Can you run a single turbo off of a single bank of a 302?

So I have always wanted to do Nitrous in my project Explorer, but the more I read about it, and the more research I did, the less fun it seemed to be on the street, if I wanted to use it and mess with people. So I am expanding my options to a turbo, I can get either a used Garrett, or Ebay turbo for $500 or less, just to try it out, and make a decent setup, but my question is about space under the hood of the 2nd gen Explorer. I will be removing the EC evaporator, and all of the AC stuff, which will leave quite a bit of room on the passenger side of the engine compartment for say a turbo, but to run the driver side exhaust to the passenger side might be an issue, so can I run a turbo with just a single bank of the exhaust? I have read many answers across the internet, but I am looking for experience, with this specific engine in our Explorers. OR, has anybody done a good turbo setup for street use here? I am looking to keep power steering, heat, and the alternator, because I really just want the truck to be a street rig I can beat the living day lights out of. My main issue is supplying the turbo with the exhaust, the rest is pretty straight forward, as far as intake, and the rest of the exhaust will just be fender exit, lol.

 

[Heath]

Look and see how STS sets up their Turbo's maybe you could do something similar to that.

 

[delexploder]

Look at Dono he's running a turbo

 

[Anime]

Nitrous is a bad idea if you're using it on the street, especially if you're "using it on the street to mess with people". That's just asking for a collision to happen when you hit the nitrous on a public road.

As for running a single turbo on only one side of the exhaust on a V8, sure you can do it, but it's not going to be optimal for a lot of reasons. You're going to get four cylinders worth of boost for an eight cylinder engine, for one. You're also going to create a lot of issues with each side of the engine and differences in air/fuel/exhaust. I would guess that at the very least, without a lot of tuning to compensate for all that, the engine will run poorly, and the turbo will mostly be a gimmick that winds up "working" to add back the power that it winds up taking away from what the engine would be without the turbo at all.

The turbo is best placed where both exhaust streams push it. You don't need to optimize the exhaust, and can get creative with the routing, some have even put the turbo on the bottom, next to the transmission.

Really though, a turbo is going to just be a band-aid to try and counter the weight of such a heavy vehicle and heavy wheels. You can drop a lot of weight by removing the dual sub box and getting wheels that are way lighter than the Soft 8's.

If you're just after a street rig, you should lose a lot of the heavy off-road stuff.

 

[1996BLKBauer]

Not for my current rig, it's for a project sport I'm working on. But thanks or the input. Also by messing with people I mean, let's say some cool guy passes me in a camaro I can just keep up with him no matter what he does.

 

[colintrax]

Remote turbo, don't bother running it off one bank

 

[1996BLKBauer]

The only Issue I have with a remote turbo is that I want to drive this thing all the time, rain or shine, so if it rains I don't want it so low, and have the possibility of picking up water through the turbo.

 

[CDW6212R]

There might be room to run a cross over pipe from the driver's side, under the area where the balancer is. That's the only way I'd go with one turbo, use both banks.

Removing the AC drier shouldn't create enough space for a turbo. I thought hard about placing one where the WW and overflow bottles are, but I needed a bigger turbo.

The engine bay is too small. Moving the passenger side floorboard back to make space for two pipes to pass there was the next best idea(with a remote turbo), but I didn't like that either.



I suggest concentrating on the existing weakest link, and then build a strong high compression 302-347, NA. The exhaust in these is horrible, the worst ever made. Scrap the whole thing, especially the manifolds. Find someone who can build high quality manifolds, and get them to do a log manifold. Any log manifold will easily outflow any header ever made for these 302 Explorers(except the rare race only trucks you may read of). Have it made with very thick flanges, and a simple single pipe(that's what a log manifold is), leading to a decent collector, 2.5" at least. Then have cat pipes made that are also at least 2.5", leading to two mufflers and two tailpipes.

Don't waste time with any performance unless you have a true full length dual exhaust. One tailpipe is fine for a high performance 4 cylinder engine, but not a V8. That's a huge restriction that stifles HP. Given a decent exhaust, a 300hp level is easily achieved with typical SBF modifications. Stock is about 200hp, so do it right and find out what another 100hp will do. Make it a stroker and who knows? Plus in the end, it will be just as reliable as any of the countless 302 vehicles out there.

The exhaust sucks, fix that right, and the rest will be down hill.
...

 

[colintrax]

The only Issue I have with a remote turbo is that I want to drive this thing all the time, rain or shine, so if it rains I don't want it so low, and have the possibility of picking up water through the turbo.

I've considered running a remote turbo for the day I actually have the time and money. My plan is to mount the intake inside the truck, under the seat or something. Should sound pretty cool and keep the filter dry

 

[shucker1]

Why not (2) smaller turbos, one one each bank like the production line manufacturers are doing now?

We have been doing twin turbo setups on our large stationary engines for 30 years.

 

[Dono]

The only Issue I have with a remote turbo is that I want to drive this thing all the time, rain or shine, so if it rains I don't want it so low, and have the possibility of picking up water through the turbo.

Don't worry about this. I used a small tool box with the end cut off bolted up underneath the truck housing the air filter. No splash on the filter at all. I'm guessing you might have issues in 18+ inches of water. The only thing I found is the filter does get filled with really fine particle. I use a water shedding pre-filter over my amsoil filter.
I am learning that doing a proper pcv system is challenging with rear mount though.

If you have the welding fab skills, I'm sure the turbo could fit under the hood. No question, this is the best place for it.

 

[1996BLKBauer]

Don't worry about this. I used a small tool box with the end cut off bolted up underneath the truck housing the air filter. No splash on the filter at all. I'm guessing you might have issues in 18+ inches of water. The only thing I found is the filter does get filled with really fine particle. I use a water shedding pre-filter over my amsoil filter.
I am learning that doing a proper pcv system is challenging with rear mount though.

If you have the welding fab skills, I'm sure the turbo could fit under the hood. No question, this is the best place for it.

well my plan is to learn to weld for this project, the only way I a going to get good is by doing it, right? I think once I get the truck, and the turbo the ideas will start to come, but its pretty hard to do it without everything right in front of me. Twins also seem like a great idea, just not sure how that would do with the budget, so we'll see.

 

[Dono]

Twins are a bit more complex, and where you win on exhaust routing, you loose on cold air routing. I guess it depends on where you can find room.

If you could move the battery to its own box in the back of the truck safely, and then maybe move the windshield washer fluid/overflow tank to where the battery was, you could pretty much free up that whole passenger side once you pull the factory air box out. Im sure the turbo could be put there. The mustang guys even cut out some of the inner fender and weld in another piece of sheet metal to give themselves more room also.

 

[jah81592]

Never work running on 1 bank. I have several projects in my shop running a single 3-4" exhaust. Actually my personal car is a single 4" down pipe and hoping to make around 1400 wheel horse. Actually I will need to make this to be competitive in the class we want to run in.