Turbo on a carbed 300

J

JustinPaul91

Well-known member
Hey all. I'm new to the forum and I've heard nothing but good things about it.
Little bit about me. My name is Justin I'm 20 drive a 85 ford f150 4x4 with a 300, 4 speed with 4.10 gears. I've been thinking of some mods for it and one of them is a turbo. I have no clue as to how to put one on. I know my way around a wrench but when it comes to something like that I'll be scratching my head. Can anyone tell me how to do it any a rough idea of what it will cost me. Thanks in advance.
 
Im doing the same thing to my 62 f100 but there's a good thread on turbos somewhere on here.. The way I'm doing it I'll probably be at around $ 2000 with my motor build and turbo setup. That's on the cheap side given that I'm having the motor built for the turbo but it can be done cheaper without having to go into the motor. You would be running less boost than I will be capable of running but the most expensive parts would be the blow through carb and the ignition timing controller (about a grand for both). You will probably want the 4 barrel intake manifold if you don't already have one because I haven't heard of a one barrel blow through carb, though I'm sure it could be converted, it probably wouldn't flow enough fuel or cfm. Used turbos are not a bad idea if you don't want to spend a lot of money on one that can be rebuilt with a little mechanical skills just make sure you mark the position of the compressor and turbine wheels on the shaft because they are balanced.
 
Wow thanks. And is the cost on your build including everything? Or is that just to get the motor setup to run a turbo? And I'm getting the offenhouser intake for my truck. Just haven't won the lottery yet. But I have an Autolite 2100 two barrel car to go on it. Will that work. The way I understood if I had those two together on my truck it would be great for low end torque. The truck will be my daily driver but it will also be my work horse. I want to be able to hook up to anything and pull, or drag it where ever I want to go. And what are you doing to your motor. Out of curiosity of you don't mind me asking.
 
yall need to go to the turbo/supercharger thread and do a lot of reading on the sticky's ,idiot guide to turbocharger a 6, i think he does it with a 1b carb, and i think you will not need $2000 to do this if you stay at about 5 to 6 lbs the motor can take that i did it for years. the main thing you need to do is a lot of reading theres a lot more to it than just puting a turbo and a carb on a motor, and don't do or buy something just because someone said so do a lil R/D before you spend your money, good luck my friend and if you need any help just ask me are anyone on this forum and don't for get to do alot of reading and research before you do anything,,,keith,,,,,,
 
Thanks Keith. And I done some lookin. I can get a turbo cheap. I worked at a tractor salvage yard for 7 years and we had shelves full of them. The biggest one we had came off of a tw30 ford tractor. But idk what boost it will put out. If I do one I'd like to get at least 10 lbs. what would I need for that? Forged pistons,rods,what would I need. I seen how to use the original exhaust manifold to mount the turbo and how to run the air in/out lines but that's all I know. I appreciate the help man. Justin
 
hey how you doing today, you don't buy a turbo by the boost it puts out you limit the boost by a waste gate. theres a spring in the w/g and when you want to go up on boost you would get a 10lbs spring but when you start going up on boost things starts to happen like heat, knock,and other things and thats when you start to need things like msd boost timing master,water injec and more $$$. did you read idiot's guide to turbocharger by bort62, he tells you every thing you need to know more better than i could post now. did you ever think of doing a supercharger, for someone just starting out with force induction it would be eazyer than the t/c. if i did not know anything about turbo/super and wanted boost and power as soon as i could get it i would find me a used centrifugal paxton or vortech off of ebay for anywhere of $500 to $1000. about the hardest part would be making the bracket for the head unit it would be like installing another alternator and belt and then do a carb for blow-thur or you can do the next best thing like i did and go with eaton roots type blower out the top of the hood,,,i think you need to go and read up on BORTS62 idiot's guide to turbocharger and then read it again or anything on force induction,, every thing you need to know is right here at this forum,,,,keith
 
Hey guys. I've done some reading. And I've read the idiots guide and it made me feel right at home. Haha. I intend to go with a Garrett's t3 turbo and just make the old manifold work. Have the idea on the plumbing plus a friend of mine is into drifting and knows some turbo info. He told me I would be wise to have an inner cooler on it. What kind should I buy? And would I even have room to put one in there. I'll have a dual core radiator plus that.
I also see that everyone makes like 10-15 lbs of boost at like 5000 rpms. The Tac on my truck shows at 2600 the thing is about to sling six rods out of the side of the block. Does that sound right and will be a problem putting a turbo on? Thanks for all the help folks.
 
