possible to go NA and then add turbo?

[silentchaos]

Okay guys so my mind started to wonder a bit last night and a question came to me.
would it be possible to go the NA route and then add a turbo to it?
like cams and pfc and springs and valves and all that good stuff. basically have an almost fully built na motor minus the pistons(even but lower compression pistons in since a turbo would be on the way.
would there be any real gains with a turbo motor that can rev to 9k?
i dont imagine it would be cost effective. it was just a thought i had and i thought i would share since you really only hear about people going na or fi and not ever doing a mix of the two.

[slvrcelicagt00]

n/a is high compression , turbo needs low compression... so no you have to choose one route and take it, unless you want to upgrade pistons twice

[JSPITZ]

^^^this man is correct. Do everything else but Pistons and then go turbo.

[Boosted2.0]

Okay guys so my mind started to wonder a bit last night and a question came to me.
would it be possible to go the NA route and then add a turbo to it?
like cams and pfc and springs and valves and all that good stuff. basically have an almost fully built na motor minus the pistons(even but lower compression pistons in since a turbo would be on the way.
would there be any real gains with a turbo motor that can rev to 9k?
i dont imagine it would be cost effective. it was just a thought i had and i thought i would share since you really only hear about people going na or fi and not ever doing a mix of the two.

A ton of the NA mods that are possible will also compliment FI.

Power FC, wideband O2, Piper stage 2 or 3 cams, MWR valves & springs, MWR oil pump, moroso oil pan, Head P&P, light flywheel, MWR bearings, head studs, main studs, all of these things help both NA and FI.

For pistons, you could simply stay stock for NA, and buy a spare used shortblock. Get it built for low compression (LR bombproob bottom end) as you have time and money. When you are ready to go FI just buy a gasket kit, pull the motor and swap your head onto your FI bottom end and back together you go, then sell the NA bottom end. If you have a recent dyno and compression test on your motor you should easily be able to get back the money for the money you spent on the used shortblock.

Alternatively you could just buy a whole second used motor and keep that NA bottom end and your used stock head, assemble them and have a backup motor un case you pop the turbo motor.

[Celicasaur]

Would anyone disagree to using a custom, thicker head gasket as a means of lowering compression slightly after having fitted higher compression pistons? (btw, im not speaking for myself here, it's just a thought off the honduh farm and i wanted to see what anyone here thought...)

And lowering c/r i mean something like...bringing down from 12.3 to maybe 11. Probably not low enough to set the highest hp records out there, but still lower than stock, still good enough to work well with most 'stock gt-s' set ups when turbo'd and also you'll have forged pistons.

[Boosted2.0]

thick HGs are not a great way to change compression. I only ever advocate their use when an head and block have been machined excessively and you want to restore proper spacing.

[Celicasaur]

Ahhh...fair enough ^^^ useful to know.

I guess another factor that pops into my mind is piston design. The high compression Mahle one has the potential for lots of hot spots, which is bad under boost.