Thread: Got my turbo

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The Turbo My Dad's Boss gave us got here today. It's a 3.8 GN turbo which is a Air Research T3 super 60 trim, and it is in awsome shape, no rotor play or anything, still planning on putting it in the Falcon

Matt, maybe a turbo for a 3.8L V6 is a bit big for a Falcon engine? What is the size of your Falcon engine? It will still work but only after you get into an rpm range that puts out enough exhaust gas to turn the turbo over real fast. I recall seeing a dyno curve for a Corvair Spider with a factory turbo that had almost no effect until about 3500 rpm and then the HP went almost straight up. I think what you are looking at is almost no improvement at low rpm but a drastic jump in power as the rpm goes up. Some folks call this turbo lag. Usually the idea is to put a turbo from a smaller engine on a larger engine then you get an instant improvement at low rpm. On the other hand I am familiar with the economics of rodding and "free" is a very important word in economics. On the bright side, you will probably be able to maintain the usual good mpg of a Falcon six most of the time with a reserve power if you decide to keep it in a lower gear a little longer. There are several good books on turbochargers and the one I have emphasizes matching the turbo to the displacement of the engine. I would still put it on if I were you but you may not see much difference at low rpm.

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

well isn't a turbo made to get power as the rpms go up anyways..... most turbos dont kick in til about 2500 anyways.....

my engine is a 3.3 200 I6 so it's not much smaller. it's virtully the same turbo they put on the 2.3 4cyl T bird engines, just the wastegate is set higher on the Buick model. I'v put it through dyno 2000 and the power really gets there around 4k, reading about 200 HP at 3500 it starts to jump very quickly. I have to get a few parts for it, find the oil feeds, ( anybody know where they are? the only ports I found are 1 for the wastegate and the other went to a boost gauge, they both just emptie out into the compressor outlet of the turbo ), other than that everything will be simple.

Matt, well that might work better, I was afraid you had the little 144 I6 in the early Falcons; that would be a mismatch. Have fun!

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder