my brother has offered me ( for free of coarse) a slightly used ported head with cam (maybe crane but unsure of size) and a brand new T4b turbo both of which he bought for a neon that he did nothing with. i figure i might as well put the head and cam on when i decide to rebuild but is this turbo worth finding a manifold, intake, fuel system,and everthing else for? i just dont want to be spending thousands just to use this particular turbo if i can more cheaply use another one.

btw this is NOT t3-t4 but a larger t4b about the same as my friends Stage4 turbo on his srt4.

 

Take the head, but as for the turbo....you have to ask yourself if you wanna turbo your engine. Is it a daily driver? How many miles on it? How is the compression?

 

Whats a good compression reading for a used engine?

 

Not so much the number, but the difference between them. You want them within about 10-15 psi of each other.

 

havent done a compression check yet but will do. but if i do decide to do a turbo set up i will be doing a complete rebuild and do it right. im thinking of just picking up the turbo parts as i find them cheaply(have some srt4 friends that will be changing set ups in the future) to complete a kit.

Haynes manual says compression should be 170-225psi with up to 25% ( little much for me) difference between cylinders and needing service at 100 psi even if they all match the number is important, go to low and you wont burn the fuel efficently.

 

Weird. With my higher compression pistons I ran 150-152 across.

 

Zachthats definately low, my TLEV reads about 175 across. My non TLEV reads at 190. Both with about 130000 miles

 

larger lift/duration cams will throw the readings off.
opening the throttle while testing also brings the readings up.
but as stated previously , uniform readings are what you are looking for.
as for the turbo , check out garret online .........looks aren't everything.
it's the internal dimensions that matter.
any markings/stampings on the center section?

 

very true about the throttle body affecting it

i should mention that the service limit and compression readings are supposed to be taken at WOT

i completely forgot to tell my gf to floor it, so my compression readings are probably lower then they should be

 

I didnt know that either? But your right about it being low. Thats weird for a 1200 mile engine. Turned out to be alot of valve float so the head was junk when I did the test.