Inliners International Forums General Discussion Hi Performance Which engine for turbo build?

Long time reader, first time poster. First off, great site. So much info to soak in, so little time in the day.

I'm about to build up my first I6 engine for a vehicle that I don't even own yet and I've already hit my first snag. A few months ago I found a used 235 that was going to be my base for the upcoming turbo project. After some serious cleaning I found that the engine had been dropped or something at one point and was littered with cracks (previously covered in oil and road grime). So that motor was scraped and I did a local search for a replacement. Only problem is that I have too many choices. I found another 235, a 250 and a 292 that are readily available to me. After searching this site as well as a few others, I have yet to find out which is a potentially better for my application. I have Santucci's first book (waiting for the 2nd edition to be released) but it only gives me HP numbers.
Its going to be going into a car or truck that I'll be street driving so the boost will be between 6-10lbs. Since I planned on a pre-54 chevy vehicle, the only issue I see with a 292 is the motor mounts. It's not really about the power to me so much as it is about having something different. Oh yeah, and I already have a T03 or a T04 to choose from.
Can anyone help me sway in one direction?

Thanx!
Matt

Hey Matt, and welcome. I think the 250/292 engines will satisfy you the most for turbo applications. There have been members on here that have had good success using either of them. The very first problem you will have, is after a few months of driving your ride around town, you will start to want more and more power. Soon 6-10 lbs. of boost becomes 12-14 or more. So don't limit yourself, and pick parts for your build-up that will allow you to "grow" later on.

matt,
glad to see you are here.

the 250 and the 292 are good candidates. both can use simular parts to turbo them.
the 250 wil be a choice if you want to rev the engine freely to 5-6K rpm, the 292 will gain cubes but also limit easy reving rpms. i like the 292. torq is king for the street.

what chassis are you putting this into? i offer a nice cast turbo manifold made to bolt on either the 250 or 292. pm me for details.
you will need more specs for the turbos you have to know if they will work for either motor.

be sure to search the power adder forum and you will find plenty of turbo related posts. tom

Thanks for the input! So far I'm leaning towards a Chevy AD truck to put this in, but if I can find a sweet car to put it in, I won't complain. That's another reason I chose the I6. Thanks for the heads up on the manifolds tlowe, I'll be getting in touch with you after I pick an engine this weekend. I'll be picking up the turbos out of storage at the same time, so I'm sure I'll return with more questions next week.

Much appreciated!

Why not use the 235 engine? Is the only downside the displacement? Or are the components weaker?

A 235 has 4 main caps?? instead of 7.

A 235 is really old technology,it weighs a ton also.


MBHD