Turbo on a midget?

[maddy]

Just thinking about putting one on my 79. My son has one that he wants to help put on the 1500. Has it been done? I don't really want to modify the body at all. The turbo looks small enough to fit under the hood.

 

[Morris]

Lot's of people have done turbos on the 1275 midget using the MG Metro setup. And our own GlenB has done a homemade turbo set up for his Bugeye.

I have not seen a turbo on 1500 though. I think your biggest challenge on turboing a 1500 will be making the bottom end strong enough. 1500s have a notoriously weak bottom... and performance upgrades are not as readily available as they are for the 1275.

I have been fantasizing about a turbo for my own 1500. But that project is way, way, WAY down †he list for me.

 

[aeronca65t]

Agree with Morris.
The 1500 is not a high-rev engine and turbos work better when the engine is spun up pretty far.

If you do decide to go to a turbo (or a supercharger for that matter), the *first* thing to do is to be sure the crank, bearings and thrust washers are new or in *perfect* shape.