If Im not hitting that bridge at 80mph, I wont be going 50 when I crawl to the top, not good when semis are on your butt and the grandma next to you is passing you like your sitting still. When its windy, Im lucky to hit the top at 40.... seagulls pass me, I go so slow somedays, I get younger.
Why not as 350? Well, this is a DD, I would be hard pressed to swap in a 350 and a tranny in under 36 hours so I can make it to work again. Thats if I dont have school on any of those days. Thats if the wife doesnt mind watching both our kids (a 15 month old and a 2 month old) for 3 solid days while I sit in the garage and drink beer smoking cigarettes.
Granted I could overcome these obstacles but why? I can fiddle fart around with megasquirt or splitsecond before I even build a turbo to become familiar with it as well as eak a little more power out of the 1 lazy squirrel not holding his end up. I can buy a turbo at my leisure and the cheapest price, get the piping all fabed up without losing my ride and one day wake up and say "Its turbo time." and a couple hours later be tuning it. Meanwhile someone else throws their 4 banger on ebay for $100 and Ill pick it up to build int a better turbo machine. I could almost build 2 engines with turbos for the cost of a v8 swap and have 90% less hassle.