<![CDATA[Jalopnik: Turbochargers]]> http://cache.gawker.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/jalopnik.com.png <![CDATA[Jalopnik: Turbochargers]]> http://jalopnik.com/tag/turbochargers http://jalopnik.com/tag/turbochargers <![CDATA[ Big Block With Four Turbos, Witty Headline Impossible ]]> We had to reload this the first time it popped up, as we couldn't believe what our eyes were telling us. This serpentine piece of steel poetry is a 442 ci V8 sporting four independent turbochargers, all running through an intercooler. The entire system is modular and can be dropped into a drag-racing host as a single piece. Four turbos. Four! And big, bus-sized ones at that. The madmen behind this are Mike Moran and John Meaney, and they've whipped up a doozy of an engine. Anybody can slap on four turbos and call it a day, but this thing has a couple of extra tricks up it's sleeve.

Let's just get it out of the way: Peak power occurs at 9,000 rpm, to the tune of 2,139 hp; peak torque of 1,926 ft.lbs. comes in at 7,500 rpm. Okay, breathe. With that done, we can move on. We mentioned some tricks, didn't we? How about the engine not having a single gasket? That's pretty tricky right? Moran says he doesn't really like gaskets and has had issues with them in the past, so he decided to go all o-ring for this car. That doesn't just mean little rubber bands all over the place. The craziest one lives on the fire deck and is a silver-plated, nitrogen-filled, aluminum tube ring. The nitrogen heats and expands the ring and the seal gets better and better. Wow. Custom made, auto-centering piston rings, force focusing pistons, an intake system based on exhaust flow concepts.... too much, way too much. Oh, did we mention this runs in the street legal class? No? Cause it does. [via Popular Hot Rodding]

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Jalopnik-359644 Fri, 22 Feb 2008 12:15:00 EST Ben Wojdyla http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=359644&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[ GM to Achieve Mileage Targets With Logic, Turbos ]]> Instead of throwing all of its cash down the yawning maw of biofuel and hydrogen fuel cells, GM intends to get some quick fuel economy wins the smart way - with lower displacement and turbos. Automotive News (sorry, subscription required) is reporting GM will be following a strategy similar to Ford with its EcoBoost engines, namely using smaller engines in large vehicles, but bolstering them with the magic of exhaust driven compression. There's no speculation on when or in what we would see this strategy start to play out. We're on the torn here; big brutish V8's make us happy and can get decent mileage (see Corvette), but the fevered banshee scream of a turbocharged four banger is pretty rad too.

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Jalopnik-350043 Tue, 29 Jan 2008 09:45:00 EST Ben Wojdyla http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=350043&view=rss&microfeed=true