If your motor sounds like it is about to throw a rod idk if it would be wise to install a turbo on it, but these motors make their peak power and torque at a relatively low rpm. As for the intercooler I'm not sure what to tell you on the brand, but I would imagine any ebay intercooler would be sufficient if you're not running much boost. It isn't critical that it be mounted behind the radiator if you have issues with that position as long as it gets good air flow across the fins and is out of the way of any moving parts. Electric fans can sometimes pick up a few inches of clearance over the factory belt driven fan as well. Some rear mounted turbo setups don't require an intercooler because a significant amount of heat is lost over the distance from the turbo to the intake manifold.
 
Well I'm taking the fan off to put electric ones on and it's a single pass radiator thats on the truck now but it's gettin a double pass in a few pay checks and there's already enough room to put just the radiator. So I assume if I take the fan off it will be good to go. And wouldn't doing motor work lower my rpms. Like shorter rods or something. And if that won't work would a supercharger be any different than a turbo? I want something that nobody has around here and I want power and torque that will surprise me and others.
 
JustinPaul91":q2y9gnsx said:
Hey guys. I've done some reading. And I've read the idiots guide and it made me feel right at home. Haha. I intend to go with a Garrett's t3 turbo and just make the old manifold work. Have the idea on the plumbing plus a friend of mine is into drifting and knows some turbo info. He told me I would be wise to have an inner cooler on it. What kind should I buy? And would I even have room to put one in there. I'll have a dual core radiator plus that.
I also see that everyone makes like 10-15 lbs of boost at like 5000 rpms. The Tac on my truck shows at 2600 the thing is about to sling six rods out of the side of the block. Does that sound right and will be a problem putting a turbo on? Thanks for all the help folks.
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You really need to learn how to read a turbo map. Most T03s are way too small for a 300. If you can find one with "Super 60" trim, it will work nicely up to about 7-8 PSI, the other T03 trims will not even come close.

10-15 lbs of boost is probably too much for the stock pistons and stock head gasket. You really want to do a rebuild of your engine and upgrade all the internals before attempting that sort of boost. Actually, it sounds like you may need to do a rebuild no matter what.
 
I intended to. I have another motor that will have work done to it. The motor in the truck now is just something to get me where I need to go. I just need to know what all I'll need and if it will
Even be worth doing it
 
JustinPaul91":23bemg5o said:
Well I'm taking the fan off to put electric ones on and it's a single pass radiator thats on the truck now but it's gettin a double pass in a few pay checks and there's already enough room to put just the radiator. So I assume if I take the fan off it will be good to go. And wouldn't doing motor work lower my rpms. Like shorter rods or something. And if that won't work would a supercharger be any different than a turbo? I want something that nobody has around here and I want power and torque that will surprise me and others.
Click to expand...

Generally it's the cam lobe specs that determine the rpm range your motor will make power at and longer rods are usually preferred over shorter because they make the internals more balanced which will also allow the engine to turn more rpms with less stress. I've thought about getting longer rods with the 300 crank or even swapping in a 240 crank and rods, but it all comes back to what you can afford to do. If you're planning on making over 5 psi of boost then you're going to have to go into the motor and spend some money at the machine shop. With all of all of the clamping bolts, pistons, rings, head gasket, and block work necessary for these motors to hold to boost and increased rpms you could easily be looking at over a grand. You can piece together a turbo system pretty easily if you do your research and are somewhat mechanically inclined.
The only other issue that can be costly in any kind of boosted application will be pre detonation. It can destroy any well built engine in a matter of seconds but can be managed a few different ways. A boost referenced timing controller is probably the most common and expensive because it doesn't require any maintenance and is relatively easy to install. Next would be to just run higher octane fuel, but it is more expensive than pump gas, so water/methanol injection can be used as a secondary fuel/octane booster that only kicks in when the motor is making boost. It has the potential to make more power than either of the other options, but it also will need a boost referenced controller and need to have a separate tank that is usually limited in size.
Personally I think a turbo setup is cooler and can be done for cheaper you just have to take into account everything necessary to make it run right and you will be very pleased.
 
I also like Corky Bells turbocharger book as well as Jay K. Miller's turbocharger books. Search for those authors in automotive and you will find them.

When I was 19, I installed EFI on my '74. I always wanted to install a turbo, but with countless hours of research, I knew that EFI was going to be easier for installing a turbo, so I decided to do that first, on the old engine, before completely rebuilding it for the turbo.

My advice is to research, because there is no "bolt-on" turbo for this engine. Everything is fabricated, and it can be done many different ways from simple to complicated, cheap to expensive, and all areas in between.

I stopped keeping track of how much I spent. It just turned into a hobby that I put money towards. I am guess 4000 for EFI, engine rebuild, and parts to get it all up and running. Still isn't done. I need gauges, more work to my stainless turbo header, more fuel injection and ignition tuning. But it has been running strong for 2 years now, so I must have done something decently right.

The thing to remember is there is not always only one answer on how to do this.
 
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