I’m a sucker for old trucks with straight-six engines. It’s my guess you are too because, well, you’re here, ain’t’cha? I’ve written quite a few blogs about the fabled Ford 300 and what happens when you turbocharge one, but never about a boosted Chrysler slant-six. That changes today thanks to Tony Angelo’s latest project on the Stay Tuned YouTube channel.
The rig in question is a 1980 Dodge D150 with the 225-cubic-inch power plant. In case you’re unfamiliar with the slant-six, it’s essentially an inline engine that’s leaned 30 degrees to the passenger side for packaging purposes. Chrysler took advantage of that, as the slant-six was in everything from Plymouth Valiants and Dodge Darts to plain old work trucks like you see here. They were beloved for their dependability, but that was about it—they were never powerhouses from the factory.
In essentially stock form, Angelo hustled the D150 to 60 mph in 18.4 seconds. That’s slow, no matter how you shake it. Stock ratings of 145 horsepower and 215 lb-ft of torque are nothing to crow about anyhow. It was time to assemble the turbo kit after establishing that baseline to see just how much it could improve on the pickup’s performance.
The channel acquired the parts for seriously cheap. As in, they only paid $123 for the turbo off Amazon. It’s a Maxpeedingrods whirler that Angelo and co. ran previously on an old Lincoln project. A $100 turbo wastegate and $69 blowoff valve from Summit finished it off while the 500-cfm Holley two-barrel carburetor was by far the most expensive part at $589. All in all, the goal was to spend less than $1,000 and they made it happen; buy used parts and you could probably do it for $500.
A clutch problem popped up on their first test run but after replacing the throwout bearing, it was time to see what it could do. One thing’s for sure: It makes a lot more noise now because it’s always whistling as long as the throttle’s on. The initial test run returned a 10.7-second sprint to 60 mph despite a slow start, meaning the cheap turbo kit knocked eight seconds off the acceleration time first try. Now that’s impressive. What’s more impressive is with a better start, Angelo was able to crack a Dragy-verified 9.7-second time, cutting the stock truck’s figure in half—all on the cheap.
Every zero-to-60 run took place on the same stretch of road with Angelo and his friend Barb, the truck’s owner, in the cab. One big reason the truck improved on its final test, aside from the obvious boost, is that Angelo stretched second gear out so he hit 60 just before shifting into third. Each shift takes precious time off the run, but thanks to better wheel speed in the first 60 feet, they were able to crack the nine-second range. That’s still only a little bit quicker than a last-gen Toyota Prius, but hey, it’s a lot more fun to drive. I’ll tell ya that for free.
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