hey i am new here and have some questions. I am building a rat rod with the chassis of a 72 c20 chevy with a 350. I have a fascination with turbos and want to boost this thing but i dont want to put the life of the engine at risk and also have a limited budget. What things are necessary to safely handle 6 or 7 psi? I hear a lot about ring gap etc. that will expand with added EGTs. Also is my goal of 450 hp realistic? Does someone have a similar build similar they would share? tia

 

Forgot to mention this is with blown through carburator not EFI

 

450 should be doable, but you may need more than 7 psi to get there. If you can make 300 na, 7 psi will get you very close. Ring gap shouldn't be an issue at that level especially if it has any miles on it. As far as putting the engine at risk... there's always some risk, but its mostly in the tune, even at only 7 psi. Keep the tune safe, use your head, and it'll most likely live a long time.

 

OK that was my next question. Do air/fuel guages work good enough to base a tune off Of? And is there a rule of thumb ratio for a blown 350

 

Many rely solely on a wideband, but its always good to back it up by looking at plugs. The plugs will also give you very usable info on timing, and what the engine wants. The a/f could vary depending on quite a few factors, but 11-11.5 is typically safe for pump gas given you're not using fuel to bandaid another issue.

 

The cheap a/f gauges are useless. get an aem or zeitronix wide band a/f gauge. Again - the cheap ones are useless.

 

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/avm-30-4110/overview/

these seem to work good, looks like the price has come down a bit