Old's Jetfire Turbo - was <VV> RE: Turbo Question

[FrankCB at aol.com]

Joel and Doc,
       Joel's right, it was too sophisticated for the users and the Olds 
service depts. to handle.  In order for the aluminum water cooled engine to handle 
5 to 6 psi of boost with 10.25 compression ratio, the Jetfire's single barrel 
sidedraft carb included a water injection system, fed, of course, by Olds 
"Turbo Rocket Fluid", a mix of water, methanol and probably corrosion inhibitors. 
 This was metered in from a tank pressurized by boost pressure.  The tank had 
an indicator that lit up a warning light for the driver if the level of fluid 
dropped dangerously low.  If the driver ignored that warning, an extra 
butterfly valve was partially closed in the carb so that boost was prevented.
       Frank "likes boost" Burkhard    


In a message dated 5/20/05 2:07:09 AM Eastern Daylight Time, 
westerncanadacorsa at shaw.ca writes:

> In a nut shell, it was too complicated.  Other folks on the list have
> already detailed the reasons for that today.  However, I did want to post a
> link to a picture of a NOS bottle of the "Turbo Rocket Fluid" used in the
> Water Injection system on the Jetfire.
> 
> http://www.macmurchie.com/Interests/Cars&Corviars/turbo1.BMP
> http://www.macmurchie.com/Interests/Cars&Corviars/turbo2.BMP
> 
> Regards,
> Joel
>  -----Original Message-----
>  From: RoboMan91324 at aol.com [mailto:RoboMan91324 at aol.com]
>  Sent: Thursday, May 19, 2005 11:30 AM
>  To: virtualvairs at corvair.org; westerncanadacorsa at shaw.ca
>  Subject: Turbo Question
> 
> 
>  Hi Joel,
> 
>  Just out of curiosity, what was wrong with the Olds turbo system?
> 
>  Doc
>  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>  In a message dated 5/19/2005 11:14:41 AM Pacific Daylight Time,
> virtualvairs-request at corvair.org writes:
> 
> 
>   Message: 5
>   Date: Thu, 19 May 2005 10:58:45 -0700
>   From: Western Canada CORSA <westerncanadacorsa at shaw.ca>
>   Subject: RE: <VV> Turbo Question
>   To: virtualvairs at corvair.org
>   Message-ID: <003401c55c9c$67003e90$0f0fa8c0 at VALUED3253602F>
>   Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
> 
>   It was the first SUCCESSFUL production turbo.  The Olds Jetfire came off
> the line about a month earlier, but was a dismal failure, with GM eventually
> offering the replace the troublesome turbo with a V8.
> 
>   Regards,
>   Joel
>