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WHAT TORTURE AM I IN FOR?

4K views 7 replies 6 participants last post by  mrneuro 
Tachometer should be plug-and-play; at least it was on my Spirit. The plugs are there, they're just unused. From what I understand, the code in the computers is slightly different, but I don't think you'll be doing any serious damage by using one over the other. I would get an opinion other than mine on that.
As for putting in a turbo... that's an entirely different animal. You're going to need AT LEAST the turbo manifolds, the ENTIRE turbo harness with sensors, bits of turbo vacuum harness, a turbo computer, not to mention probably an entire turbo head-- turbos have hardened seats and exhaust valves, as well as a different cam. On top of that, it's probably a very good idea to put in turbo pistons (lower compression ratio than TBI pistons), non-lightweight rods (the TBI cars used lightweight rods, and while I've heard that some 2.2 T1 setups used lightweight rods, I don't know if that held for the 2.5 T1) and a forged rather than cast crank. You're also going to need a different head gasket to handle the boost pressures and cross-drilling. So basically, yes, it is a TON of work.
Now, I'm in much the same boat as you, I want more power, and I've been considering going turbo eventually. My current plan of action is move out of my folks' house/graduate from college, and then do the following:
1. Get a 2.2 Turbo I motor and electronics from... wherever I can, preferably one with a spun bearing/blown piston rings/whatever. The point is, get a turbo engine with enough substantial damage to the lower end that it's worth essentially nothing, but with no real damage to the top end.
2. Get a common block 2.5 motor with a cracked or warped head. Sadly, this will probably be the easy part.
3. Strip the lower end of the 2.5 block down, check it all out, hot tank and paint.
4. Swap anything I can salvage from the 2.2 over onto the 2.5 block, and put in 2.5 turbo pistons (since the 2.2 and 2.5 were common block after '89-- what I am aiming for-- the 2.5 used a shorter piston).
5. Plumb up the turbo and install any other bits and pieces I need (manifolds, etc.)
The idea then would be to get up VERY EARLY on a Saturday to pull the TBI engine out of the car. With the engine out of the way, I'll have the room to do the harnesses. Then, drop the turbo motor in, close up shop for the night (I'm assuming that getting everything ready will take most of Saturday). I then have all of Sunday to get the car driveable to take to work on Monday. I only lose the car for a weekend, and I get a known good engine in there. I would run stock stuff until I got the chance to do some upgrades to the transmission and put in a boost gauge, etc., but those are things that can come with time. This way, I have a driveable car the whole time. Someone ran ridiculously good times in a Reliant with the 3-speed with some upgrades to it. Because I have bench seats, I would have to get new seats to put in a 5-speed, which is not something I want to do. Besides, I like my cars to be sleepers anyway...
 
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