Turbo on a 427

[1971 cheburban]

I know almost nothing about turbochargers so any of you guys that have turbos, I need help. Can anyone explain how it works, ive got the basics. It crams air down the intake so the intake charge is 100% full rather than just a little air and a little fuel. But what is spool up, and all those other fancy terms.
Is there a way to put one on a original style engine.it would be a bone stock looking 427,probably a car style but would a tall deck work too?original heads, original style intake and carb, and mildly build it. Can I leave the original carb? Will I have to make mounts for the turbo? How the h#\\ do I mount a turbo, do I have to use a serpentine setup. I don't want to, and that would probably be a deal breaker but if there was a way to run the turbo from the existing pulleys that would be awesome. Another question-does a 427 even need a turbo that's not a question, it definitely needs one, ahahahhaahahahahaha

[1971 cheburban]

TTT no one has any turbos?

[imjeff]

Turbos run off exhaust. They often have a lag (spool up time) while the turbo spins up. There is a ton to setting up motors for turbos. You need to run lower compression pistons that are strong enough to take higher pressures. Are you going to have coolers to cool the air? Are you going to mount them in a hidden area? If you don't know much about turbos, I wouldn't go down that path. It would be interesting to know why you want a turbocharger knowing little about them.

[SS Tim]

Dude bumping your own thread less than five hours later is not considered cool.
There is a lot of information on turbos and I would suggest you grab a book on engines and start reading. Turbos are a good way to add power but that comes at an expense as always. To be effective the engine needs modifications from stock and depending on you expectation ability and finances you might be better off going with a cheap stroker 454 based engine.

As far as pulleys go are you thinking of a centrifical superchager like a Paxton or Powerdyne (belt driven) instead of an exhaust driven turbo charger?

As far as people not responding you seem to often have proposals that on the surface seem a little outlandish, six two bbl carbs and apple crate seats come to mind. Clear, thought out questions in the right forum will get you the best results.

[hugger6933]

I don't know a lot about turbos but I do knot that a stock tall deck 427 with one would be more of a farm application than a hotrod one. T stock tall deck 427 anything is going not be much of a hot rod engine it was not ever destined to be that. now on the pulleys any of the pulleys can be used it has nothing to do with a turbo. The turbo has two main sides the drive side driven by exhaust gases off of the exhaust of the engine and the compressor side that is the one that takes the air and compresses it and shoves it into the motor. Both sides are on a common shaft A lot of the action of the turbo is designed in the turbo vanes on the wheels or the shaft of the turbo, it has lots to do with the speed at witch it reaches speed[there is you term spool up] . A motor that is gonna get a turbo or a pair of turbos will need to be planed out pretty carefully or it will end up fitting in a 5 gal bucket real soon. Just as with anything that is supercharged it needs tougher internal components to stand the strain. now just buying a turbo on e-bay is not all you got to have you got to have lots of plumbing blow off valves to relieve pressure after letting off the throttle and bypasses and lots of others. Jim

[lousyflyer]

A turbocharger is a $2,000.00 way to find out that you should have spent $8,000.00 more on your engine.

[truckster]

You'd probably be wise to talk to some local engine builders and let them know exactly what you want to accomplish with your engine build. They can guide you on how to get the power you want and what it's going to cost you.

[Heavymetl]

Turbos have really caught on in the last few years due to the cheap manufacturing in China and the cheap availability of used LS truck engines.

When you have $500 junkyard LS engines putting down 600+ rear wheel horsepower with a cheap ching-chang turbo...the cost/benefit ratio is hard to beat. Of course the real cost in a turbo build isn't the engine but the fuel system, tuning, torque convertor, and trans.

[TrkEnvy]

Tall deck 427 isn't the motor you wanna turbo unless it's going in a boat.. turbos eat up real estate in the engine bag like Oprah at a bake sale.. the extra width from the heads and manifold is only going to make fabbing up headers and a downpipe that much harder..