What is the “easiest” engine swap thats most reliable to most HP?

[opethmike]

What did the turbo kits of the day run anyway 5, 6 pounds?

Yeah, and still issues with blow-by, detonation, etc. Most of that though can be contributed to the rather bootleg modifications to fueling and timing included with the kit. As evidenced by the Esprit, K-Jet and a distributor can absolutely support a turbo (my old, non-intercooled 1987 Esprit Turbo ran 9.5 pounds of boost with K-Jet, and had zero blow-by issues), but the supporting modifications need to be done intelligently.

Nowadays, if I were to turbo a PRV without touching the internals, I would convert to EFI and at a minimum control the distributor via the same computer. Luke Sandel would be the guy to talk to about that stuff though. He has real world knowledge of it, whereas I am just theorizing.

[CFI]

Driving a stage II auto for the last 10 years I can say that I am glad my car is equipped with the stage II engine, but I am even more happy that I wasn't the one who paid for the upgrade.

Same here!

[opethmike]

The problem with the turbo was control. It used a very rudimentary actuation system and if it failed you could overboost the motor and blow the pistons. The boost has to be kept below 6# or the cast pistons would die. To get more boost it takes forged pistons and intercoolers. The liners are OK to handle more pressure. With the turbo you don't need headers (Stage I) or aggressive cams (Stage II). For anyone thinking of going with Turbos the way to do it now would be to put a computer controlled EFI system on that can control the turbos and get rid of the restrictive K-Jet system. So now you are spending $4K for a turbo kit and another $1-2K for the EFI. Still less cost than a Stage II and more power. IMHO that is the way to go to get the most bang for the buck. And in the future if you want more you can change the pistons and increase the boost. If that isn't enough you can add intercoolers so you have a path to increase the power too.

But ultimately, you still have the PRV as your power center. Block rot becoming increasingly more common, poor quality aluminum, and I could go on and on.

[FABombjoy]

I'm confused, where do you get a $4,000 bolt on turbo kit for a DeLorean?

That's probably what I spent on my scratch-built (er, "bespoke") turbo/efi setup. A business would have to sell a lot of kit pre-orders to get the price to $4K and make probably zilch money in the process.

Also eventually servicing the 80's turbo kits will become a problem and I wouldn't steer anyone towards them that isn't prepared to deal with semi-advanced problem solving.
I wasted a lot of time trying to find Island turbos w/ proper carbon seals and settled on a Garret T3 which are easier to build for draw through. But so few turbo use carbon seal that even my rebuilder managed to screw it up.
You can find bolt-on RHB5s that fit on the Island hardware all day long and almost none will actually work if you want to keep oil in the crankcase.

[Redsquall]

The problem with the turbo was control. It used a very rudimentary actuation system and if it failed you could overboost the motor and blow the pistons. The boost has to be kept below 6# or the cast pistons would die. To get more boost it takes forged pistons and intercoolers. The liners are OK to handle more pressure. With the turbo you don't need headers (Stage I) or aggressive cams (Stage II). For anyone thinking of going with Turbos the way to do it now would be to put a computer controlled EFI system on that can control the turbos and get rid of the restrictive K-Jet system. So now you are spending $4K for a turbo kit and another $1-2K for the EFI. Still less cost than a Stage II and more power. IMHO that is the way to go to get the most bang for the buck. And in the future if you want more you can change the pistons and increase the boost. If that isn't enough you can add intercoolers so you have a path to increase the power too.

Is there anyone around that knows what they’re doing with this that would do this? I’m in Indiana

[Redsquall]

No one has dyno’d before and after getting a stage 2?

[David T]

The Island Turbo kits are few and far between but they do become available every now and then when an owner takes one off and goes back to stock. The turbos are hard to find but there are rebuilders who can still do them. I agree control was the big problem with them between controlling the boost, timing, and fuel delivery. BUT! Now we have an alternative that wasn't available back in the 80's. You can buy an EFI system, bolt it on, and program it yourself. Don't fool yourself, the K-jet is a very limited and restrictive system. It became a hodge-podge of added system on added system to try to stay modern but it's basic feature, the venturi with the air flow sensor, makes it very restrictive to the free flow of air. It was the best they could do "back in the day" but, like carburetors, their day has passed. For the record, I have an Island Turbo kit and I would consider selling it but it does NOT come with an EFI system. I leave that up to whoever buys the kit. As for the price, I am guessing it is worth around $4K based on what I have in it. Anyone considering buying it would have to have some experience with turbos. As far as I know the only DMC shops with any experience is DMC CA or PJ Grady. The other shops just want to take them off. To them it is't worth the trouble to keep them going. They are finicky.

[mr_maxime]

I drove Andy Blackmon's stage 2. It's more power but I'd say not really worth it and its not a swap.

While I'm still a long ways away, everything is steering me to the LS. They are the most well documented swaps that I've seen and you'll find the members that have done an LS swap posting in nearly every engine swap thread on this forum.

[opethmike]

No one has dyno’d before and after getting a stage 2?

Yes, plenty. The DMC gets 95-100 horsepower at the wheel stock, and then 130-135 at the wheel with stage 2. That works out to 145-150 at the crank. Does not come close to the advertised 197 crank that the vendors advertise.

No vendor does turbos. A VERY good speed shop could do turbos for you, but realistically going to be looking at much, much more than the out of thin air $4k that Guru came up with.

Actually, no. DPI does a turbo setup, but it's around $25,000.

I have experience with many different kinds of performance mods for the car, and many other kinds of cars. My first question is - what exactly are you looking for power wise? My second question is - how much are you willing to spend?

I can come across as a bit cranky when discussing DeLoreans and power, but I'm not trying to be combative or snotty with anyone. The thing is, I've been around these cars for 15 years, and have been into high performance car modification for just as long. And the DeLorean scene is full of false claims around power gains, lack of evidence for supposed improvements, etc. And that's got to go with the prices involved.

[opethmike]

Also, if anyone is seriously considering an LS swap, you are very welcome to drive my car for a few hours, provided you are willing to come to Rochester NY.