71 Valiant SL6 turbo questions

308ServiceConsultant said
Hi everyone, I was gifted a cool little car from a good friend who no longer wanted it. It's a 71 valiant with a 3.7 slant six, 99k original miles on it, no major leaks or issues, besides the interior... it's a wreck...
She gets pretty good gas mileage as it is, but I think it's capable of doing a little better with some hard work and ingenuity.. As much as I'd love to throw a low budget 360 v8 in it with some screamin street gears, I'v got my mind focused a little more on a comfortable economy daily driver!
I've been doing some reading on a turbo set up.
I've already taken a look at Mike Hollers articles on an economy turbo set up on a slant six @ http://www.allpar.com/fix/holler/turbosix.html but it's a little hard for me to understand being that I've never gotten my hands dirty with working on a turbo engine... In one of Mike Holler's articles he said that he matched up a turbo for the low revving slant six engine to be out of an 80's model 2.2/2.5L Chrysler.. So that's where I started my search to find a turbo first of all.. well I found one! in the very town I work, sitting on the self of a salvage yard indoors unexposed to the elements, what condition it's in I don't know (I haven't seen it in person) but the guy told me it's out of an 89 Chrysler new Yorker 2.2 and he'd let it go for 75$
I pulled up a picture from Alldata of the turbo set up on that new Yorker and found out that the turbo is a garrett t3 and it's water cooled, any one know if or how this can be confirmed? also the picture on alldata looked rather complicated as far as how it was set up for cooling? this is where I need help/ advise, would I be in over my head to tackle this on my own? I mean.. I'm no "Mike Holler" after all... I'm looking for ANY help/advise that I can get!... Thank in advance!

I am far from an expert at anything "turbo," having very little real-world, hands-on experience in the meager 4-years I have been trying (like yourself) to learn what I can about them, but a few things stand out.

It seems like it's not a very good idea to swap a mismatched turbocharger, in terms of size, from a small-displacement engine to a larger one, if that difference is dramatic. The most successful "junkyard" swaps i have noticed, have been units like the OEM (original equipment manufacturer) turbos off 3.8-liter, V-6, Buick Grand National motors, which differ only a few cubic inches (six?) from our 225 motors. A turbo from a 2.2-liter engine will be "running out of breath" by the time your 225 gets to 4,000 rpm.

That may not sound too bad in view of your original contention that high-performance is not your goal, but in actual practice, I would bet that within a short time, you'd be trying to figure out a way to remedy this "strangulated" situation.

My advice, would be to try to trade that small turbo for one more compatible with the flow demands of a 225 motor. You'll be a lot happier in the long run, I believe.

Turbocharging is not a simple nor easy path to take, in any case, but because of a lot of contributory factors having to do with engine design, forced inductrion and the slant six seems to be an excellent choice!

I really hope you don't become discouraged with this project, because, even though it comes a considerable cost in terms of time and effort. the payoffs are well worth the expenditure, I believe!

Boost is addictive!! :cheers:

Good luck!!!