Turbocharged Spitfire

[restoman]

Anyone fitted a turbo to their Spitfire 1500? Any details appreciated.

[//j17]

Seem to remember reading about one turbo Spitfire but most people tend to go the Supercharger route, or just swap the engine to a straight 6/Ford Zetec/etc if they want more power.

[Robert060379]

Tried it a few years ago using Metro turbo and Renault 5 GTt bits (blow through set up). Limited success without doing something to reduce the compression. Made a 10mm spacer out of Aluminium sheet using a head gasket as a template. Two head gaskets between the block, spacer and head dropped compression low enough to run more boost. Had to make a set of 10.25mm longer push rods on my mates lathe (best power tool in the world ever). Prety quick, but the crank bearings had other ideas. Ended up putting a 13b Mazda RX7 gen'II Turbo engine and box in there instead.

[catso]

I don't think the bottom end would stand up to any significant power increase, IIRC the 1500 already had more failures than the 1300 (of which it was basically a stroked version) due to having more torque than the 3 crank bearings could reliably handle.

Best to try and find a 2L or even a 2.5L six cylinder engine of the era, a relatively 'straight forward' transplant I believe.