School me on turbo

[Sam]

I'm in the market for a bug, keeping my eyes open for a good deal local. Any way, its going to have to have a ton of power, 250+ HP. A street/strip car basically.
 
I'm thinking a 88x94 engine. The way I figure, I can hit my goal for alot cheaper with a turbo, Save $$ on heads and carbs, the rest would cost the same as N/A.

What sort of setup does it take to do this? I'm a DIY kinda guy so steer me in that direction.   I have never built a turbo engine, I have experimented with a turbo on a 1600, but it had no wastegate, ect and I didn't care if it blew up!  I don't care if the power is "streetable" I like to wind em tight. and it can get 8 MPG for all I care.   I would prefer it be able to fit under the lid, but I can fab the exhaust and boost tubes easily.

What is good vw related turbo info? 

[Ohio Tom (DdK)]

dune-buggy.com has lots of info for VW applications.

for cheap, I would suggest just buying one of those "inside apron" style headers. they are cheap and will solve 1/2 of your problems out of the gate.
They won't allow the decklid to close, but for cost and simplicity sake, they cannot be beaten.

[mmccarthy]

 250 hp with a turbo is pretty easy, If you are looking for 250 - 400 hp I would just do a 2275. The reason I say this is its alot simpler combination than the 88x94 or even the 86x94 combo I am running. You may have already built one of the long stroke engines already, if so ignore this. With the longer strokes there are alot of clearance issues, rods cam, ect. The 2275 I had liked rpm's, the 2387 has alot smaller cam with simular hp. I am no turbo expert but if I had to buy everything from scratch I would go with a T4 setup rather than a T3/4 .  I know I will get slammed for saying that , but with the T4 you have room to grow. Most of the under apron setups I have seen and used were setup for t3/4 turbos. I have a Kawell T4 setup on my engines and I am very happy with the operation and quality of the parts. There are alot of very talented people doing turbos and kits, check on their feedback comments before you spend your money. Its always cheaper to do it once than having to buy it twice.     Mike McCarthy

[Sam]

I have built lots of engines, but none bigger than 84, I'm saying 88 because I would like to do one that size, I realize 250 is a very modest goal, but I'm not wanting to spend big money on heads, pistons, ect. I figure I can hit 250 with some $500 heads and regular mahle pistons.

[Sam]

Well I have spent the last few hours reading turbo stuff. Looks like EFI is a mess compared to a draw through setup. Has some advantages for offroad and a few for a a DD,  but for Haul @ss looks like draw through is the ticket.

So I would need a T3/T4 turbo, home brew header, header to port piping, home brew plentum, carb of some sort, and a waste gate. Not really much to it.

Looks like the set PSI waste gates are cheap, and the adjustable get expensive, what do I need?

I see on ebay there are some turbos like this:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/8-PSI-INTERNAL-WASTEGATE-STAGE-3-TURBO-TURBOCHARGER-_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQhashZitem230f00a904QQitemZ150575556868QQptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories

It is cheap, is there a way to adjust the internal waste gate if I wanted more boost?

How much carb do I need? I have seen everything from 300cfm 2 barrells to 1200 demons.



I realize that there is some science to the header, plentum, and intake runners, but it looks those things are only for the guy that wants every last HP from it.

If I built a 2276 with a FK8 cam on 112LC, 8.5:1 comp, probably short 5.5 rods to save $$ (I Know I hate crappy rod ratios too), some  40x35 heads ported to pretty much the max without welding (say 160 cfm at .500), 1.4 rockers, 1.5" header, ect 
Could I get  250HP with 10-12lb of boost?
What do I need to change?

What sort of gain could I get from spending $$ on some 200+CFM heads?

[Sam]

I'm likeing the holley 500 by lowbugget. Anyone use it?

[fiatdude]

I used it on the Fiat and really liked it. The dial-a-jet he puts on his carbs are worth their weight in gold -- just a twist of a knob -- no jets

Order your turbo from these guys -- the best in the business -- I've turned a lot of people on to them -- a lot of the USE guys are using their turbo's now

www.turbocharged.com

Tell the guys your another one of those crazy VW guys and that Harold told you to call

[madoski]

My book knowledge (and experience with turbo-diesel F250) says that you should have a lot more streetable power with the turbo, no need to wind it tight.  Probably don't need gears as close together either.  If you want a street/strip car, go for streetable turbo power!