be removed!
I will be anxiously awating some reports of performance increases from cars using the PISHTA turbo system. I think they will be performance bargains, as bang-for-the-buck mods go.
