1971 Gold Metallic Project, The Turbo 1.7 Options

[McMark]

Current Status:
Running great!

I picked up this car late 2012 with the intention of flipping it. But never got anything done on it until I tore apart my Marathon Blue Metallic 73 to prepare it for WCR 2013, which of course didn't happen. So now this Gold Metallic 71 is my new driver.

Starting off at the beginning. Trekkor found the car and had it for sale. I picked it up from him without the engine, front bumper, rocker panels or wheels pictured below. Otherwise this is how the car came to me.

[ConeDodger]

I was struck by how driveable it was. This isn't a beast that you couldn't talk your wife into riding in. It retains the character of the 1.7 but has an "I want to go play" attitude.
I can just imagine how nice this would be with a freshly built balanced engine and a good quiet well flowing muffler. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif)

With the right heads... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/evilgrin.gif)

[McMark]

I was struck by how driveable it was. This isn't a beast that you couldn't talk your wife into riding in. It retains the character of the 1.7 but has an "I want to go play" attitude.
I can just imagine how nice this would be with a freshly built balanced engine and a good quiet well flowing muffler. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif)

With the right heads... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/evilgrin.gif)

I've been pondering the engine build. Definitely have to stay 1.7 because everything is matched to that. The bottom end would stay pretty much the same, but some head work could open things up. The 1.7 heads are pretty restricting. Maybe just using 1.8 heads would work better. I could do 2.0 heads but would need some tweaking because the intake system is based on 1.7 four bolt runners. Or 2.0 heads with four studs (did someone say LE200? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif) ). According to Corky Bell's book, stock cams are actually really good for turboing. Not sure if I would want to risk the unknown effects by swapping to another cam. Part of the drivability is the copious idle vacuum, which goes away if I run a cam with overlap. Sure, I gain top end, but I'm not looking for that. But if I build this new engine, it'll be balanced in every respect. I've been wanting to build a crazy blueprinted engine for awhile now, and I think this is the build to do it on.

The muffler is a 3" inlet/outlet Hooker Header muffler. It's huge. If anything is restricting the exhaust flow it's the turbo. I'm tempted to try the K04, but I'm also liking just driving my car. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

And then there's always that slippery slope of adding more boost. ottox914 is running 12+psi. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/idea.gif) I think I'm afraid of this though, to be honest. There are so many turbo horror stories out there. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/unsure.gif)

[SirAndy]

I could do ...

Don't ... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif)

The thing that makes this so interesting is the fact that it would be a bolt on solution to a *STOCK* 1.7L engine!

And there are so many of them out there. If you can make this work with a stock cam and stock heads and be able to sell it as a complete kit, you will be way ahead.

Once people have to split the case or even just swap heads, you lost 2/3 of your customer base right there.
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/popcorn[1].gif)

[Chris H.]

This could be interesting for Bay Window bus owners too. They aren't looking for massive boost, just a little more ooomph to push those toasters around.