81 olds 4.3L V8 power/durability test

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81KiddCutty

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Apr 29, 2013
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so I decided to put in a turbo on my 260 to see if I can get some power out of it or if not how much can it withstand since I've heard their very durable I know it sounds crazy to do that since most people hate them 260s but I thought of seeing actually why not upgrade if no one has proof. the turbo I got it out of a wrecked Nissan 300zx at a salvage yard, I have no idea what the turbo's specs are or done any research b/c why its just a test. I got it installed about a week ago and so far its doing better than I expected its much more responsive than before. other upgrades I've done to it is a dual exhaust, shift kit, 3.08 rear end gears for when I finish building my 79 350olds block and drop that one in. horsepower, torque # gains I don't know hopefully it doesn't blow up on me this semester since that's my only ride.
 
The reason they are durable is because they only make maybe 100HP. You start throwing more power at one and they'll become less durable like anything else.

It'll be a fun "what if" but in the end I doubt your going to get much more out of it than a stock 350. Maybe 250HP.
 
I'd actually wondered what a 260 would hold up to in terms of boosting . . the thought had also occurred to me to maybe put some sort of throttle-body injection onto it - maybe, for example, grabbing stuff from a 4.3L Chevy V6 to adapt over to it somehow.

Still, interesting what you've done so far - I'd say have fun with it, but, yeah, as it's your only ride, don't go TOO crazy! But keep us informed if you make any changes - I find this actually fascinating!
 
King_V said:
I'd actually wondered what a 260 would hold up to in terms of boosting . . the thought had also occurred to me to maybe put some sort of throttle-body injection onto it - maybe, for example, grabbing stuff from a 4.3L Chevy V6 to adapt over to it somehow.

Still, interesting what you've done so far - I'd say have fun with it, but, yeah, as it's your only ride, don't go TOO crazy! But keep us informed if you make any changes - I find this actually fascinating!


You would actually want the TBI setup and computer out 5.0 or 5/7 liter chevy/GMC pickup, preferably 1990-1993. The 6 cyl computer will run shorter duty cycles for the injectors and have lower fuel and timing calculations for the smaller engine. You'll need a return line to the gas tank and a custom chip/tune. But it could work. Also check for looseness in the turbo and make sure the bearings aren't shot.
 
King_V said:
I'd actually wondered what a 260 would hold up to in terms of boosting . . the thought had also occurred to me to maybe put some sort of throttle-body injection onto it - maybe, for example, grabbing stuff from a 4.3L Chevy V6 to adapt over to it somehow.

Still, interesting what you've done so far - I'd say have fun with it, but, yeah, as it's your only ride, don't go TOO crazy! But keep us informed if you make any changes - I find this actually fascinating!
In terms of boost its holding pretty well and this has been an idea since I first got the car in October of 2012 b/c after seeing boosted ricers i then was thinking why not a turbo for the cutty. What kind of 4.3l v6 were you thinkin b/c I have a 96 4.3l Chevy out of a truck would it work in donating parts
 
I'm not really familiar with the truck 4.3

That said - back when I thought about it, I thought of going with the 4.3 Chevy V6 TBI setup from say a Monte or Caprice, and seeing if I could cobble things together. My assumption was just that, since it's a throttle-body unit, working on a similar displacement engine, and capable of supporting more horsepower than the 4.3 Olds V8 came with, that it might work. Not sure how things would work given the 6 vs 8 cylinders, or how duty cycles affect things when you're talking about TBI versus a port-injection system... I know it would be a problem with a port-injected system, but since TBI is basically where a carb would be, do duty cycles matter at that point? Isn't the fuel just going to be all evenly distributed anyway?

I'd've guessed that TBI from a 305 Chevy would maybe be a little too much for the Olds 260, but, I was thinking more along the lines of theory - I have ZERO practical experience in this regard.


