b23ft or b23f+t

[blue cube]

in the wagon this summer i am putting in a b21

i was gonna swap in a b21ft

BUT

the idea of turboing a b21 for more torque has entered
my mind over the past few days..
esp reading all you guys who have done it

since i have to buy the engine and put it in +t'ing a b21
after all that isnt that much more work and should have
the same internals (which i intend on rebuilding anyhow)

also will be getrag'ing or T5'ing after im done with the
engine swap.

what are your thoughts? if i get a b21 its not gonna have
the turbo on it anyhow and im gonna rebuild it either way...

im really leaning towards +T at this point i like the idea
of more torque

what are your thoughts?

EDIT - i might add time and money dont really matter so much to me.. this is a project and not my daily driver...

[linuxman51]

in what wagon? and b21 all the way, the cr on a b21ft is like 7.5 or something terrible like that...

[blue cube]

in what wagon? and b21 all the way, the cr on a b21ft is like 7.5 or something terrible like that...

i bought an 87 745ti w 350k on it about a month ago for $150
pics are here http://www.pbase.com/bookofchanges/pictures_of_the_87_740_turbo_wagon
(it was a HELL of a deal)

the engine and trans wont hold up to the abuse i want to put through
it..
esp the engine thats in it now 87 b230ft... lasted a LONG time
on stock boost, but it will never stand up to my plans

so out it goes and in goes a b21

now ft or f+t is what i am going to have to figure out

but i am leaning towards f+t hard at this point...

thx for the opinion linux man :-)

[245gti]

I'm running what is essentially a B21F+T except I've approached from the other way. I took a B21FT and put in B21F 9.3:1 pistons. One advantage of going this route is you have an engine with all the necessary turbo accessories like a turbo oil supply and drain and the turbo specific heater pipe running back from the waterpump. I've been running it for a couple of summers now and have over 20,000 km on it and so far it hasn't complained. The bottom end torque is so much easier to use than the stock B21FT. I'm also running an "A" cam so it breathes quite a bit better than the "T" cam. No problem revving and pulling hard right up to red line....

[The Aspirator]

If you're starting from scratch anyways, why settle for the B21? Why not a B23 or a B230. Or even a Penta 2.5L! You'd be spending roughly the same ammount of money I would guess. Anyhow that's what I would do. Dale has a great point about the turbo specific blocks, and if you're rebuilding anyways that's a good idea. A B230FT with B230F pistons or something. Not that it's all too difficult to make it work like all of us F+T people have done.

That's a really nice car! Great find. I'm getting an '83ish 240 wagon for the same price, no engine. I'll probably just turn that one around though... fix it up and sell it for a profit. We'll see.

John

[linuxman51]

seriously. you can pick up late model b230f's for pretty cheap (And they wont need a rebuild), occasionally you can find late model turbo motors fairly cheap too if you wanted to do that instead. If you're itchin to build a motor, go for it, but remember, theres no replacement for displacement :wink:

[blue cube]

yeah i meant b23

i dont know why i said b21

but im really liking the b21ft w/ b21 pistons...