I have been working on this for a few months, locating missing parts, rebuilding the motor, cleaning her up. Now she lives again after more then 30 years parked! Another JetFire back on the road:

 

Holy Crap Batman...love the engine

 

Oh wow.

 

Just wait till you take it to a show. People will almost trip over each other when they see the turbo. We enjoy ours more than any Oldsmobile we ever had.

Looks great and I love the red turbo. I plan to send my extra turbo to Jim real soon to get it red coated.

 

Nice choice. Nice car and just a little extra HP on the sly. Sweet!

 

Eric is right, most people don't understand that turbos and superchargers have been around for a long time.

 

You are so right, the few people I've shown it to had no idea these were ever made. I plan on showing it in it's first car show next month.

I could not have done it without your help Jensen, thank you!

 

How much HP do these turboed engines actually end up putting out? Just curious, cool nonetheless!

 

A very nice car.

 

they were 215 aluminum engines with 215 HP and 301 torque. They were high compression with a turbo so they had to fluid inject them to keep them cool.

 

ive got a question about the tanks mounted to the fenders. I assume the one on the drivers fender is for the injection fluid but what is the one behind the battery for? jensenracing77 does yours have both tanks?

 

Very, very nice!
You hit that one out of the park.

 

dude I love these things, seen some old commercials and watched some test drives on youtube, awesome man!

the real question ive been dying to ask one of you guys is:

do you ever run that turbo rocket fluid stuff with the methanol in it?

If so, does it really pep up that turbocharger for that get up and go?

If not, does it affect performance always running without it? I know there was a mechanism that would close off the fluid reservoir and change the mixture right?

Ive been pretty fascinated about that stuff since I saw it haha
P.S. that car is beautiful and you obviously do a great job keeping it that way!

 

The tank on the passenger side is only on cars with power brakes. It is the vacuum reservoir. The booster is under the dash and no room for the reservoir.

 

Thanks very much. To answer your question, I have never tried it without the Methanol/ water mixture Turbo Rocket Fluid. You can make it yourself, its just Methanol and distilled water with a little anti-rust. I do notice there is no turbo lag at all. You can just run water, but the Ethanol does add a little power. When the tank runs out, the waste gate opens and a secondary throttle closes to protect the engine from detonation.

 

Man that's pretty cool. I bet it sounds great with that v8 then spooling up to shift, and quick too. much lighter than my 88 im sure with the smaller F85 body and aluminum block, on top of the turbo, simply amazing product of GM mass production (makes chevy's corvair look like a girly step in the wrong direction haha).

Its amazing the things Oldsmobile did, taking impractical things at the time and showing that not only are they practical, but they can be production model cars too! they might not have always been first, but they popularized a lot of things, from overhead valves to factory a/c systems to (lame old) front wheel drive. even though Cadillac and a few others might've been first in areas, where they tinkered oldsmobile excelled, for a few years at least.

so how does the system work is it like a carburetor underneath all of that or is it a throttle body with mechanical fuel injection like an old fashioned Mercedes? is it tricky to set the mixture or is it simple like a normal carb? can it even be adjusted?

 

I always wondered how they got power brakes on these things

do you know what capacity the tank is?

 

Tank capacity is 5 quarts.
There is a Rochester model RC 1 barrel side-draft carb that feeds into the side of the turbo. It is a large 1 barrel, I dont know the CFM off hand.
Standard adjustments.
The JetFire is the Worlds 1st Turbocharged production car. The Chevy Corvair was second, a few months later.

 

The engine is carbureted. It is a suck through carb and not a blow through. The carburetor is a side draft and located to the driver side of the turbo. The water/alcohol (Turbo Rocket Fluid) is injected using boost pressure. When it is in boost mode it directs some pressure to the fluid tank and then injects it into the suck side of the turbo. If you run out of fluid it will redirect pressure to a secondary throttle body and close off the suck side of the turbo to limit boost to less than 1 PSI. With 10.25 compression and 6 lbs of boost you MUST use the fluid or the engine will burn up. This is why Oldsmobile made the secondary throttle valve safety setup. The rocket fluid is only there to cool the intake air but Oldsmobile did report that they got "SOME" increase in compression from the steaming of the water.

 

Oh this is neat stuff. What was consumption of the rocket fluid rate at? I assume different with changing driving, like more for hotdogging?

 

I started with 2 gallons fluid and drove 250 break-in miles. Now I just added a little more. I am on the Turbo hard sometimes, so I would say 5 gallons would last me 500 miles.

 

Beautiful work! Job well done!

Please post some more pictures

 

Car has PW, PB, PS, AC. Interior has very rare A/C unit. I need to re-charge it.
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Boost gauge and A/C
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What a spectacular car, great colors too.

 

X2! I really like the cockpit.
I don't think I have seen one w/factory air.
Very nice.

 

X3, I want to find an A/C jetfire someday. Do you have any R-12?

 

Yes, a shop I know has it. It would be cheaper to use the R12 then convert to R134.

 

Eric, did you need a couple of cans?
I may have a few and an oiler to go with.

 

I have 32 lbs of it.

 

This Jetfire is now on eBay. I have another project to bring back from the dead!

 

I seen that last night. I was surprised to see it there. Hope everything works out for you with it.

 

Love that car! I hope you get what you want for it.

 

GOOD LORD! Congratulations! And I thought I had to much money invested in mine. My guys here at work were placing bets at what it would go for. I was the highest and missed it by over half. I (and likely many other Jetfire owners) had no idea what they were worth.


I hope your next project turns out as well for you.

 

I offered to buy your Jet when I was first looking for one, how about now?

 

My wife would leave me if I let her car go, lol. I would have to sell the W-30s first. Did you look into ours when it was in IL for sale or did you ask me? I can't remember if you ask me. I want to find another one some day but just not in the budget anytime soon.


I think yours and mine are likely the only two 62s out there in original paint, at least that still look nice. I know of a 63 in original paint with 7000 miles on it.