I was curious how much nice NA or turbo buildup would cost on a chevy 350 including the cost of the motor to around 600hp. and how easy is it to go about turboing a carburated motor. im just not sure. all info would be very helpful.

 

Turbocharging a carb car is not a very easy proposition, that's the primary reason it never caught on in OEM applications until EFI became the norm.

600 flywheel hp is doable NA, but you wouldn't stick with 350ci. A guy I know just bought an NA crate motor small block bored and stroked to 427ci, and it makes 635hp on pump gas. But it's way easier to make this kind of power with a supercharger, and both Vortech and Paxton are now offering kits designed for carb use (their linear boost curves makes this manageable as opposed to the non-linearity of a turbo). Stroked and .030 overbored to 383ci, with 8.5-9:1 FI pistons, forged rods and 10-12 psi of boost should get you to your power goals. I'd recommend either the AFR 190 or Edelbrock Performer RPM heads (either with minor porting), along with an Edelbrock Performer RPM Air Gap manifold and a suitable supercharger cam grind. Of course you'll also need a large exhaust setup (full length headers) and a great ignition, I'd go with a full MSD setup with one of their billet distributors if you are planning to spin over 6500 RPM.

How much it all costs depends heavily upon what parts you choose and how much you already have. Do you have a suitable short block or at least the engine block, or do you need to buy everything from the ground up? Also, are you looking to go scavenging in jnkyards or is this an all-new build you want to run? Pricing for something like this should run anwhere from ~6k-10k.

 

basically build from ground up or purchase a nicely built one. its gonna be a road/track race car so i guess a hard hitting turbo wouldnt be that great. very helpful. i know its low, but what kinda mpg would you get with a nice light car: approx. 2400lbs pushing say 500whp? another thing is i dont want a crazy lopey idle, just something nice and fairly smooth.

 

depending on gearing and how well the carb can be setup for part throttle cruise, ~15mpg. And what the hell are you building that only weighs 2400 lbs holding this engine that's also supposed to be street driven??

You won't have a lope at idle, basically you are going to be building a lower compression street 383 with about 375-400hp, then adding a moderate supercharger setup on top. Especially with a supercharger cam, which will limit duration and have a wide LSA, but will generate good flow through high lift.


[Modified by texan, 9:45 PM 11/12/2002]

 

something fast.