You know I gave this serious consideration - and may give it more consideration - but what initially scared me away from a turbo is the potential for turbo leaks in the piping and how in general more complexity = more problems.

That said, with 5-10psi boost on a 5.9 Magnum, even without an intercooler, that should be a 550hp motor.

I can't see a supercharger kit being cheaper than building a N/A big block though... I could be wrong of course.

I tend to agree with you, but I just don't see a 408 being built for that cheap without using stock Magnum heads (which are typically cracked) and a cast crank... I'm sure that there's good cast cranks out there besides Eagle which are not prone to crack, but I just don't know if my comfort level quite there to spent that much money on a engine with a cast crank.

Last time I priced out a 408 with IMM heads and a forged crank, it was close to $6000-$6500.

I wonder at what price point a 5.7 Hemi swap would have to drop to be a wash against the 5.9 Magnum?

360 small block. Stroke and bore it to 410 cubic inches with aluminum heads -- easy 500 horsepower and light weight. Power to weight ratio is a lot better with this combination unless you go with an aluminum hemi.

Best of luck!!!!!!!!

I guess the main question is how are you going to use the car? Mainly street with the occasional 1320, autox, road course or is it going to be the occasional Friday/Saturday cruise with a visit to the track every weekend?

I faced this question several years ago with my 67 Dart GT. Since the car was mainly a street visitor And had manual steering I went with a 360. He built a motor that pretty much had the torque and hp equal to similar big block without the added front end weight. The car would go low 13s all day long and was limited in going faster due to chassis and limited rear tires and gearing.

The car is now in OZ, the new owner made some mods, went with a small block stroker tubbed the rear to get more tire, made some minor front end mods and now the car gos in the low 11s

Owning a big block Dart now I can see a vast difference in handling running a big block vs a small block A body.

I'm a BB guy but for what you want a SB should do the trick and will be much less of a head ache.

I always liked the A bodies with the 383. I'd get a 383, build it to '68 magnum specs with 10.5 compression, mild hyd. cam and have fun.

Superchargers aren't the cheapest things out there, however a good, new centrifugal supercharger can be had for 2500. The beauty is if your engine ever pukes, the s/c in not affected, can be resold, transferred to another car, etc. A used one can be had for 1000-1500 depending on model.

quickD100 has a post in the race section about how he took a stock LA 318, put on a $250 ebay GT-45 turbo, put in a new head gasket set, o-ringed the block, head studs and dynoed 563hp. Even with the extra complexities, it would be well worth for the cost savings. For 1000 bucks you could put the whole thing together. Worst case scenario you grenade the block and are out the $200 bucks for another junkyard 318.

Jim, what exhaust manifolds are those?

I'd say it depends on how much YOU can do, your capabilities, if not much you will pay the piper, keep it simple, 360-383 with good heads,cam, intake, carb and ignition. I'd be embarrassed if it didn't run 12s-13s. 100 hp shot nitrous would be easy to add. Get it running then as time and money allow upgrade the combo. If you can do the work get the Gen lll 5.7-6.1, sky's the limit for that engine. Stock transplant, 5.7 $1800 with fast controller $1300 mated to a 904, mounts, oil pan maybe another $600 you're on your way, use the stock headers. Again upgrade as money comes in. Scrounge around for deals on parts! Don't have to buy new! Get it running and you'll have your money pit. LOL

435 HP at the rear wheels?? That means you were over 500 at the flywheel...

I think you have misunderstood then what the meaning of PORTED is, a 3 angle valve job is NOT porting.

It's still going to cost a lot to even do a basic rebuild on the CRAPPIEST head known to man, the open chamber, big block Chrysler head, there are stock small blocks heads that flow better.

It seems like you're just trying to start an argument with me at this point, which adds nothing to the discussion, especially since I had already apologized to you over the confusion.

But yes, I am aware that it's best to buy aftermarket big block heads than trying to perform a full-blown race port on factory heads.

However, for an engine that's likely not going to see more than 450hp and 500ft/lb of torque, it can be argued that just cleaning up and reusing a set of 452s would offer the best bang for the buck.

You make some good points. What's interesting is that with a quick Google search, a brand new NOVI-1200 supercharger is roughly $3,000, so installing that on top of a low mileage 5.9 Magnum wouldn't be more expensive than rebuilding a big block with similar HP.

And correct me if I'm mistaken, but with a turbo you dial back the boost if need be and turn up the power whenever you want it.

Hmm...

B-body HP. Those are '69 pieces, but '68-'73 will fit the same. The outer sleeve on the steering column has to be shortened up to the firewall.

The engine I bought for my '68 Dart was an LA 360 (9:1 compression) out of a cop car from the 70's (apparently). It supposedly had a very mild rebuild in the 90's and was put in a Valiant. Sometime around 2008 the owner of the engine put a Paxton supercharger on it. The supercharger only made 4-5 lbs of boost but made 390 whp to the wheels. When I bought the engine, I first decided to send it to a machine shop to check as it had some leaks here and there and had kind of low compression on one of the cylinders. When he tore it apart he was shocked to see it had stock internals. When he checked the bores they were 0.003" out of round. I do feel like the engine did take a tole with the extra boost and hard running towards the end of its life.

Well, my engine builder and I talked it over, and for my application (someone who plans on autocrossing and road racing) we decided to go with a mild 408 stroker engine for the lighter weight, simplicity, and to free up more room in the engine bay. He projects it to make about 500-575 crank horsepower.

What I'm going to do with the supercharger? I'm either going to save it or sell it to recoupe my money. I had an interesting junkyard 273 I wanted to build or I thought it would be cool for a pre-75 small block truck as a tow rig I think the A-bodies really benefit from small blocks, but I will admit a big block does look cool in one.

If I was starting with a completely clean slate, I'd hands down go with a Gen III Hemi. If you really want to be different and have the patience with fabrication and tuning you could try doing an SRT4 swap.

Same with a supercharger. Just swap pulleys.

Not the same.

Just finished getting a CSX sorted out after 6 months of work. I can alter the power from 150 hp to 270 hp with just a tap of the boost controller while tooling down the street.

If you take a look on ebay, you can often find used centrifugal supercharger kits for 5.0 mustangs for pretty cheap (~1500). They would be a perfect fit for a 318 or 5.2 mag or 360/5.9. I bet for 2500 I could pick up a used kit, junkyard 5.2 magnum, fuel system, piping and bracketry and be out the door. Turbo could be done for a lot less, but a lot more work and skill required to setup the exhaust piping.

Just for info..
Manifolds won't fit the regular mounted way,
unless the firewall is move back.

swapped sides- move the master cylinder over.

My knowledge on boosting engines isn't amazing, but I'm assuming if you have a boost controller, you also have some sort of on-board computer and fuel injection kit to dial in the boost and change the tune not to blow the engine. How do you do that with a carbureted system?

I'm assuming the op is budget minded as he keeps talking about cost. I know people say throwing on a turbo is cheap, but almost all of the budget builds I have seen have cost over $1500 and many more man hours.