By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

Last week Autoblog ran a cool little feature called Top 10 Mid-Engined Hatchbacks. Now, the first car I think of when I think of mid-engine hatches is the Renault 5 Turbo. However, it failed to make Autoblog’s list. So did Theon Parseghian’s awesome Ford Festiva. What gives?

By Katherine Helmetag

AKA atomicalex

After 14 years of frame-off restoration, this 1980 Corvette Turbo Concept is done. Willie Yager spent a good bit of that time researching the various configurations the car was tested with before GM gave it up. The interior, wheels, and paint reflect one complete set. Willie has the other wheels the car was run with at home. The rest of the car has been restored back to original specs and features two neato temperature-activated NACA ducts on the hood for engine bay ventilation. You can read more about the car in back issues of Vette magazine. Willie brought it out to display at the Spanjaard booth.

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Nissan and Porsche keep arguing over who can get round the Nurburgring fastest, and most recently Porsche claimed that Nissan cheated by using track tires. Nissan responded by saying something along the lines of "no, we didn’t, go get some driving lessons." Well, now in our ‘highly technical’ online game you can have a go at pitting them against one another! Post your high score!

We already have 37 Pontiac G8s on CarDomain. The top rated G8 has an APS stealth twin turbo kit and has dynoed at 553.6 RWHP and 588.8 FT/LBS torque. Oh, and it’s rolling on 22s. Check it out!

It’s hard to see why someone would put so much care and work into a car right before junking it—something tells me that there’s a story behind this LeBaron’s sad fate, because painting your car like this is anything but cheap. The car is located at Lynnwood Pull A Part just north of Seattle—and the really terrible thing is that Washington is one of those states where cars can’t be bought off the yard once they’ve been junked, so this mint turbo LeBaron is just going to have to sit here in the rain until it gets crushed. More junkyard pics after the jump.

Continue reading "Turbo LeBaron Convertible With Color-Change Paint… In the Junkyard!" »

A mid-80′s Buick Park Ave isn’t the kind of car that most people would think to put a lot of care and work into, and that’s part of the reason I love Bruce’s turbodiesel conversion. He’s fitted a Garrett turbo to his ride’s 4.3L diesel, and is currently reassembling the engine with a ton of performance internals. Having had an 80′s diesel all apart recently myself, I’m really stoked to see how this project will come together in the end—I’m betting that this old oil-burner will handily blow the doors off rides whose owners wouldn’t otherwise give it a second glance. Check out Bruce’s ride page to see how the project is going!

Twin tiny turbos are all I see on the new Ford EcoBoost 3.5l V6. Brett Hinds of Ford tells me that the main goal of the EcoBoost program was to eliminate of turbo lag–that annoying rev range where the snails aren’t spooled up and you have no power–and that two small chargers was the best way to do this. This means massive built-in tuning potential in the form of larger turbochargers and aggressive chip tuning! The engine is designed for 11psi of boost, using a forged crankshaft, high copper powder metal connecting rods, and aluminum pistons. A direct fuel injector (fitted into the cylinder wall) shoots a second injection at about 40degrees BTDC and right into a bowl on the piston face. This produces a locally rich mixture right at the plug tip, improving both power and emissions by burning rich early and lean late. Fuel mapping is all electronically controlled, and the high pressure fuel pump is mechanically driven–there is plenty of headroom in the current design. By the way, that’s regular gas, although the ECU will adjust for premium for a small power bump. Redline will be at 6200rpm, but that too is electronically controlled. Hard mounting points for this powertrain remain the same as the regular 3.5/transmission mounts. While no tuners have specifically been solicited to begin working this powerplant over, SVT has already approached the production team for engines. No crate motors are confirmed at this point, but I’m thinking that’s just a matter of time. 

Continue reading "Ford EcoBoost V6 Will Have Great Tuning Potential" »

On Monday I had a nice chat with Perry Stern, MSN Auto’s Editor. Perry has been there since it started in 1995 (it was called CarPoint back then) and has been running the show since 2002. As Perry says, it was “the first Microsoft product not to come in a box.” Our conversation was supposed to center on fuel efficient vehicles, gas prices, etc., but I figured you guys are sick of hearing about that stuff, and anyway, I was curious about his site. Continue reading…

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Here’s some more beautiful photography by Patrick Ernzen. This incredible 1977 Porsche DP935 Turbo was originally owned by Rod Stewart, and features wider bodywork to accommodate the 15×8 and 15×13 Fuchs wheels. You can learn more about these cars at dp935registry.com and I have a bunch more photos after the jump.

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I recently got back from an overnight stay in Maine where I had the privilege of driving both these cars through one full tank of gas. The only thing they have in common is they are both German. That’s it.

First up, a pristine 34k original mile 1989 Porsche 930 Turbo. Let me say from the get go that this car will slap you senseless if you are not VERY careful behind the wheel, as the technology is right out of the 1970s. The Porsche is a rear engine flat six mated to a big ole’ turbo, a 5-speed tranny (first year for this), torsion bar suspension, manual brakes, manual steering and no sound installation. It is a pure driver’s car, nothing more, nothing less. It makes no bones about the fact that it will try and kill you if you are not careful. Continue reading after the jump.

Continue reading "1989 Porsche 930 Turbo or 2008 Audi R8?" »