For those who have experienced the power surge developed by the turbocharger, how would you describe it? I know, its a 15% boost in H.P. from 185 to 215, but how does it feel? What other sports cars does it compare to? How exciting is it?
I experienced that surge of power in a new ’63 Jetfire when I was 19 years old. I remember stomping on it at 20-30 MPH, and about 1 second after the normal surge, feeling a distinct boost when the turbo kicked in. It was great!
I believe very few people have actually experienced it unless they purchased a new Jetfire or have had their turbos completely refurbished. I also believe there are fewer than 15 or 20 which are performing correctly today.
Because they are so rare, the turbo equipped cars have to be increasing in value every day.
Mine is very smooth. I took a trip through the mountains of Maryland and PA to the Delaware Valley Olds show this past fall. Some of the roads were through steep country,and I had both my boys! and some travel gear in back. I have a ’62 Borg Warner 4 speed back behind my rebuilt engine – I never really had to get out of 4th gear, even though some of the hills were quite long. At about 2800 RPM, if I put my foot into it, I get a very smooth (it doesn’t feel like I’m waiting a second in mine) jump from vacuum to boost. It will boost up to 6 if I need it (but I never really have). Usually at about 3-4 lbs of boost the car has overcome whatever power it needed and it just levels out. Two things to know about my engine – it’s got a Crower 260 degree cam, ported heads, backcut valves, and the crank and all internal parts were balanced within a gram by me – and with the 4 speed I think that’s why I don’t need the boost all of the time, but when I seek it, it’s definitely there. Stewart Warner sells a pretty nice little boost gauge that I mounted on top of my console, so I can watch when the engine is operating on vacuum, at zero, or dips into the boost. I like to monitor everything in the car when it’s running, so that’s a pretty cool thing to me, especially since my “Economy/Power” gauge isn’t working.
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