i would just like to hear what everyone thinks of this subject.would anyone here ever try to make it happen?damn straight,i know i would. :3gears: .but how would you make it work.im not big on turbos but i know the basics.it runs off of the exhaust.and when you run boost you must strengthen the bottom end and change some other things around like lowering the compression with custom pistons or thicker head gaskets.there may be a few things im leaving out because im no expert when it comes to nailheads and turbos which is why id like to ask everyone about this.i know anything is possible so how would you make it work? heres my idea so far. 1.use a nailhead single carter 4 barrel intake with a holley univ. fuel injection kit. 2.use all arp bolts on the bottom end,and basically just freshen up everything in the bottom end. 3.of course some custom exhaust work which is why im making full length headers. 4.now how to hook up all the turbo stuff? o No: i have no idea so im gonna go do some homework on this. what do you guys think?
turbos I dont know a lot about turbos but I would say it would be a bad thing. A nailhead is a high compression engine to start out with. You would be making it normal or low compression and then adding lots of compression. Personally I think it would be a waste of time and money. Turbos have lag. Lessing the compression ratio on a big block would be detremental. Big blocks are know for high torque. Thats where the high compression comes into play. But this is just my opinion. I may be wrong. I'm just going by what I know and what I have been told over the years.
You been staring at those pics of that nailhead from the other thread again havent you Gary? Yea, im guilty too! :laugh:
It would scream!!! I would keep it more simple than what you are looking to do. Here is a good place to start. http://www.turbomustangs.com/forums/ Lots to learn. With a v-8 you won't have any turbo lage unless you start getting into 800+hp. You match up the to right A/R sized exhaust turbine to the motor you have and you will be good. I would call CSU and get a custom blow thru carb setup done and put a good hat on it. This will make things much more simple. Make shorty headers that come to the front to mount to the turbo. Then a nice 3 1/2" exhaust off the turbo. If you go to that link I posted it will have all the info you need. Turbos by far make the most efficient power and work great with small port heads. 500-700 HP is easy with a turbo and you can run a small or close to stock cam that will give great street manners and mileage. As far as compression, you can run thick Cometic gaskets if they offer then for Nailheads. They are just as good as Copper but no o-rings. You can get away with 9.5Comp but will need to tailer the cam a little. There is plenty of contact info on the links offered on the board for people that will have the information you need. THe site is GM friendly and has a GM section on it. I say go for IT! :TU: Once you do it, you'll never look back.
I'm no turbo expert, even tho I have one, but I think the nail would be a good candidate. You have a high quality, strong block and a forged crank. (those 3.8 V6s are nothing special inside) The turbo would 'stuff' those cylinders past the smaller valves very nicely me thinks. I don't think it would be any problem milling off the nailhead pistons about .100. It's all in the details to sort out applying this-way beyond what I could do, but we probably don't need to 'reinvent the wheel' on this-somebodys done it I'm sure-
brian how'd you guess?lol.i stare at that picture every day.thanks for the encouragement rick i think it is very possible to.they did it back in the day so with all the knowledge thats out there now i think it can work.ive also been learning alot about turbos from a good friend at my job.all he deals with is turbos.and i dont think im reinventing the wheel at all here.if i wanted to do that id build up a small block or big block chevy with a supercharger.
what size motor do you think they used on that?btw that is a nice close up thanks.i think im gonna need it.
thanks gary.now i have something to look at to encourage me.if it has been done then it can be done again. :3gears:
Twin turbo Buick had an experimental turbo in the mid sixties. I think it was a 425 if I remember right. It never saw production because it made like 800 ft lb of torque and deemed too much for us mere mortals to handle. I have given much thought to using 2 turbos from 3.8 cars. I think it would be cool to use a dual quad intake with a turbo blowing into each. Each exhaust bank driving 1 turbo. I have also seen people use a turbo from a semi. They are designed to run ar 1000-2500 on a 800 inch motor, so they'd work good for 2000-5000 or so on a 400 inch motor. Just a little food for thought........... :3gears:
so you can use a turbo from diesel motors to work on regular gas motors?i thought there might have been a difference but i guess i was wrong thanks for the info.
