Putting a turbo on an n/a engine with help of a complete turbo engine

nnamssorxela · #1 19-07-07

ok, here's the deal. I might have access to a turbo engine, and me, owning a non-turbo is excited about it's potential. Is my best bet to switch entire engines (I forget why the donor car is a parts car, so engine could be bad, but I think it's just the tranny)? Or should I bolt just throw the turbo on the N/A and use the turbo internals (I have no idea if this will work but I suspect that it wont, you guys can rip me a new one and tell me) I don't want to put too much money into this either because I A) have a low budget, B) got my entire car for 300, and C) might possibly be maybe selling it

When I get some specifics on the turbo engine I might get, I'll let you know. I also have another n/a I can experiment with if need be.

Thanks,
Alex

IronJoe · #2 19-07-07

Quote:

Originally Posted by nnamssorxela

you guys can rip me a new one and tell me

Well... he said we could

nnamssorxela · #3 19-07-07

well hell, I got most the parts I need in the kitchen!!! I'll start now : )

whoa wait, you DO NOT need clear side markers for a n/a to turbo conversion!

IronJoe · #4 19-07-07

Heh, sorry, running joke because it's a question so often asked.

Normally, the answer is very easy: "yep you can do it, but it's not worth the trouble. easier & sometimes even cheaper to sell your car and buy a 900t."

But in your case, if you've got a 900s with a carlsson kit, and it's in mint condition, and you have a turbo donor car in your lap, it might be worth it.

Search turbo+900s on this forum, you'll have enough reading material to make your eyes bleed.

nnamssorxela · #5 19-07-07

yeah, I figured the question is asked at least once a week. But I thought I should make myself clear of my unique situation with my title.

I searched through a bunch then it started talking about camaros and books,...so I stopped.

nnamssorxela · #6 19-07-07

: ) <--forgot the smiley to make sure you got that I was playing.

nnamssorxela · #7 19-07-07

hey ironjoe, do you mind sending me a link of the turbo+900s search results because I can't get it to work for me. Probably why I couldn't find it earlier.
Thanks,
Alex

allessence · #8 19-07-07

Where do you get the hair from Terry Hatcher?

nnamssorxela · #9 19-07-07

not sure if it's the right hair, but I got it off a toilet she used.

jglavin · #10 19-07-07

A little off topic... anyone know of a place that sells rebuilt crate saab motors or motor+tranny? Seems like there's probably a lot of 900s out there with beat motors and straight bodies. But I could be wrong.

Back when we had an 83 t8, it had rod rap or some such ominous symptom, so we got a new (rebuilt) motor w/o trany for $1300 including install... wonder what a good rebuilt t16 would run...

nnamssorxela · #11 19-07-07

I was actually thinking how there are probably alot of smashed up saabs out there with good low mileage engines. After all, the one I pulled my carlsson kit off of (for $50) just had a side impact, probably had a good engine. The junk yard where I live has about 6 saab 900's in it right now. Course I now regret not getting the somewhat dented 6 piece side skirt and entire turbo set up among other goodies. But to make me feel better I got 4 almost new bosch platinum 4pt plugs, accel super stock 8mm wires, and my dash cover, and whale tail for free

ah feel better already. I have a 93' N/A that I'll give you for cheap as long as you take the car with it....sort of.

jglavin · #12 19-07-07

I'm not really in the market to buy...just curious since my motor is at 258k and counting... but in the event I would be more interested in getting one from a shop that would also install it, since I've got no garage to do the work nor storage for such a thing as an engine.

gorper · #13 19-07-07

It can be done without much hassle.
It is not too terribly hard if you have done, say, a clutch, can swap a camshaft, and have a Bentley manual.
It is not expensive.
It is much easier if you have a donor car at your disposal. (For *watercooled* turbos, even easier if the donor has the same type of tranny as the receiver).
You can run stock 900 Turbo boost with no problems, if you do things right.

Search my old posts, and JaredS's posts, too. Then go to Saabnet's performance board and search "LPT".

The only people who will tell you that it's too hard/too much work/you'll break your car/not worth it/buy a Turbo have not Turbo'd a non-turbo...

Tomarse · #14 20-07-07

Quote:

Originally Posted by nnamssorxela

ok, here's the deal. I might have access to a turbo engine, and me, owning a non-turbo is excited about it's potential. Is my best bet to switch entire engines (I forget why the donor car is a parts car, so engine could be bad, but I think it's just the tranny)? Or should I bolt just throw the turbo on the N/A and use the turbo internals (I have no idea if this will work but I suspect that it wont, you guys can rip me a new one and tell me) I don't want to put too much money into this either because I A) have a low budget, B) got my entire car for 300, and C) might possibly be maybe selling it

do some searching. Possibly easiest to swap the whole engine. N/A engine is higher compression (due to the pistons being different) hence the reason you may not want to turbo it or be casreful about how much boost you run and looking for knock.

nnamssorxela · #15 20-07-07

could I swap the turbo rods and pistons into the n/a and be able to run it like a turbo, or do I also need to switch cams and a bunch of other stuff. (for some reason none of the search options are working on my computers)

TheRedBaron · #16 20-07-07

nnamssorxela · #17 20-07-07

thank you SOOO much! Some wouldn't work and I haven't checked the rest, but thanks. I don't know why my computer won't let me search. Now, off to read : )

TheRedBaron · #18 20-07-07

Yeah, I just noticed some of them don't work, but it appears that most do. Made that search list a while ago, the names of the pages must have changed or something.

IronJoe · #19 20-07-07

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheRedBaron

Yeah, I just noticed some of them don't work, but it appears that most do. Made that search list a while ago, the names of the pages must have changed or something.

Only the most serious search enthusiast would correct links before posting. Andrew can has a best trubo search on the nets.

nnamssorxela · #20 20-07-07

ok, so I seems like the 2.1 is actually the better engine to have a turbo on (?!?!) because it has a higher flowing head and bigger pistons. The problem is that I can't just take the turbo engine pistons because they are too small. Everything else it seems that I can get off the turbo car, such as the cams. Will a cam switch work with "aftermarket" rods and pistons and will the 2.1 engine work with the turbo cams? I know the rest of the parts pretty much bolt on: turbo, piping, intercooler, manifold, the computer components etc. It's really hot where I live so leaving the high compression n/a pistons is not an option. yet in other posts it says that the heads are identical as is the block and that all you need is pistons, and possibly cams (and manifold etc.). So it seems like after all an engine swap would be better? This sux, every thread says completely contradictory stuff...

thanks though!

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