SOHC Rebuild Question

[LSDrift]

So I have been dreaming of a turbo lately but am starting college this fall so I am pretty much broke. My question here is about rebuilding a separate engine in prep for a turbo...I found an E for $200 with supposedly 89k miles on it. I was thinking that would be a great start and just slowly over the next couple of years build it up. What I'm wondering is about compression ratios. Say I blow up the E that is already in my car and I end up having to put the spare one in, if I was to put in like a 10.7:1 setup and call it good would that handle any kind of boost later in life or would that not be worth it? If I put in a lower c/r around 8 and just slapped it in would it be so gutless that I would hate driving until I put a turbo in? All help is appreciated! Thanks!

[Brandon93240]

I would stay between 9-9.5ish-1. You could boost with the higher compression but your not going to be able to safely make as much power. Just take a look at e36 bmws, they run considerably higher comp. ratios, they boost ok for 5-7 lbs but after that they'll melt pistons unless you have water/meth injection. 9.5-1 is higher than stock, so you'll have better driveability than you do now, and better out of boost response when you turbo it. If that engine really does have 89k I'd pull it apart, have the head redone(valve job, seals, resurface)buy some aftermarket pistons, have the rods checked and have new bearing and arp bolts installed and you should be ready to rock. You should be able to just have the cylinders honed with only 89k so standard bore pistons will work.

[WDRacing]

As a general rule, lower compression with more boost will result in more power. Having low compression in the beginning will allow you to run more timing to make up for the lack of boost till you can afford said turbo kit.

Never waste money on compression if your end goal is a boosted motor. Unless of course it's running E85, then you can have the best of both worlds within reason.