I think the other reason that Buick did not produce the 800 hp Blown naihead was they kept breaking input shafts in the transmissions. Metallurgy wasn't what it is now. If the trans can't handle it, no need to worry about us mere mortals. Larry
my opinion Personally if I were going to do it, I'd go all out. I'd do a twin turbo setup. (you have 2 exhaust banks might as well use them and they'll have equal back pressure that way too) Probably do a 425 or use the intake off of one on a 401. All turbos work the same no mater what fuel sourse is being consumed. Get a couple turbos at a SEMI junkyard. you can always turn the turbo down if its too much power.
would also probably get a kit and use a 700r4 trany. Could probaly get about 20mpg with a big block. :grin:
Oh boy.... ya'll need to read up on turbos.... Ok here we go. Turbo 6's are nothing terribly special as far as the motors are concerned. Heads, blocks, rods.... all the same as thier lowly Naturally aspirated breathern. The pistons and cranks where the only things different but they where still nothing special, cranks had rolled fillets for increased fatique life not greater inherent strength and the pistons had bigger dishs for about 7.5:1 compression and steel reinforcing rings for the top ring lands, otherwise just cast pieces. The engine itself suffers from the same shortcomings as all the Buicks, bad oiling, weak main caps. The nailhead however is known to be quite tough however when it comes to blocks, cranks, and rods. Low compression pistons should be ordered, about $600 for a set of 8, to bring the compression down to about 8.0:1 static, cam should be minimal overlap. The heads on the Nailhead however are HORRIBLE!!! especially on the exhauste side. This will kill a turbo motor since exhuaste restriction will overheat the exhauste valves and cause them to fail, potentially catestrophicly. Because of this horrible port design, you'd need to run a way too big turbo to keep the backpressure from the turbine (hot side of the turbo) from getting too great and overheating the exhauste track. What I call goofey porting (reverse the intake and exhuast ports functions) a nailhead would be both bizzare and functional as turbos, especially intercooled ones, are more tollerant of inlet restriction than exhauste restristictions. As far as grabbing a turbo off of a semi, yes you can use a deisel turbo on a gas motor as long as its a blow through system not a draw through since the turbo bearing seals will not hold up to gasoline and the bearings will fail due to gasoline contamination of the oil cooling/lubrication system. Also a pair of turbos off of a semi would be way, way too much turbo for such an application, if you want to see a good match go to www.turbofast.com.au and use their turbo match calculator. The Buick turbo nailhead was a free floating turbo that had no wastegate and the turbo's inertia and flow was used to control it. This means that the turbo was sized so that it made peak booste only at maximum load and rpm, anytime else it was running at below maximum effeciency, hense terrible lag since the turbo has to overcome its own rotational enertia to increase air flow and consequentaly booste. On a perfectly designed turbo system you run as little booste as possible to get the needed airflow, booste is actually a measurement of restriction to the airflow so a stock motor with 25lbs of booste can be flowing less air than a motor with a bigger cam, ported heads and big valves at 20lbs. Also the TH700R4 is weaker than the TH200-4R but both cost a pretty penny to build to take serious power. For ultimate durability and overdrive you'd want a 4L80E which is a massive overdriven TH400 with electronic controls and an overdrive stuck on that is only offered in trucks and takes a seperate stand alone controller from TCI or CPT or a modified desiel truck controller. I got 21 mpg on the freeway with my 70 Riv with a TH700R4 out of my 450hp Big Block Buick so you don't need turbos for that.
thanks for the info.but do you really think i should use an overdrive trans.because im defiantely not going to drive it everyday.thats why i have a toyota camry. :Brow: its real good on gas.and i dont know if i want a twin turbo.thats a little too much for me.i think a big turbo is about the same as two small ones.what do you guys think about a fuel system?carburetion or efi?i heard something about efi being easier to use because if you use a carb then it will run like a hog at idle or something like that?
