Well, I've been reading and researching for close to a year now, so I've finally decided what I wanted to build. It's an 89 2wd 4.3 Blazer I picked up this past weekend. I plan to do a SBC swap with an S400. The engine will be out tomorrow and fabbing will begin asap. This will likely be a long build because this is my first turbo build and I'm still learning. Here's a couple of pics.
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10 second blazers are cool. you will LOVE that s 400.

 

hows the build coming? any pics of the progress?

 

Sorry to dig up my old thread, but I figured it would be better than starting a new one. There has been nothing done on the build at all until now. I let myself get distracted with several things such as back surgery, starting a side business (breeding reptiles and feeders), and changing jobs...
Anyway, I have decided to swap in the engine from my 88 s-10 truck for now. Both engines are out and will have the "new" one in likely this week. The engine is a 4 bolt 350 TBI (355) with less than 8000 miles on it since we rebuilt it, however the rebuild was done in '98. I don't remember the specs on all of the internals we used, but I know nothing was forged. The pistons are flat tops and the stock TBI heads were shaved a bit more than necessary. Intake and tb are stock as well.
Ok, I know that this is basically the worst flowing engine combo I could possibly have, but I am wondering if you guys think it would be a bad idea to fab up the turbo setup on it and get used to running megasquirt at low boost until I can build up the funds for a worthwhile engine? The hot side would all still work wouldn't it (headers the same)? I do want to go efi on the final engine, but not GM TBI, so that would be just a little work on the cold side when I'm ready. I know the earlier posts speak of a 71mm S400, but since then I traded it back to Dave for the 75mm.

I plan to install Megasquirt on it regardless to learn the system.

Really, the question is... Is this a bad idea, and why/why not?

 

Swap to the MS first.
That way all bugs are worked out and you know your way around the MS before your making some power.
Swap to the final intake and tune it some more. That way you get the fuel system done first and working.
Doing it all at once can be very frustrating trying to diagnose if you end up with several problems.
Then put the turbo on and tune it at low boost. 5 psi won't hurt anything but tires.
And maybe the 700 trans

I swap to better stock heads while it's out.

 

Also, another thought is the exhaust. The manifolds that I was using on the truck require that you notch the frame on the drivers side to clear. I do not want to do this to the Blazer so I would end up having to order a set of n/a headers to avoid the notching and then turn around and have to shelf them when I install the turbo. This is why I was wanting to go ahead and do the header build so that I would not be double spending.
Money is a bit on the tight side right now so any unnecessary spending will need to be avoided.