Dave, that PSD turbo is exactly what I used on my old Maverick. It's actually a Garrett...model TP-38. It does not have a wastegate. I have a compressor map around here somewhere for that particular turbo, but I cant find it as of right now...it's peak efficiency is somewhere around 68%, IIRC. Not bad...but not good (for a turbocharger). It is a good match for a 302. Full boost on mine by 2500, and 15 psi is tops without an intercooler and even then it had better have good gas in it. With that particular turbo, it'll be done by 5000 RPM, maybe a little more, maybe a little less...but mine hit a wall at 5000. It simply won't flow enough air to support any more...at least not efficiently. But, it was a FUN ride. 450+ HP easy and probably that much if not more torque. I got mine free...guy I know did a rebuild on a T444E a long time ago and bought a reman turbo...and never sent the old core in, so I ended up with it. The TP38 also makes a very noticeable whistle from the compressor. Music to my ears! Biggest problem with them...no wastegate, which means you'll have to buy/install an external WG. Not a big problem because most of the ext. WG's flow a LOT better than an internal WG can...which means you can extend your RPM capability a little bit more, probably 500 RPM or so. also, they are usually mounted to a pedestal which bolts to the block on the T444E....if you can get the pedestal, get it. It makes life easier when rigging up the oil pressure & drain lines...you'll be cutting it up anyway, so don't worry if one of the ears is broken off (common problem with them). All you need is the small square part that goes on the center section of the turbo. The Holsets are easier...the pressure port is in the top, drain at the bottom, JUST like a T3 or T04. Also the TP38 is neat because a 3 bolt 3" collector flange will work on the turbine discharge and the turbine inlet is the standard T04 style. V band would be nice, but not necessary unless you want to be doing turbo R&R a lot. EDIT: Great site and sticky about blow-through. http://www.turbomustangs.com/smf/
There was also a fairmont in car craft last year with a single turbo on it that ran stock bottom end stuff with a 9-second time slip.
Yeah, I've been checking out Fordsix.com while researching the turbo thing. The owner of that Falcon is a member there. His wife races that car, since that write up he's rebuilt the bottom end with forged stuff so he can add more boost !! He's run up to 17 boost on the stock bottom end. If I remember correctly her best run was 11.85 @ 123mph 1/4 ! He said it's close to 350rwhp ! Not a bad set-up for an I-6, not to mention the wow factor when they pop the hood.
definetly impresive! The few local guys i have talked to say the turbo is amazingly gentle on stock parts.
I prefer to go with the turbo I will let you know some info on mine when i ever get to that part. the only reason that i like them I cause I did some work on old farm rigs with turbos. in the end it is watever is best for you.
IT can be. or it can be the worse. Some things that you might take into consideration are like some pistons with low mounted rings, new pulleys, and a highperformance oil-pump, had a friend whos turbo wasnt getting enough oil and siezed up. That was a B***h to work with.
Had a friend who did a turbo setup with a carb and it was a mother to setup and keep running, not to mention exoticly expensive. Personally I will stick with the Blowers.
Turbos are better than nitrous or supercharging IMO because they are relatively gentle on parts(compared to the constant strain of supercharging or the shock of nitrous).Having said that,I like nitrous because it is cheap hp,but even used properly is still hard on parts.My only complaint about turbos is the initial cost of putting it on & getting it dialed in.Usually about 2x the price of a comparable belt driven SC setup from what I've seen.But if $$ was not a big deal I think the turbo would do better.
I bet you can't do a junkyard belt supercharger set up for under $1000. But you can do a JY turbo or twin turbo 302 for really cheap, as long as you keep the boost down. I think I had $1200 total investment including the $400 wastegate I eventually bought. Got my money back on that too...and then some. Some guy offered me more than what I had invested....so I sold the "kit".
mavman, did you do a draw-thru or blow-thru set up ? If you did the blow-thru did you use a carb hat or a sealed box ? I've been looking at the carb mods involved on the blow-thru and it would seem easier to use a carb box to equalize the pressure and eliminate the need for any carb mods other than fuel pump and regulator. But I'm still leaning toward a draw-thru.
