Sub'd

This reminds me of the time I spent $10 each for some titanium bolts, just to shave a few grams.

Because of the compression and engine management, unless your going to take the engine apart 3 pounds is all you will want if you do not want to tear up the tranny and or the rods/crank. 3 pounds will get you the 300 at the wheels fairly easily.

pluses : the front of the car has a *gapping hole* to stuff GIANT inter-coolers in.

minues : if you go cheap your going to have a single turbo sitting under your car further back from the engine and your doing alot of tube routing. not ideal but cheap(er) and easy.

bigger minuses : if you want a transitional turbo setup hanging right off the exhaust bank your going to take the entire front of the car apart.

if you want more then 3 pounds of boost, well your rebuilding the block and replacing a number of deep engine components to be honest.. and that sounds like it might be outside your investment range.

As a alternative... and one I am thinking about :-

A turbo\supercharger will put you into the low 14-mpg in the city.. but since you seem ok with that I would offer this cheaper alternative. drop the rear end and stuff a 4-series pumpkin in there .. even better get a real LSD to boot.

Your rpms at 65 will be 300-ish rpm higher, highway millage will drop about 2, In town will tank by about 3-4 but your TQ multiplication for gears 1-2 will be AWESOME. for in town racing you will see a reasonable reduction in acceleration. hell even 3rd gear will get some love.

4th and 5th .. not so much .. but most races are over before you hit 4th unless your on a track with some 1/4 mile plus straight-aways.

One more thing. check your oil every other day. if your using more then 1/4 - quart between changes .. get a oil catch can installed. It will help the afr and keep your plugs from getting $%^&ed up.

There's also an aluminum crashbar in that gaping hole that giant intercoolers won't usually fit with. Custom fabrication can fix this but it all comes down to the intercooler and how much piping is required in the front.

Turbos are not easy to work with when it comes to installing / removing them. So unless you are doing the work yourself expect to pay for labor. Plus, you have a better chance of breaking a rod on a stock block as opposed to using a SC.

If you are truly serious about going FI and want to keep it simple / inexpensive than go with a Vortech supercharger. To me, the downside with the Vortech is the lack of torque and the noise they make, but they are cheap and easy to install. Expect to spend up to $10K for a basic setup.

SC, fool.

awwww... bummer. it looks so spacious when your under the hood...