[kerber63]

I did option 3, then option 5.

I started with a ‘90 motor and got rid of all tbi and emissions junk. I put on a Quadrajet and went with a stage 1 rv cam and stock compression hyper pistons. I kept the peanut port heads - they support decent horsepower, and flow right for huge torque. I was getting ~16 mpg and didn’t feel like I was missing out on anything.

Later, I put a turbo on and tried to run it with mods to my original setup. The change was huge, but it didn’t last long. After I lost the ring lands on the pistons, I rebuilt everything with turbo spec parts - cam, pistons, double pumper, etc. I’m still running the peanut port heads - once the charge is being forced into the cylinders, it overcomes the small port flow problems.

If you’re seriously considering a turbo setup, I’d suggest saving up and doing it all at once instead of doing it in stages like I did. And prepare yourself to spend lots and lots of time thinking through every part and installation.