Boss9: I originally sent you a PM but it would only let me a certain number of characters...and I couldn't think of a way to downsize it and still provide necessary info. So, here goes...and it should be a good thing for everyone to read if you're interested in JY turbo/blower setup. Carb boxes are a thing of the past now. It is so much easier to just buy a hat, bolt it on and go to the races..which is what I did. I actually MADE my own hat from a piece of 5" diesel exhaust pipe that I cut at a junkyard, welded a cap onto it, and bolted it on. That simple...but I don't reccomend it because the GOOD hats are actually made to help fuel distribution. Mine had all kinds of problems with that...#6 and 7 always ran lean and the other 6 were RICH. Carb mods for blow through are easy....very easy and you can do it all at home with a few common hand tools, but you WILL have to have a GOOD knowledge of Holley carbs (or whatver your preferred brand carb is...and in this discussion, we will focus on Holleys). Holley bowl vents are right there on the top. This means you don't have to do a thing as far as modding them. About the only thing you will have to do is plug the choke rod hole in the main body and jet up on the secondaries. Also, it would be adviseable to drill out the PVCR's in the primary side (and the sec. side if you have a 4 corner idle). The PVCR's are what increases fuel flow when vacuum drops. Normally at wide open on a NA race car, you'd want to block the PV in the secondary and jet up 8-10 sizes. On a (possibly) street driven blow through, you'll want to drill out the PVCR...that way you'll be able to flow plenty of fuel to support boost, yet still be able to get some decent mileage. On a Holley, at cruise, the carb is running on the main jets and the idle circuit. If you can decrease the main size generally you can increase fuel mileage...but you have to have a way of richening up the mixture for acceleration, which is what the PV does...and the PVCR's (power valve channel restrictions). With blow through, the mods are simple and no other mods other than the carb and hat are really necessary. Draw through is a different story. You won't be able to have an intercooler. Argueably, the fuel mixture does cool the charge a little though. You won't want a fuel/air mixture under 10 psi pressure...it is a bomb. Also, the turbo compressor seal is generally designed with pressure in mind, not both pressure AND vacuum. Add vacuum to the seal and it WILL pull oil into the compressor. You'd have to change the seal to a ceramic style...or whatever is used now (been a while since I've been in the draw-through circle), which adds extra cost. Then, you'll want to have a can of starting fluid ready when you start a cold engine...the carb is so far away from the engine and manifold on a drawthru that they're usually a PAIN to start! Once they're up & going, they do run OK though...so long as there are NO air leaks. An air leak on a drawthru can be disaster. It'll idle like crap (vacuum leak) run like crap at part throttle, and when under boost, you'll be spraying fuel/air mix all over the engine compartment (read: bomb). Even a tiny leak. I did a drawthru on an old 3 wheeler just for experimenting...what a pain. Had to run the thing so rich that at low engine speed no boost it would run extremely rich and foul plugs. Was fine at WOT...and this was on a CV carb (constant velocity)...which usually meters fuel GREAT. There just is no simple way that I know of to get a good compromise between economy/driveablity and metering the proper amount of fuel under boost. I'm sure it's possible but I never figured it out! Blowthru you can use an intercooler normally...front mount, water-air, whatever...all that's in the tubes is hot air. Less potential for disaster if you do have a leak...and leaks do happen occasionally unless you weld EVERY joint...which makes it a pain if you have to take a tube off. Boost leaks are not a big concern either because the pressure is higher before the carb and there is only air. It only reduces boost and makes it run rich as the air is leaking out before the carb. I'd rather it run rich like that than run lean & destroy the motor. Plumbing is a lot easier. Carb stays where it was designed to be in the first place. With a hat and blowthru, you basically make the headers, the charge tubes, exhaust, and leave everything else alone. No so with drawthru. Youd have to make throttle linkages, boost tubes that can handle both fuel and air (and not leak!), air cleaner becomes a problem on an already cramped engine compartment...on and on. Even though you do have to mod the carb on a blow thru, it is a lot easier in the long run. And carb boxes....nice to have, but makes tuning a real pain in the butt. EFI solves all of it, but unfortunately EFI is still out of the financial reach for most of us. Even a Megasquirt can be expensive once you get all the sensors, options, etc...I had about $600 tied up in mine on the SVO. Yes, it ran like a raped ape, but it should have. Other option for EFI is EEC. But again, you'll have to come up with a tuner of some sort to get the correct fuel mapping and timing control. I tried a mass air on the SVO...worked fine..but I ditched it for the MS system, then sold it all and put the VAM back on. We won't go into detail with the VAM (vane airflow meter--similar to MAF but in a very ancient way). EFI makes for the best overall driveability and tuneability but again..it gets expensive. With turbocharging, you just can't have someone set you up a system because each engine is SO much different. Even if you dupicate someone's setup, chances are it'll have something that is different in reguards to airflow and engine demands that it won't be right. Back to my SVO...I duplicated someone's setup (right down to the valves and HLA's) but it was lean on top, rich in the mid, and lean on the bottom. But it did make probably 375 HP though...on 4 cylinders. Maybe more who knows. I never dyno'd it. Numbers don't mean jack to me..the seat of the pants butt-o-meter and the corresponding ear-to-ear smile are that's needed. Dyno numbers are like a bathroom scale...they are usually depressing to look at. Back to my '74 Maverick JY Turbo set up. Very easy and cheap build..just a low compression 302 that had home-made headers (pass side was a standard 88400 shorty, driver side was a home-made log with a rear feed for the crossover tube) and the turbo mounted up in front of the driver side head, right where the PS pump normally lives. It was a TP38 from a early flowerstroke diesel. Then the carb was an old Holley 600 double pumper..drilled PVCRs, restricted low speed air bleeds, and filled choke rod hole. That's it. Nothing else was done other than jetting. Had 62's in front (remember I drilled the PVCR's) and it ran best with 86's in the rear, but I went as far as 99 and it didn't change much...fuel pump was too small. Other than that, like I said...really simple, really cheap. I did add a big Turbonetics wastegate (race gate I believe it's called) later on as the original TP38 turbo would boost to 20+ psi without it, and I orderd the WG with a 2 lb spring...and made a home made boost controller to turn it up to wherever I wanted it. 12 psi worked the best for street driving, IMO...but again, my combo is probably totally different than anything else that was ever done. No intercooler of course. Not much room for one in a Maverick unless you go air to water and put the IC in the pass compartment. Cheap investment, had a blast with it and really embarassed some cars that cost 100 times as much. No kidding--the Mav would boil the tires at any speed and in any gear. 80 mph burnouts were nothing but watching the boost gauge climb and listening to that awesome whistle get extremely loud, and careful use of the steering wheel...because it would literally put you in the ditch or median in short order.
Great write up Mav! I just wanted to chime in and say that I met the folks with the Turbo Falcon about a month ago at a local race here. I remembered them from the magazine article. You couldn't meet a nicer couple. They took time to show my kids their car and to answer every question that we had. A true compliment to the sport. I also had the opportunity to exchange e-mails with the guy with the Turbo Fairlane...another great guy. So my thoughts are...are the turbo folks just friendlier? Or are they worried they may need friends if it grenades?! I can say this because I'm working on my twin turbo maverick right now. I just got the Mexican block back from the machinist and once it's assembled my next step is to build a set of headers for it. Wish me luck and if any of you see me on the side of the road...STOP and help!!!
