- Oct 11, 1999
- 15,581
- 1
- 76
"If you?re a fan of Jay Leno?s Garage, you probably remember his tank car, a King Kong sized, 9500-lb. hot rod built around a 1792 cid V-12 Continental-designed, Chrysler-built, tank engine. With 810 hp and 1560 lb.-ft of torque, you?d think that might be enough oomph for Leno right? Wrong.
Hot rodding turbo legend Gale Banks has been a friend of Leno?s for years.
?There?s two things Jay wants in a car, a loud horn and huge power,? says Banks. So about two years ago, Leno approached Banks with the idea of twin turbocharging the tank car?s massive air-cooled engine. And it?s just now coming together in time for the August unveiling at the Woodward Dream Cruise in Detroit.
Finding stuff to hot-rod a tank engine from the 1950?s ain?t easy. So many of the parts Banks and his team had to build themselves?out of giant slabs of billet aluminum. And they worked with the Robert Bosche company to convert the engine to fuel injection. The fuel rails alone are the size of V8 camshafts. The turbos were sourced from Honeywell/Garrett Turbo Technologies and are magnesium-housing units originally used for Toyota?s CART efforts. They don?t sell them, officially, but if they did you?d pay close to $10,000 per copy. Get this, the tag on the housings read part number ?714201-leno?.
Cool.
Banks estimates the whole shebang will produce 1600 hp and 3000-lb.-ft of torque. However the 6-speed Allison transmission has a torque limit. So Banks will limit the motor?s output in at least First gear. Still, this thing should light the tires up like a Top Fueler. "
link
Hot rodding turbo legend Gale Banks has been a friend of Leno?s for years.
?There?s two things Jay wants in a car, a loud horn and huge power,? says Banks. So about two years ago, Leno approached Banks with the idea of twin turbocharging the tank car?s massive air-cooled engine. And it?s just now coming together in time for the August unveiling at the Woodward Dream Cruise in Detroit.
Finding stuff to hot-rod a tank engine from the 1950?s ain?t easy. So many of the parts Banks and his team had to build themselves?out of giant slabs of billet aluminum. And they worked with the Robert Bosche company to convert the engine to fuel injection. The fuel rails alone are the size of V8 camshafts. The turbos were sourced from Honeywell/Garrett Turbo Technologies and are magnesium-housing units originally used for Toyota?s CART efforts. They don?t sell them, officially, but if they did you?d pay close to $10,000 per copy. Get this, the tag on the housings read part number ?714201-leno?.
Cool.
Banks estimates the whole shebang will produce 1600 hp and 3000-lb.-ft of torque. However the 6-speed Allison transmission has a torque limit. So Banks will limit the motor?s output in at least First gear. Still, this thing should light the tires up like a Top Fueler. "
link
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