EDIT: I think in 96, the 4.3 V6 got a sequential-like system with 6 injectors - it would not work in any manner that I was thinking of - though I guess the injectors themselves might be useful (reasonable capacity, though, you'd obviously need 2 more injectors) for going with some sort of sequential EFI setup.
 
You'll run out of air with a 300zx turbo, unless you run a pair, then you won't have enough... basically a turbo has a certain pressure vs. airflow range that it's most effective/efficient in, and you will match that to the a)size of the engine, and b)rpm range you want it to operate in. That turbo with a 4.3 will still work, but of course not to its full potential... the 300s were designed at 6-7psi, 10psi max without modifications/intercooler (they were a hot-air type setup, no intercooler). I believe the stock MAP sensor will work with this, as it's a 1-bar (14.7psi, 2-bar and 3-bar are 2x and 3x 14.7psi). I'm 99.9% sure a 5.0 or 5.7 won't have the fuel maps for boost, you would need something like an EBL, wideband O2 sensor, and appropriate fuel pump, all of which would transfer to any other engine you could get TBI to run on. The glory of this setup is it uses factory wiring, and you can run 100% stock GM parts, outside the exhaust (and fuel pressure regulator) of course.
 
I feel like this is a very bad plan because you said 'this is my only ride this semester' so you are putting your eggs all in one basket - but who am I your dad? Definitely not. However if you want more power, I would highly reccomend you go to www.tbichips.com and call the guy at the front desk w that 252 # before you continue on this quest. I have a 350 tbi in my 93 caddy and I talked to this guy extensively about possibilities on it. He helped me to understand the entire tbi system better, and even put me on to some aftermarket injectors/ intake I could use if I wanted to get more power out of it. With a new chip, new wiring harness, and a cam you can nearly double your torque but you will probably have to upgrade the torque converter or it will break. You may also need to upgrade some wiring and get a new coil pack / etc. With some new injectors and a better computer you will get much more power and your fuel mileage should actually increase at the same time. The setup you are proposing is complex and time consuming; you are almost certainly going to hit snags and if you make a mathematical error you could screw up the whole engine. If you use a tbi chip with some new injectors and just run a bigger cam instead, everything is straight forward and the programmer will do all the math for you because they have been doing this for years and already have basically every set of variables you could concoct saved as text files and it's nothing for them to burn a chip w the program you need. It will cost you less, and you will have more torque/ better gas mileage than if you run this setup. With TBI, adding a turbo is just asking for a major headache and getting a chip burner on the phone is smart bc all the work has already been done for you ahead of time! You don't need a turbo to get more out of your TBI !
 
It looks like the 'guy with the 252 number' is Brian Harris who I believe is the same person I talked to on the phone since the shop is in NC & looks like he changed his # to a 336 now. He was very nice and I couldn't get him to stop talking about TBI on the phone this guy lives/ breathes to help people modify these type of engines and I notice now he has added an entire longwinded explanation page specifically about the 4.3 - which has no turbo charger setup on it. He claims buying the supercharger setup = 320 hp maximum & that's probably in conjunction with a specific set of modifications I'd assume

One tip he kept stressing to me on the phone is oil pressure is very important and that I needed to replace the 'oil pressure sending unit' before I did anything else or I was 'wasting my time'. I hooked up a gauge @ my friend's house later that week to make sure he knew what he was talking about & sure enough the oil pressure was far below factory reccomendation (my motor is still stock I never did end up modifying anything on the car yet - although I did get the sending unit lol)
 
First off you need a CCC Olds 307 distributor to control the timing running TBI. The wire colours are the same, different plug and extra black wire is grounded. The info I found said the 94-95 computer was much better than the earlier TBI computers. The good part about the stock sbc chip is lazy timing and knock sensor, perfect for boost. I believe there is a 2bbl to TBI adapter made and just grab wiring and all out of a 4.3, 5.0 or 5.7 car. I have a feeling the 305 set up might work best.
 
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