I have been thinking about how to make a little more power for my 76 CJ7, relatively inexpensively.

I've been thinking of building a turbo system using a Garrett T03 (out of a 2.3L Thunderbird Turbo Coupe) and fabricating a simple header and exhaust system for it. It would run no intercooler and a blow through carburetor. I'm pretty sure I'd end up using a non stock carburetor, maybe a Weber or Mikuni, or possibly even the generic Holley two barrel. Would also need some sort of electronic timing retard, or at least re-curve the stock distributor.

Anyone sucesfully run forced induction on an AMC 258? Any inherent problems? The fabrication part for me is not a problem, I have all the tools I need, and I understand what would be required to complete the project. I'm just curious how well AMC 258's take to forced induction (supercharging / turbocharging).

Thanks.

You should really consider using some sort of intercooler on this. The compression of air is going to drastically increase the temperature which may cause premature detination. Besides that it should work as long as you dont take it over about 6PSI.

Yeah, the interooler would be better, but for low boost in a blow through carburetor application, it won't make a huge difference. The intake air charge will drop temperature in the range of 40-50 degrees F as the fuel vaporizes at the bottom of the carburetor. This is pretty typical on blow through carbs. Also at low speeds, which is common during off roading, an air-air intercooler won't be real effective. Not very much mass air flow through the intercooler fins. At that point, depending on intercooler location, it could actually become a heat source during non boost operation. That's assuming an air-air intercooler. A properly designed air-water setup could work very well during a low speed off-roading though.

I understand what you are saying, and an intercooler will be beneficial 99.9% of the time, but for my application, it's not really necessary.

To combat detonation, I would re-curve the distributor, and/or add a boost reference timing retard such as an MSD. Besides, my 1976 258 has 8:1 compression, which is perfect for forced induction. As a side note, I ran about 14 psi on a 5.0 Mustang with no intercooler and pump gas. It can be done, with the correct timing and fuel curves. Haven't done it on a 258 yet.

Also, another thing I just thought of, depending on the placement of the air-air intercooler, it could be a liability during a drive through a stream or something. Hot intercooler+cold water is alot of thermal expansion over a short period of time. Those intercooler fins are pretty thin also.

check http://www.amxfiles.com

There's a couple of turbo 258s over there

It seems you know alot more about these systems then I do. I just scratched the surface of turbo technology in the past few months. I have been contimplating on putting two on my 4.3. I mainly wanted my turbos for on road purposes or sand dunes. Any kind of rock crawling is such low rpm (unless your nutz) wouldnt come close to spinning a turbo up. Water on an intercooler might not be to good for it if its done repetitively but it shouldnt be that big of a problem. Just dont go through a water puddle while your car is floored.