Not exactly a 2000hp monster, but this might be of some interest to the budget readers...
The idea was to see how cheaply a turbo setup could be installed and how much power could be expected without breaking anything. All the work was done by students at the Blairsville, PA Wyotech campus. The results were pretty amazing... An article is due out in the Jan 2011 "Auto Enthusiast", but here's a quick summary.
What we are working with here is a 350 Chevy 4 bolt with cast crank, powder rods, 9:1 cast pistons (may be hypers), and Edelbrock e-tec 170 heads. Cam was a .501 /
[email protected] 110 LSA hydraulic flat tappet. Basically Edelbrock's 360hp crate combo. The engine has Edelbrock Pro-Flo (Magneti Marelli) port injection with a 4bbl TB. The ECU was swapped for a FAST XFI stand alone, as the Edelbrock unit is not compatible with boosted engines.
N/A engine dyno baseline was 375hp / 360lb ft. We scrounged a Holset HX35 turbo that came off a Dodge Cummins pickup. The turbo was plumbed to a set of block hugger headers with a custom Y pipe. A Tial 38mm external wastegate was used, as the stock internal gate controller could not be adjusted to safe boost levels for a gas engine. The turbo was set up to blow through the TB with a Turbonetics carb hat. The 27lb/hr injectors were swapped for a set of 43s.
We decided to limit boost to 15psi, and crossed our fingers... . All pulls were made from 2500-6500 rpm.
After some tuning we ripped off a pull at 487hp /487lb ft. on 93 octane Citgo. Intake temps were getting out of hand, so we plumbed in a stock Dodge Cummins intercooler. That change (and some more fuel) netted a best pull of 527hp / 605lb ft. The best part: the turbo acted more like a supercharger, crossing into boost at 2000 rpm(!) and making 15psi throughout the pull range. The engine made over 500lb ft. all the way from 2500 to 6500 rpm.
The other best part: With some careful shopping, the turbo setup (less ECU) can be duplicated for just over $900 including all exhaust components AND an intercooler!
That's 150hp and 250lb ft. of useable power for less than a grand. Pretty good value I think!
Since we found another Holset HX35 laying in the parts room, we decided to see just what this stock bottom end will survive...we are going TWINS this time around, with dual 4bbl TBs on a tunnel ram (again it was laying around from a past project...). We also swapped the cam for something a little more turbo friendly. We installed a Comp grind with
[email protected] and a 114 LSA. Lift dropped into the .460 range, so we are putting a set of 1.6 Comp rockers on to get back to just under .500. We will actually be putting the single turbo setup back on first to see how the 2 camshafts compare power-wise.
Well, we just did the pressure map for the HX35 on squirrelpf.com. Turns out it is a tad small for our application...but 2 of them are perfect...