Minimalist Slant Six draw-through build...

DON BURKHOLDER said
Here is something to ponder. There was no real drivability issues. Early Buicks and Pontiacs were draw through setups before EFI... I agree, stay away from the reed setup. Keep it simple and you'll have plenty of fun under 8 to 10 psi boost!
In the late 80's I built a six with forged TRW 8 to 1 pistons, ported head myself and installed 1.46" exhaust and 1.78 intake valves from Ford, .020 head gasket, ARP head and main studs, Crane "turbo" truck cam. I rebuilt a turbo used for an 81' Pontiac 301 draw through set up with a 600 Holley. Used a "J" pipe from the exhaust manifold up to the turbo. This very crude, low dollar, pile of parts withstood a high of 32 lbs of exhaust pressure to make 18 lbs of boost on 115 race gas. I added a fuel tank for the race gas and a three way ball valve to switch back to the stock fuel tank to drive to and from Maple Grove, Beaver Springs and Numidia Dragway. It usually ran low 13.0's at 104mph with 3.23 posi and sorely needed converter and trans brake but was too much money for the time. I had a lot of fun with my ugly green four door Valiant which as anyone can see was very inefficient by the exhaust pressure / boost ratio.

So that's the sticking point, the reed valves are really only a consideration due to the length of the hyper pack intake runners and to prevent vacuum lock upon throttle close as the above replies mentioned. I know they aren't exactly necessary, but I'm also pretty sure it wouldn't hurt. Since this intake is water-heated, just gotta make sure there's no water jacket in the split plane. Doesn't look like it.

The turbo that came with my kit is a Garrett, looks like a TO4 and does not have an internal wastegate. Since the manifold has a port on pressure side for blow off, I get to run a remote BOV and though I'd doubt that I could get to 10 pounds pressure I plan on running a 7 or 8 pound BOV with a redirect pipe and a catch can (due to AF mixture blowoff).

I have no intention of racing, but yeah it's a known working system and I think the safeguard of running a wide band O2 gauge will help me get this thing running proper. It's gonna be a budget build for sure but the rebuild kit is the wor$t part!