All great suggestions guys. It was especially interesting to hear some suggestions on more modern cars that they could get into cheap. I never new that the little Shelby z's and Omni Turbo cars had forged parts in them! That was a total surprise... So I guess I will see what I can get my hands on in a newer sporty package for cheap. I will would like to go 4 banger and maybe put a new paint job on it. I want them to have something cool to drive to their senior year.
i should have clarified that
the chrysler turbo 4 bangers only have the forged internals, and full floating connecting rods if they are a turbo ll or ll or lV intercooled 5 speed car, the turbo l automatic non intercooled cars use cast internals, and pressed piston wrist pins. the cast cranks if balanced, and cleaned up are good for 300 HP, and have robust sized journals on par with the slant 6.
there are a few things about these engines you need to know tho.
1. you time them thru the tranny bell housing with a timing light, and a 1/2" wrench, with engine fully warmed up, you disconnect 2 wire plug next to thermostat, electric fan kicks on, check engine lights. computer is now in "block learn" make timing adjustment, lock distributer back down, reconnect plug fan goes off, check engine lght goes out done.
2. dont overheat one, it will warp the head and pop the headgasket.
3. the vaccuum house routing diagram under the hood is NOT a suggestion. you need to plumb the vaccuum hoses as shown, or you get NO boost and the car is a total ball less dog
4.the head bolts are torque to yield. since the heads are aluminum after full torque is reached you turn headbolts 1/4 turn tighter in pattern to stretch the bolts. they are one time use then they are trash. i use ARP head bolts these dont use the 1/4 turn stretch and can be reused. sneak up on the final torque. set the wrench low, and torque in pattern, then go up on torque 20 pounds and torque in pattern again keep doing this till you reach rated torque, then do your additional 1/4 turn with a breaker bar if using the stretch bolts.
5. turbo ll blocks and heads are crossdrilled with steam holes. you can use a non turbo ll head with a turbo ll block and vice versa, but will need the MP 005 headgasket without the steam holes.
6. the top of the thermostat housing on the head is called the waterbox. it has a hex key plug in it facing up. i replace these with a brass adaptor with a drain petcock. you leave this open when filling the radiatorto remove air from the system. when antifreeze comes out you close it up. its an air bleed. dont force it to come out.steel plug, aluminum head. i used mapp gas and a bernsomatic torch and hit it with WD40 while hot to loosen it up so i dont jack up the threads
7. you want the tires to slip under hard accelleration since the transaxles are not like an A833. if you get good traction out of the hole with a hot rodded 2.2 turbo these go BOOM. a stock turbo car these are just fine. the new process A555 is the one to have it has heavy duty gears, and a heat treated case for durability and crack resistance. use synthetic 5W30 motor oil in the transaxle so it shifts smoother. this was a mopar TSB back in the early 90s
8. a new standard volume oil pump is sufficient in these cars. high pump pressure will result in over pressurizing the turbocharger bearing housing, and it becomes a bug killer smoking blue smoke out the tailpipe.
.9 uncork the exhaust. with a turbo the bigger the better in diameter.
the shelby dodge forums will give you much more info, and you can check out
www.FWDperformance.com for parts if they are still in business.
i have a killer turbo ll i built up, a few years ago, but lost interest in it its never been run. i pickled ity with marine engine storage oil, and plugged off all the holes. it sits bolted on a homemade storage cradle.
it has a torqueplate bored and honed bottom end, steel o ringed block, fully forged blueprinted and balanced bottom end with forged dished JE pistons, the head is fully ported and port matched to the intake and exhaust. a 2.5" swingvalve dump (integral wastegate) a 58MM holley throttle body off a 3.8L chrysler imperial port matched to the turbo ll intake, a buick grand national rising rate of gain fuel pressure regulator, siemens deka +20 injectors, a dodge dakota 2.5 pickup roller camshaft. its probably going to be good for 350HP at 25 pounds of boost. dont seem like much power but its only an 8 valve single cam 4 banger.
