Duder
Watch it man, there's a beverage here!
- Joined
- Dec 9, 2009
- Location
- Torrance, CA USA
This story starts back in 2005 when I got my first full time job as a CAD designer. I worked for several months on a twin turbo kit for the 2005+ Mustang GT, with twin GT2860RS (Disco Potatos) added to the base V8 car to make something that would compete with a Cobra. I designed the exhaust manifolds, downpipes, and was working on charge plumbing to & from the intercooler when the kit scope changed and it was decided that this was as far as it would go. Originally the idea was a complete solution with tuning and everything, but the version that got sold to the public was a "tuner kit" with exhaust side parts and turbos only, including oil and water lines.
The de-scope was a bit of a letdown for me but I was able to drive the development mule car extensively and was amazed by the power. It made 490whp at <10psi on a Dynojet with this system, plus recalibration of the stock ECU, fueling upgrades, larger throttle body, and deletion of the tumble valves in the intake tract. You would just barely think about touching the throttle and the rear tires would haze. I learned how to keep the car under some semblance of control and had a great time helping develop the kit and taking data. More than the average CAD designer got to ever think about. I ended up in an aftermarket performance application engineer position a few years later but by that time the kit had mostly run its course.
I was pretty proud of the exhaust system design. The manifolds were reverse engineered from the original Ford geometry, and the downpipe outlets are located precisely where the original manifold flanges were. This means any OE or aftermarket exhaust system designed for the stock manifolds would also work with the turbo kit.
In 2010 or 2011 there was still a SEMA display engine gathering dust at work, which had the turbo kit installed. It had not seen the show circuit in several years but was intact and seemingly forgotten. How does this relate to Volvos? Well I was able work out a deal and take the engine home, with nefarious plans in mind. The mule car still exists but this is not the engine from that car; it was only ever used as a display engine for the kit.
Good news is this is basically a zero-mile 2005 3-valve 4.6. It was bought by my friend in marketing from a dismantler in late 2005 or early '06. The story was the original car was out on a test drive when the prospective customer wrecked it. Car got parted out, including the super fresh V8. Here it sits almost 13 years later. Still fresh.
In 2014 I found a 1984 Diesel 245 for sale up in Olympia Washington on craigslist. Diesels are the only post-1975 240s that are smog exempt in CA, meaning engine swaps are feasible. Poik (Eric) offered to check out the wagon in person for me since he was much closer, and reported back its condition. I agreed to buy it sight unseen, sent a deposit, and planned to pick it up a few weeks later when I'd be up in Seattle anyway. Alex Buchka offered to help me drive it back so we made it an interesting 75hp road trip all the way from Seattle to LA over 3 days. I put up this thread about the trip: http://forums.turbobricks.com/showthread.php?t=301120
The wagon got driven around here and there but the plan all along was to put this 4.6 in it. Diesel got pulled in late 2015 and has been around the block a few times since then. The car, however, hasn't gone much of anywhere. It has mostly been in my garage. At some point I thought that if I left the engine close enough to the engineless shell it would start to assemble itself, but no such luck.
I pressure washed the engine bay and successfully got rid of most of the diesel oily shmutz. It still has some in the tank though.
Update April 2019: plans have changed! The donor car is now my '75 245 pea green survivor car that I've been putting around in for a few years, rescued from a field in Colorado by Luke (122power) in 2015 or so.
Pea Green Survivor thread here: http://forums.turbobricks.com/showthread.php?t=327998
The blue car lives in SFO now with my friend Nate; it's now getting a single-turbo LS swap. His build thread is here:
http://forums.turbobricks.com/showthread.php?t=348446
The de-scope was a bit of a letdown for me but I was able to drive the development mule car extensively and was amazed by the power. It made 490whp at <10psi on a Dynojet with this system, plus recalibration of the stock ECU, fueling upgrades, larger throttle body, and deletion of the tumble valves in the intake tract. You would just barely think about touching the throttle and the rear tires would haze. I learned how to keep the car under some semblance of control and had a great time helping develop the kit and taking data. More than the average CAD designer got to ever think about. I ended up in an aftermarket performance application engineer position a few years later but by that time the kit had mostly run its course.
I was pretty proud of the exhaust system design. The manifolds were reverse engineered from the original Ford geometry, and the downpipe outlets are located precisely where the original manifold flanges were. This means any OE or aftermarket exhaust system designed for the stock manifolds would also work with the turbo kit.
In 2010 or 2011 there was still a SEMA display engine gathering dust at work, which had the turbo kit installed. It had not seen the show circuit in several years but was intact and seemingly forgotten. How does this relate to Volvos? Well I was able work out a deal and take the engine home, with nefarious plans in mind. The mule car still exists but this is not the engine from that car; it was only ever used as a display engine for the kit.
Good news is this is basically a zero-mile 2005 3-valve 4.6. It was bought by my friend in marketing from a dismantler in late 2005 or early '06. The story was the original car was out on a test drive when the prospective customer wrecked it. Car got parted out, including the super fresh V8. Here it sits almost 13 years later. Still fresh.
In 2014 I found a 1984 Diesel 245 for sale up in Olympia Washington on craigslist. Diesels are the only post-1975 240s that are smog exempt in CA, meaning engine swaps are feasible. Poik (Eric) offered to check out the wagon in person for me since he was much closer, and reported back its condition. I agreed to buy it sight unseen, sent a deposit, and planned to pick it up a few weeks later when I'd be up in Seattle anyway. Alex Buchka offered to help me drive it back so we made it an interesting 75hp road trip all the way from Seattle to LA over 3 days. I put up this thread about the trip: http://forums.turbobricks.com/showthread.php?t=301120
The wagon got driven around here and there but the plan all along was to put this 4.6 in it. Diesel got pulled in late 2015 and has been around the block a few times since then. The car, however, hasn't gone much of anywhere. It has mostly been in my garage. At some point I thought that if I left the engine close enough to the engineless shell it would start to assemble itself, but no such luck.
I pressure washed the engine bay and successfully got rid of most of the diesel oily shmutz. It still has some in the tank though.
Update April 2019: plans have changed! The donor car is now my '75 245 pea green survivor car that I've been putting around in for a few years, rescued from a field in Colorado by Luke (122power) in 2015 or so.
Pea Green Survivor thread here: http://forums.turbobricks.com/showthread.php?t=327998
The blue car lives in SFO now with my friend Nate; it's now getting a single-turbo LS swap. His build thread is here:
http://forums.turbobricks.com/showthread.php?t=348446
Last edited: