I was intrigued by the location of the turbo. You’d think it would have massive turbo lag.
I heard a rumor you used to work for Carroll Shelby back in the day?
OMG, what a flashback, I forgot all about STS. Glad to see they're still around!
Storytime!
One of my very first self-employed jobs was to lower (2"x3") about 2 HUNDRED used Chevy Astro vans for export to Japan. They would be converted to livable with a raised roof, TV, sofa bed, paint jobs, etc. Like a Mini "conversion-van". It was so the Japanese city workers would drive out from their rural homes and live in them during the week at work. The parking lots of that job would have hook-ups for electricity and TV, and public bathroom set-ups for a dump and a shower.
I was only there to lower them, and the company would do the rest. As a young man I didn't even fathom just how many 200 vehicles is, or that they were used, from back east, and a bit rusty, and didn't even THINK to hire any help. This was just before the mid-90's lower EVERYTHING fad jumped off, so we had a kit designed from a local company (DJM). They were stout, but not the best engineered systems, they required you to remove the gas tank to add some brackets, and all of these rubber mounted suspension bolts were rusted in place and the vans had been staged in a dirt field with drainage problems. Talk about filthy late nights, I probably have Lyme disease or Consumption
Anyway, that job blossomed into many more jobs on those Astro Vans. One of which was to build a hero vehicle for the newly blossoming SEMA show in Las Vegas. It was my idea (thank you, thank you) to soup-up the little V-6 and settled on a turbo. But its a van, man! No room anywhere for that malarky. Except next to the transmission Working with STS we got most of a kit prototyped and Holy Hell those turbo vans were FAST! In hindsight they probably had waste gate issues and running way too much boost, but longevity doesn't really compute in a 20yo brain
Just picture a minivan, terrible 90's graphics, big add-on windows, velour interior walls, fiberglass running boards/flares, highroof... and positivly BLASTING your doors off, LOL. Good times. We had some connections with GM corporate, so we also helped them prototype the twin turbo Corvette kit where the turbos would replace the mufflers entirely Even got to do donuts the '95 ZR-1 press car with the Lotus/ LT-5 32 valve V-8! Funny how a 400hp car is so common now-a-days, it was a positive screamer back then.
I'm surprised I've never build a turbo anything before? Always been NA, Torque>HP guy. Buell But times may be-a-changin'
I was intrigued by the location of the turbo. You’d think it would have massive turbo lag.
I heard a rumor you used to work for Carroll Shelby back in the day?
Hey grumps Your help and constructive comments are always appreciated.
We're ALL home bound from this damn virus, bored, and like to share stories and pics to pass this stressful time. You don't need to come sing Kumbaya with us around the campfire, but being a negative nancy all the time, takes a toll on all of us here who are just trying to have a little fun.
No turbo lag to speak of, the sheer volume of air needed for positive boost is so great it's not an issue as long as flow isn't restricted.
Shelby? No I never worked for the man. I wish! I met him a few times though. Once repping his then brand new Shelby Ent. where they were just getting back to doing Mustangs for Ford, and again at the SEMA show about 6 months before he passed. Even in his little electric scooter, and looking every bit his age, he commanded such respect and attention wherever he went. Truly a mans man if there ever was one. His biographical stories are really just the beginning. A real blue collar genius
I never knew he looked like Matt Damon. Have you ever noticed how much Dwayne Johnson looks like the Rock?
Anyhow, I'd have to imagine there is a blowoff valve constantly bleeding off air at at the TB, so when the hammer is down, boost is already at the butterfly. Seems like a bad idea to me, but I'm sure they figured out the kinks before they made a video and plastered their names all over it.
The rear mount STS turbo works exactly the same as any other. It can't build extra boost and bleed it off until you need it (thats *anti-lag). The wastegates job is to bypass exhaust pressure to lower max boost. The blow-off valve is on the intake side, and it's there for when the throttle blades slam shut. The intake pressure has to go somewhere thats not in the engine. If you close the throttle smoothly, the blow off won't even need to dump pressure the hungry engine will eat it just fine.
The extra volume in that length of pipe in the STS system is really inconsequential. Think about the volume in an intercooler as the same thing. It's really incredible how much air an engine needs to make power. Even at zero boost, mid-throttle, the turbo is spinning quite fast just to naturally not be a restriction, so it's not much to ask to add some more air on demand thats already flowing very quickly.
You don't need to fill that volume and then start making boost, it's already full and flowing.
*This young guy knows a bit about anti-lag. He's an OK driver, I hope he gets famous one day?:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hg6L_7qLIEQ
The spitting and sputtering isn't a bad tune, anti-lag programming injects a ton of extra fuel (in this case methanol) to keep the exhaust really hot and make the turbos spin faster, so when he shifts they are already spinning very fast and can make boost almost instantly. The shock is hard on impellers though.
and a good example of how much air volume you need to make any boost at all:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjnUy1UrPYA
Anything to help break the boredom, that's good info about turbos.
Have you ever seen Dwayne Johnson and The Rock is the same room at the same time!? Mind blown..
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