Turbocharged 134 F Head finished.

Just get this out of the way first: Yes I know an engine swap would make more sense and HP, I did it because I like to tinker and this project makes me smile. I also understand how your buddy's/girlfriend's/mother-law's fuel injected, blown jeep is way cooler/faster than mine. I prostrate myself at your awesome feet for coming up so unworthy.

In the years I have been following this site I saw the idea of a turbocharged Jeep, specifically the F head, come up again and again. Normally followed by comments on how they should learn to search the archives, how cool it would be, how it would never work and how a motor swap would be better. I started to wonder if anyone had ever tried it and searching lead to one guy on youtube who turboed a propane powered F head. He had two videos, neither overly informative as to how and took about 4 months to respond to questions. All of this merely stewed aimlessly in my brain until the day I found that beautiful wrecked Saab with a low output 2L turbo free for the taking. The rest, as they say, is history.

That very turbo system, well part of it anyway, now lives beneath the hood of my 1961 CJ5, bolted to a 134 F head which just happens to be about 2L. It isn't a perfect union but it is working far better than one would be lead to believe. Most noticeable is the low end grunt, something that many seemed to feel wouldn't exist. I attribute this to not being a dumb teen anymore and understanding that bigger isn't always better. It is a T25/25, and gives me power gains at about 1000 RPM with a power band peak at about 3200. It is far from a fire snorting beast, I keep the boost way to low (4psi is my goal) for such things but it is a very nice, drivable addition. The real test will come this summer when we enter the mountains and Jeep to the mining claims. I will see what sort of help the turbo can provide above 8000 feet.

Life has not been super easy in turbo town. The original blow through system was taken apart in favor of a draw through due to fuel delivery issues. The draw through solves that but can be temperamental to start. I assume this is because of the length of my piping. Still working on that. I also have a detonation gremlin at WOT that I am massaging out with a combination of octane, boot adjustment and timing.

So there you have it. Next time someone brings it up you can point them my way and they can investigate what I did and the results gained. I documented the scope and steps of the project reasonably well, good and bad. Was it worth it for me? I think so, I will be sure once I come down out of the mountains. Will it be worth it for you, idk, do you like this sort of stuff? I did it with some very basic tools, welder, chop saw and one part on a lathe just to save time. I have very little money into the modification but quite a bit of time. I can tell you this, a 4.3 swap will give you way more power, but it will never, ever, be as cool.


Build log:

http://fheadturbo.blogspot.com/

Videos: (you can find the others from my account)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyor7dkkBq0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1J5r3JISMag


Ken

 

That is so cool!

 

x2!!!! I hear you on tinkering around with it versus the engine swap.

 

There's nothing like having something different. I like it.

 

Very cool. One day I would like to have me a Turbo F-head with FI.

 

As heavy duty as the crank, rods, pistons and heads are on the F-Heads, I can not see a problem with running 4 or 5 lbs of boost.

Should keep your power right up there in the really high country you are running around in.
Did it improve your gas mileage?

As for timing, if you have changed to a pertronix, your timing could change.
I found mine switched from cylinder 1 to either cylinder 3 or 4. Don't remember which. That was 4 years ago.

 

Bout Time... :stout:
http://www.earlycj5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=87498
I've been waiting R)

see if the detonation at wot goes away with the distributor retarded a touch, you may need to adjust the advance to account for the extra pressure
I had been tooling with a distributor, converted to HEI, was looking at vac advance/ boost retard as well, but waited till road test

me likey the sidepipe.
just don't end up like this kid.
http://www.earlycj5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=70907
It ran great for 2min 8miles from home, then needed a tow...

 

That's cool as cool can be. Sounds neat. Good show.

 

Pfft. My cousin's, step sisters better looking friends uncle hooked a leaf blower to the intake of his f-head and it'd blow the doors off that thing.

But seriously, sweet build. Little turns heads quicker than the sound of a turbo spooling up.
I'm curious as to what the problem was with fueling on the blow through system.
I take it the engine would run lean when it started building boost?

 

Nice

 

Outstanding!!!

 

A very fun project. Good work!

I'm surprised you could not make the blow-through work ... because of leaks? The usual cure is an air box, not a complete reconfig.

Have you read any of DIck Datson's discussion of this topic?

 

My Hero!!!!

 

I have no experience with the Solex, but I would try draw thru if i did it again that is how turbo jetfires were. just don't put a blow off valve on it, you can recirculate to the inlet of the turbo.
Blow thru is tricky because there is a lot of prep that varies from carb to carb. and you need a variable fuel pressure regulator and more fuel pressure, mine was limited to 4psi boost because I just ran an electric pump after the mechanical fuel pump using a single barrel Holley.
you can't run a carter blow thru because of the accelerator pump linkages, accelerator pump diaphragms that is not likely to hold up and the need for a solid float in place of the hollow brass float.

 

Sounds like FI would be way easier. Megasquirt can be set up for Boost.

Turbos is one area that carbs are very defficient. This is partially why I think we are seeing so many turbo cars these days, FI made it possible.

 

Awesome. Sounds like a deuce and a half, just a little smaller.

 

I let the blow through idea go because of finding a way to vary the fuel pressure. In the end it seemed simpler to me just to draw. Bassed a lot of research off the old Corvair turbos as they were similar in vintage. I knew I was never going to push the Jeep to the ragged edge so the loss of efficiency didn't bother me. This just seemed simpler than going with the carb box and the rest of it. I wanted to keep as bare bones stupied simple as one could get with such things just to see how it works. Turns out the stock linkage works fine when you flip the carb around to the other side of the motor, it levers backward but then so does the carb. Octane and timing seem to take care of the WOT ping, I will have to check the plugs to be sure. Took her out again this afternoon running hills I knew very well to get a feel for the change. Not miracles but good fun. Milage is down but as I bolted on the Solodex as is from the box with no adjustments I think that might be my fault.

Ken

 

Very cool! What I want to know though, is how do you mount your video camera on the side of the Jeep? Looks like it moves around a little, rather than being mounted rigidly.

 

very cool. i like the sound and it doesnt seem too loud. now to figure out how to put twin turbos on my 225
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