Author Topic: Anyone have a Turbo In-line 6 in their c10?  (Read 4655 times)

Offline montezeric01

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Anyone have a Turbo In-line 6 in their c10?
« on: March 31, 2019, 09:49:09 PM »
I’m still trying to decide what to do with my truck. At first I was thinking LS swap of course and still may go that route. But what would the price difference be if I just had my stock inline 6 in my 1981 c10 rebuilt and add a turbo vs an LS swap? And could a stock inline 6 handle a turbo?


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Offline Stewart G Griffin

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Re: Anyone have a Turbo In-line 6 in their c10?
« Reply #1 on: April 01, 2019, 09:17:58 AM »
i've got nothing against straight 6's even though the only one i ever had was in a 78 nova. (250)

A stock 6, apparently, can handle a turbo (if the boost is kept conservative) .  i have an older, detailed, Hot Rod article concerning this which i can scan in.   You'll have to be very patient, as i'm busy and may or may not get to it by this weekend, and maybe not at all.

i think you'll get more performance out of  an LS though.

Offline montezeric01

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Re: Anyone have a Turbo In-line 6 in their c10?
« Reply #2 on: April 01, 2019, 09:31:42 AM »
i've got nothing against straight 6's even though the only one i ever had was in a 78 nova. (250)

A stock 6, apparently, can handle a turbo (if the boost is kept conservative) .  i have an older, detailed, Hot Rod article concerning this which i can scan in.   You'll have to be very patient, as i'm busy and may or may not get to it by this weekend, and maybe not at all.

i think you'll get more performance out of  an LS though.


I’d love to see it! And no rush as I’m still in the very early stages of deciding what I’d like to do with my truck! I may decide to still go with an LS swap but thinking about being different if I can get some decent HP out of the stock motor. But if it’s going to be the same or close to the same price as the LS swap I will just go that route


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Offline Smokehouse

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Re: Anyone have a Turbo In-line 6 in their c10?
« Reply #3 on: April 01, 2019, 09:33:03 AM »
I think a turbo 6 would have a one up on the cool factor when you open the hood at a car show.  You would have plenty of room under the hood for that.
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Offline montezeric01

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Re: Anyone have a Turbo In-line 6 in their c10?
« Reply #4 on: April 01, 2019, 09:34:43 AM »
I think a turbo 6 would have a one up on the cool factor when you open the hood at a car show.  You would have plenty of room under the hood for that.


That’s exactly what I’m thinking! I feel everyone has an LS swap in their truck and I’m not looking to win races with my truck but I’d still like to be able to do a burnout! Haha


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Offline JohnnyPopper

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Re: Anyone have a Turbo In-line 6 in their c10?
« Reply #5 on: April 01, 2019, 01:01:58 PM »
Cool factor would be off the charts  ;D

However, to burn out you might consider a supercharger.
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Offline montezeric01

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Re: Anyone have a Turbo In-line 6 in their c10?
« Reply #6 on: April 01, 2019, 03:04:56 PM »
Cool factor would be off the charts  ;D

However, to burn out you might consider a supercharger.


May consider that option as well! Probably gonna look into switching to 4.10 gears as well!


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Offline Stewart G Griffin

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Re: Anyone have a Turbo In-line 6 in their c10?
« Reply #7 on: April 01, 2019, 05:58:50 PM »
Ready?







If you LIKE the engine and want to mess with a turbo, then fine.  But i think the easiest, fastest and cheapest way for more performance is to drop a 350 in there.  Gm performance has a few good ones for not too much $$$.    An LS swap might be easier, cheaper too.

Offline Irish_Alley

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Re: Anyone have a Turbo In-line 6 in their c10?
« Reply #8 on: April 01, 2019, 07:22:54 PM »
17.5 mpg. man those were some good numbers for a inline 6
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Offline montezeric01

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Re: Anyone have a Turbo In-line 6 in their c10?
« Reply #9 on: April 01, 2019, 07:32:51 PM »
Ready?







If you LIKE the engine and want to mess with a turbo, then fine.  But i think the easiest, fastest and cheapest way for more performance is to drop a 350 in there.  Gm performance has a few good ones for not too much $$$.    An LS swap might be easier, cheaper too.


Thanks for the article! I joined an inline 6 group on Facebook and I learned about how expensive it was today but I still feel like it would have the cool factor!


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Offline Irish_Alley

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Re: Anyone have a Turbo In-line 6 in their c10?
« Reply #10 on: April 01, 2019, 07:34:10 PM »
how much?
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Offline Jason S

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Re: Anyone have a Turbo In-line 6 in their c10?
« Reply #11 on: April 04, 2019, 09:35:19 PM »
Thanks for the article! I joined an inline 6 group on Facebook and I learned about how expensive it was today but I still feel like it would have the cool factor!

That'd definitely be cool and out of the ordinary.  I recall from the 1990's looking over a 50's International truck that someone had turboed the I-6 and found it fascinating.
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Offline 75gmck25

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Re: Anyone have a Turbo In-line 6 in their c10?
« Reply #12 on: April 05, 2019, 05:40:33 AM »
If you can find a modern turbo 6 cylinder that works, and pull all the electronic controls I think you would be surprised how responsive it can be.  Most are tuned for very good low end torque, and that is what you feel in daily driving.

I always wondered why my 2015 BMW 4 cylinder (2.0 liter, 240 hp) always felt so responsive in normal driving, and then I found this site with torque/HP curves for various engines.   https://www.automobile-catalog.com/curve/2015/1960550/bmw_328i_xdrive_steptronic.html
If you look at the torque curve for this 2.0 liter engine you can see that they have the turbo boost tuned so that the torque curve is nearly flat from 1250 RPM up to about 5000 RPM.  This means its almost always close to max torque when you hit the throttle, so power for passing or merging into traffic is always there.

Is there any modern turbo 6 that is an easy swap into a squarebody?  Maybe something from one of the GM SUVs?

Bruce

Offline montezeric01

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Re: Anyone have a Turbo In-line 6 in their c10?
« Reply #13 on: April 05, 2019, 07:17:15 AM »
If you can find a modern turbo 6 cylinder that works, and pull all the electronic controls I think you would be surprised how responsive it can be.  Most are tuned for very good low end torque, and that is what you feel in daily driving.

I always wondered why my 2015 BMW 4 cylinder (2.0 liter, 240 hp) always felt so responsive in normal driving, and then I found this site with torque/HP curves for various engines.   https://www.automobile-catalog.com/curve/2015/1960550/bmw_328i_xdrive_steptronic.html
If you look at the torque curve for this 2.0 liter engine you can see that they have the turbo boost tuned so that the torque curve is nearly flat from 1250 RPM up to about 5000 RPM.  This means its almost always close to max torque when you hit the throttle, so power for passing or merging into traffic is always there.

Is there any modern turbo 6 that is an easy swap into a squarebody?  Maybe something from one of the GM SUVs?

Bruce


The only one I can think of is the new small duramax  it’s a turbo diesel but it’s a 4 cylinder


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Offline Stewart G Griffin

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Re: Anyone have a Turbo In-line 6 in their c10?
« Reply #14 on: April 05, 2019, 08:54:05 AM »