Putting A Turbo On A 97 Non-Turbo 6.5
 

I'll start by saying I know NOTHING about 6.5's... I am looking at buying a box van (like a UPS truck) with a non-turbo 6.5 in it. How hard would it be to put a turbo on it? Simple as bolting the turbo and exhaust man on from another truck or does somthing need to be done with the computer? Should I intercool it or not? Not looking for snap your neck power (it is a box van) but trying to gain some MPG and a little bit of pull back. Truck will be at about 14,000 lbs all the time.

Thanks
Bobby

your going to have to get a turbo setup off of a van or a hummer because they are mounted on the top whereas the truck ones are mounted on the side, other then that its a matter of slapping on the turbo, maybe getting some bigger injectors but you should be fine

I though the truck ones were mounted on top as well?

Anycase, you have the option of locating all the parts off another motor and hoping you have them all, swapping motors, or getting a kit. The Banks Sidewinder kit is complete. I don't know who else builds a complete kit for that motor. The Banks kit is actually for the 6.2, but Banks is telling me that the motor dimensions are the same. They say the kit will work on the 6.5L.

Will the computer go crazy? Is there even a computer on this thing?

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And do you think it would be worth it?

i dont believe the computer will go crazy, and yes there is a computer, if it goes crazy then you will just have to get one out of a truck that has a turbo 6.5, as for the mounting location of the turbo the trucks had the turbo mounted next to the motor on the passenger side, the vans and hummers were mounted on the top, and for it being worth it, yes its worth it it should wake it up a little bit, i wouldnt expect any huge gains because after all it is a 6.5

The truck turbos are mounted in between the passenger side of motor and fenderwall, it is really an odd looking setup, I had the luck to see under the hood of one; quite often; that belonged to a friend of mine a while back.

is the pump electronic? there are electronic and non electronic versions of the 6.5L. I rebuild pumps for these all day long. more mechanicals than electronics. look for a harness with a bunch of wires connected to the pump. if there are only two wires connected it is mechanical. with the mechanical it would be real easy. with the electronic I think it would need some changes. the computer would need to know it has boost. that will help with fuel.

What year is the box van?? That will help us out a little bit...in '94, GM went to electronic injection...prior to that, they were manually injected, and there would be no "brain" to it...'94 and up, they're computer controlled...

No, the trucks had side mounted turbos...only vans and military hummers were top mounted. The swap would be pretty easy, but would end up being kind-of costly. To do it right, you'll need the turbo manifolds, crossover pipe, and turbo...in addition, you'll need an IP for a turbo 6.5, as well as new injectors and injector lines. The Injector pump and injectors for a N/A engine don't flow as much fuel as the turbo'd ones, and the injector lines (IIRC) are matched to the IP.

It's possible to use the stock N/A Injector Pump, but I'd do it right...if your engine is computer controlled right now, buy a manual injector pump for a turbo engine, and that solves both issues...

It's a 97... Here is the van...

http://tooltrucks.com/ads/tt1162/info.php?id=tt1162

good call on putting a mechanical pump on there.