I guess I better come clean here... I took a real verbal beating for my Turbocharger idea from several people I know. I got the whole burnt piston / toasted valve scenario from them. I still don't think they had any real idea what I was looking for. They had a picture in their head of all out max boost and I was actually thinking of just a slight mark above positive pressure going into the system which would probably be over come by the volumetric demand on the system when any real degree of RPM was churned up. I was really thinking of just keeping the input air to the SC just above a zero and no vacuum by using a preset blow off valve to regulate input pressure. I have since decided to rethink this as I believe it might be possible to do what I want with some kind of high volume electrically powered blowers. I may try some experiments with an old leaf blower and some very fast and powerful 12 VDC motors I have. It would be interesting to see if it is possible to produce enough volume to bring the intake up to a slightly positive pressure. I'm going to have to do some calculations to determine needed CFM. If this sort of system is possible to make it would be an on demand thing that would not always need to be used. Anyone got a junk leaf blower they don't want???
Now, back to the present... Still waiting on the plasma cutter but I see some other problems on the project. While slowly cutting away parts of the practice cab and the Explorer fire wall section I see several problems. One is a matter of cutting away more than I had anticipated on the cab's front cowling. That I think I can deal with, but it's going to take a lot more sheet metal fabrication than I had thought. The other is the matter of getting the old style windshield wiper integrated with the newer stuff. It's a real linkage problem. So far the best idea I have been able to come up with is a dual acting master and slave cylinder system driven by crank on the Explorer wiper motor in it's original location. I need a couple of very small double acting cylinders with a 4 to 5 inch stroke and a very small bore of .5 to .75 inch.
I'm still looking around to come up with some sort of a custom grille and lighting arrangement to fill in that big gaping hole in front. I do not like the '53 grille. I do like the '54 and '55 but I'd want chrome and there ain't no way I'm going for $450.00 plus for that. I still need some rear fenders and a hood. I don't mind rough stuff as long as it is repairable.
OK, that's pretty much it for now. Maybe I will have more to report next week after I get the plasma cutter back.
Later Folks...