[sniklacg]

Mike, I've got a 1989 Lebaron Turbo Convertable that I've been tweeking for a couple of years, maybe I can help.

>Should I have an intercooler installed?
I did. Over the entire production years of the Lebarons and all the other Chrysler/Dodge turbo cars there were a few options for an intercooled car. You could go out an have an aftermarket intercooler installed, but I wouldn't unless you're going high on the boost. You didn't say what year your Lebaron was, but I'm assuming you have an 87 or later which used the smaller Mitsubishi turbo. This turbocharger won't make enough boost to need an aftermarket intercooler, the factory one does fine. The MAP sensor on your car won't let you go over 14 lbs of boost without significant modifications anyway so I'm assuming you aren't. I purchased a used intake system, complete with radiator, air boxes and hoses off eBay for $300.
If you buy a factory intercooler, make sure you get the radiator and the lower intercooler hose. The radiator is narrower so as to make room for the intercooler, but it is dual core unit to make up for its smaller size. The lower intercooler hose is made of unobtainium.


>Is it possible to get a blowoff valve on a stock turbo car?
You probably already have a blowoff valve on it. Its a small diaphram valve inside the air box. Check your lower turbo pipe looking for a 3/4 inch Tee outlet in the middle of it. It should be running to the bottom of your air box. That's the blowoff hose. My convertable has an automatic transmission so a blowoff valve isn't really required (the biggest boost pressure spike hits when you're shifting gears). The stock intercooled intake doesn't have a blowoff valve included. I have an aftermarket one, but I haven't installed it yet.

>Are stock turbo cars the same as buying a turbocharger for a car?
No. The turbo block pistons have a lower compression ratio than the normally aspirated (N/A) engine. Stock C/R on the turbo engine is about 8:1. Turbo engines from the early 80's were about 8.5:1. My engine is balanced with forged pistons and runs 8.5:1. The N/A engine is over 9:1. The lower C/R allows the engine to handle more boost without danger of detonation (pinging). I run up to 14lbs, but NEVER buy anything other than high-octane fuel ($2.09/gal this morning in Utah).
There even differences between the factory turbo engines. The cars with the factory intercooler also had a billet crank, while mine (and yours) has a cast crank. Some have cross-drilled heads and blocks to increase cooling. The computers are different as are the wiring harnesses. When you can (like you can with Chrysler) start with as much factory stuff as you can and upgrade from there.

>Should my gauges have a turbo gauge or is that just aftermarket stuff?
This was an option for your car. The center console gauge that shows door open, fuel, trunk open lights on your car could be replaced with a combination guage that shows boost/vacuum and the vehicle information. I found one at a junk yard and paid about $10 for it. I just had to run a vacuum line from the back of the guage up to the intake manifold, but wiring was the same. There are several factory boost guages, I think only the guage from another Lebaron will fit yours.

More importantly, if you plan on messing with your boost pressure, get yourself an air/fuel mixture guage. You need to make sure you have enough fuel to keep up with the increased air. There's a link for one from DawesDevices.com on my web site.

I've started to document what I've done to the car hoping that other people can get more ideas. I've put the document on my web page at
http://www.calkins.ws/cars.html

You can find many other helpful web sites by following the links on my site. Sorry, I've broken the home page on my site and I've been too busy to fix it lately, so only the the link above and those below it work right now.

Good luck on your car. I've sure had fun with mine.

Gordon