The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The HiPo Shop How about a turbo 235?

Anybody ever think about turbocharging one of these straight sixes? I kind of got the idea from seeing a roots blown 235 power a salt flat's racer to over 200 mph at Bonneville. I can't imagine how much torque that thing must be capable of!

Some things I don't know about my 235 that I wish I did, such as is anything forged in the rotating assy., compression ratio, rod length and stroke. But it appears with a simple move of the alternator (in my case), there is plenty of room for a turbo right under the exhaust manifold.
I have a collection of Garrett T03's which are kind of on the big side for a 4-cylinder, but might make a nice midrange torque hair dryer for the six.

If anyone has done such an upgrade, or even supercharged, I'd like to talk to them. Or any other ideas or thoughts are welcome.

Thanks, Tony.

It sounds like a great idea to me. As long as you had some pretty good internals, a good fueling system, and you kept the compression ratio around 8.5-1. Just remember with a turbo, supercharger, or NO2 the fuel system is the key to keeping your engine in one piece. Lean = BOOM! I would go a little bigger than a TO3. Im running a TD06 on my Syclone and Typhoon and i wish they had a little more turbo. They have 4.3ltr V6's.

i have been entertaining the idea for a while, but i will probably just get a 454. a blow thorugh system should not be that hard to fabricate. it would have to be a lower boost set-up unless you have the cash for forged **** and pistons. if you get a holley carb with mechanical secondaries, it would be pretty easy to set up. you will also need a good electric fuel pump, and a boost referenced fuel pressure regulator. there are obviosly some other parts to it, but it could be a fun project. i may just try it on mine until it blows up. then get the 454.

Yeah me too. The turbo is a stop gap measure until I have the time and money to build the 400 small block in my garage. The reason I thought a T03 would work is because the 235 is a low revving motor, and a smaller turbo would kick in lower (and of course rev lower too). To my best estimates, the T03 is about 75% efficient at 4000 rpm on what I think the 235 will need in lb/min flow, and about 70% efficient at 2000 rpm. A nice little boost if I can keep the psi down. I'll need a turbo controller and a box to enclose the carburetor in, then a little fabricating in the engine bay.

The ideal torque motor would probably be a Buick, Olds or Pontiac 455, or a Chevy 502. But because I have a 400 small block without a vehicle to put it in, I'll rebuild it for about 8.5:1 compression. I'll probably run it with just a carburetor for awhile and eventually put a roots supercharger on top. Either a 177 or a 6-71. I have to decide.
I was thinking a Tremec TKO 5 speed OD for the tranny, and I'll keep the 4.56 gearing, but would like to upgrade to posi or a locker if possible for these old things.

i was leaning towards a t3 as well. if i were you, since you have those turbos, do a twin t3 setup for you small block. it will make more power than the roots will, and if set up right, lag will be minimal, and the 400 should have plenty of low-end torque to make up for it.

as far as a box, all you really need is a carb hat. you can easily rebuilt a holley for blow through. you just need to change the floats, remove and seal up the choke, and bore out the accelerator pumps. there are a few more things to do, but i have a very good step by step write-up on what to do if you are interested.

want to sell a t3?

A T03 will probably work great for what youre wanting to do. Im running 19 - 20 psi in my Syclone and the TDO6 is being pushed to its limit. It would be really cool if you could find a junkyard intercooler to keep the temps down. According to Kenny Bell for every deg. you drop the intake temp you gain 1-2% hp. Also the lower temps will help keep the knock down.

RustyandDusty, maybe. Let me see how many I have on hand. Were you thinking about one T03 for a single turbo project, or two? In perfect shape, I'd probably take $200 for one. I've got one that does need a rebuild and only $100 for that one. The others are in excellent condition. If you're serious, shoot me an e-mail.

Since I'm eventually installing a Chevy 407 small block with a supercharger on it, I'll want a boost gauge anyway. Also helpful with a TO3 on the 235. So I'm thinking about a place to mount a boost gauge. I already have a tach strapped to the steering column so that space is used. I don't want to cut up the original dash. So instead of buying a cassette player (when I really would rather have CDs instead anyway), I can make a boost gauge mount to go in the original radio location and mount a CD player behind a custom flip-down speaker grill. That's a trick idea. The speaker grill would flip down like the glove box door to reveal the modern CD player behind it.

How's that sound?

i would just mount the boost gauge int eh steering column, 60's hot rod style. mine iwll have a tach and boost gauge on the column, if i do the turbo 235, just a tach if i go for the n/a bbc 454.