I'm installing a newly-rebult '73 258 six and Torqueflite into Josh's 1972 Hornet, a good opportunity to see how a big fat turbo would actually fit into a passenger car (AMC of course) as opposed to the umm slightly different configuration of an Indy car (see this picture).
To my surprise it fits. I thought for sure the turbo housing would want to live in the space currently occupied by the pesky spring tower, but there is plenty of clearance there. It wouldn't cook manual brakes; a power brake booster wouldn't fit.
That's a big turbo too; a T04 or TE06, I forget which, and I'm too lazy to look. Doesn't matter here though. It's actually the wrong turbo; the flange is too wide for the manifold.
It appears that a small hood blister would be needed for clearance, and getting the exhaust down past the steering gear would be somewhat tricky, but retrofitting turbocharger exhaust always seems to the hard part, and this isn't all that bad.
The biggest variables are the two "Y"s pipes needed to couple exhaust from cylinders 1 and 2, and 5 and 6, into the turbo exhaust inlet casting; and all of the intake ports to the log that feeds them. Not shown here, but visible in other photos elsewhere, are the fuel injectors, on the bottom of each intake port. A draw-through carburetor, but with a big fat log filled with compressed, hot explosive fuel/air, seems a bit risky for a street car where a backfire is not all that rare.
Exhaust and boost popoff valves would make things a lot tighter, I suppose they could vent straight up through the hood...
