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Turbo with carb?
Posted: Fri Nov 12, 2004 1:54 am
by roadhouse
Just curious........can an EJ22T be modified to accept a carb and run without the ECU?
Posted: Fri Nov 12, 2004 2:23 am
by vrg3
http://bbs.legacycentral.org/viewtopic.php?t=1116
If you put enough effort into it, I'm sure you could do it. But why? EFI goes so well with turbocharging.
Posted: Fri Nov 12, 2004 7:22 am
by douglas vincent
Ha ha ha, I was such a noob! Now I am a supercharged Noob!
Posted: Fri Nov 12, 2004 8:09 am
by BAC5.2
Subaru + VTEC = Noob.
I am also curious as to why you would want to carb a turbo engine?
Posted: Fri Nov 12, 2004 12:28 pm
by -K-
I would run a carb turbo but I wouldn't de EFI a car. It's hard to get a carb turbo to run real well and you can't push the power up much with much safety.
I'd say that some people are just scared of EFI, me I'm more scared of adjusting points all the time...
Posted: Fri Nov 12, 2004 1:36 pm
by roadhouse
I may be able to get my hands on an EJ22T with out the harness,etc.
I wanted to ask this question for several weeks but was afraid to brcause it could be one of those dumb questions.
My second dumb questioin is what is a NOOB?
Posted: Fri Nov 12, 2004 2:10 pm
by -K-
A noob is someone who is new, or inexperinced.
What are your plans with this engine? Do you have a car you want to put it in? You can get a nice Legacy Sport for $3-4000, less if it's got a few dings, bad paint etc.
Like I said it's hard to get the performance out of a turob carb set up.
Posted: Fri Nov 12, 2004 3:39 pm
by professor
You may notice that the advent of turbocharging automobiles for serious power for racing and street use completely coincided with the use of EFI systems.
If you did get it to "work" I suspect you'd have to run super rich much of the time, like gas pouring out of the exhaust rich, and would get horrendous gas mileage.
Posted: Fri Nov 12, 2004 4:46 pm
by vrg3
What car do you have, roadhouse? If it's a non-turbo Legacy you don't need a new harness... And you'd probably be better off trying to run it on the non-turbo ECU with some hacks than carbureting it.
Posted: Sun Nov 14, 2004 10:46 pm
by Brat4by4
Have you guys ever seen a carb turbo? The carb actually mounts onto the inlet of the turbo. So the fuel and air get boosted into the engine, pretty nuts. It is very very rare. Almost impossible to tune. Plus, I'd be scared of some nasty backfires if you overspin the turbo.
Posted: Mon Nov 15, 2004 12:09 am
by vrg3
You can do carb turbos both ways... Draw through or blow through. The draw through method you're describing is easier to tune, and you don't need a blowoff valve, but there's no good place to put an intercooler and you get some fuel puddling in the turbo as well as reduced efficiency since the fuel has to go through the compressor.
Blow through setups require some fancy modifications, since the carburetor has to be sealed up and modified so boost pressure doesn't push fuel the wrong way, and somehow fueling has to be increased. But at least you get to intercool.
Interesting note -- some of the early fuel injected Chrysler turbos were actually draw-through. The turbo compressor was placed downstream of the throttle body.
Posted: Mon Nov 15, 2004 12:16 am
by evolutionmovement
So the turbo pulls air through which in turn pulls in more fuel through the carb? Seems like a nightmare to tune for any kind of driveability if even possible.
Steve
Posted: Mon Nov 15, 2004 12:20 am
by vrg3
Yup, and yup.

Posted: Mon Nov 15, 2004 2:02 am
by roadhouse
I had no real project in mind, I have 2 SS's and a TW. I like the turbo motor and have access to a spare EJ22T. I also have a VW powered BMW sidecar motorcycle. I have another BMW frame and I was ......well you know. I love all kinds of machinery, cars and motorcycles but wires and springs drive me nuts. A turbo without wires, if it could have been done easy, might have gotten me dreaming about another project.
Posted: Mon Nov 15, 2004 11:58 am
by -K-
I would go for a draw through. How hard to tune would it be, I mean you put a carb on a V8 and it sucks the engine air through adding the fuel as it goes. So you put it on a turbo inlet... same thing. It should be about as easy to tune as a N/A.
Now if you put it after the turbo... a carb uses air speed to draw fuel. Compressed air won't draw any more fuel so it messes up your afr on boost.
This is the simple explanation...