Do We Owe Our TR's To G. Banks?

[jurassic five 7]

Back in the early 70's there was a boy scout project to turbo the 3.8 in Flint,
they could not get the 3.8 to run right, they got Buick engineers involved, and the engineers at the time got Gale Banks involved in this project, and as they say the rest is history for the 3.8 and turbo charging.

Ron

I read that just yestarday in a GSCA letter. About the boy scout trip, where they took some boy scouts and they helped them develop turbo charging the 3.8. These 5 or 6 guys from Michigan came down to the GS Nationals i believe in 05, and talked about what they did with Buick, from the Stage 1, to the wheels, to the turbo 6, all the way to the 3800 Series II, and what each guy did and put their time into. Pretty interesting stuff.

-Adam

 

[ronbuick]

They talked about this in the new GSCA, was this just recently in the new one, if so i have not received it yet, I like to here what they had to say also, being from Flint my whole family worked for GM in the day, my brother just retired after 38 1/2 years a couple of months ago.

Ron

 

[at7we2]

BTW the Olds Jetfire was a 215CID OLDSMOBILE V-8. Minor differences between the Buick and Olds versions. One being the cylinder heads. Nothing interchanges between the two with maybe the exception of the crank and rods.

I stand corrected. However, the Olds engine apparently was based on the original Buick design. Here's some additional text I found on the net...

Aluminum 215 ("Rockette")
From 1961 to 1963 Oldsmobile manufactured its own version of the Buick-designed, all-aluminum 215 engine for the F-85 compact, known as the Rockette. This was a compact, lightweight engine with a dry weight of only 350 lb (159 kg). The Oldsmobile engine was very similar to the Buick engine, but not identical: it had larger combustion chambers with flat-topped (rather than domed) pistons, six bolts rather than five per cylinder head, slightly larger intake valves, and the valves were actuated by independently-mounted rocker arms instead of shaft-mounted rocker arms. With an 8.75:1 compression ratio and a two-barrel carburetor, the Olds 215 had the same rated hp, 155 hp @ 4800 rpm, as the Buick 215, with 220 ft·lbf of torque at 2400 rpm. With a four-barrel carburetor and 10.25:1 compression, the Olds 215 made 185 hp (138 kW) @ 4800 rpm and 230 ft·lbf (312 N·m) (@ 3200 rpm.

The basic Buick/Olds 215 V8 went on to become the well known Rover V8, remaining in production until the 1990s. The Rover V8 however utilized Buick-style pistons, heads, and valvetrain gear.


Turbo Jetfire
In 1962 and 1963 Oldsmobile built a turbocharged version of the 215. The small-diameter turbocharger was manufactured by Garrett AiResearch and produced a maximum of 5 lb (0.34 bar) boost at 2200 rpm. The engine had 10.25:1 compression and a single-barrel carburetor. It was rated at 215 hp (160 kW) @ 4600 rpm and 300 ft·lbf (406 N·m) @ 3200 rpm. The high compression ratio created a serious problem with spark knock on hard throttle applications, which led Olds to use a novel water-injection system that sprayed small amounts of distilled water and methyl alcohol (dubbed "Turbo-Rocket Fluid") into the combustion chambers to cool the intake charge. If the fluid reservoir was empty, the engine's timing would be retarded to avoid engine damage. Unfortunately, many customers did not keep the reservoir filled, or had mechanical problems with the turbocharger plumbing.

The turbocharger was offered only in a special Jetfire model, which was the first turbocharged passenger car offered for public sale. Only 9,607 were sold in two model years, and many were converted by dealers to conventional four-barrel carbureted form.

 

[jurassic five 7]

They talked about this in the new GSCA, was this just recently in the new one, if so i have not received it yet, I like to here what they had to say also, being from Flint my whole family worked for GM in the day, my brother just retired after 38 1/2 years a couple of months ago.

Ron

No, this was some issue that i found at a local Buick friends house, i remember seeing the date be 2005.

Next time im there and see it, ill ask if i can get his wife to scan it.

-Adam

 

[turbofish38]

Back in the early 70's there was a boy scout project to turbo the 3.8 in Flint,
they could not get the 3.8 to run right, they got Buick engineers involved, and the engineers at the time got Gale Banks involved in this project, and as they say the rest is history for the 3.8 and turbo charging.

Ron

How do you explain all of those wild turbocharging stories from the 60's? Just about any history book that mentions Buick says they(Buick) had some outragious turbo'd nailheads back than. Even a 600HP street version. You mean to tell me that even with the successful Jetfire and Corvair programs that GM couldn't get turbocharging right in the 70's? The biggest corporation on the face of the earth with more resources than the US government couldn't get turbocharging right?I'd call BS on this. Heck give me Gale's cell phone number and I'd say that to his face.

 

[ronbuick]

626-969-9600

Ron

 

[88 CuttyClassic]

YouTube - 1964 Oldsmobile Jetfire Turbo Rocket V-8

 

[stunnin6]

gale banks

I do remember seeing gale banks running a v-6 powered star fire ( multi green and white) back in the late 70's early 80's at pomona,my brother and i went down to the pits to check out the car and there it was all six cylinders of it