1986 Shelby GLHS #053

OK, it's the part most people really want to know about, the driveline. When we approached this project, we were not looking to make the highest output car ever built. We wanted to build something that made power instantaneously, controllably, and most of all, streetable. Since we did not plan to be driving this everyday, and wanted to Autocross it as much as we could (hence the suspension mods), we needed an engine with quick spool up, but also responsive mid-range power. We knew we wanted to build a VNT Turbo IV engine. This is a nice thought, but controlling such an engine on the stock electronics is almost out of the question. Since the stock wiring was already out of the car, we decided that at 225,000 miles, it was probably time to do a little replacing ;) we built a custom wiring harness to utilize a 1990 Turbo IV SBEC. We built it in such a way so that the casual observer would not know that it was anything but stock. There are no loose wires hanging out anywhere. It looks very OEM. To further this, everything under the hood looks as close to original as possible, even down to stock airbox and piping.

The engine started as a 90 2.2 Turbo IV. It now has Venolia .020" Forged pistons, no balance shafts, and is all balanced. Head is currently a stock 'G' head with an 88 TBI roller cam. The oil pan has all its noise baffles removed, and has an extra fitting welded in to gather oil for a pre-lubrication system (not yet installed). I used stock GLHS airbox and piping, but wanted to take advantage of the 90 VNT's ability to drain PCV oil vapors back to the crankcase, so we used a Jeg's oil breather tank that drains back to the turbo oil return line. We added the Shelby valve cover. We used Magnecor plug wires and an Optima dry cell battery. The A/C system is still full of its *original* R-12 charge, and still blows cold. We added cruise control, and hid the servo pretty well.

On the output side of the engine, we used a 2.5" mandrel bent exhaust through a Flowtech muffler (no catalyst). Boost is set at 16 psi, although through the ND Program selector, the driver has the choice of 11,14,16, and 18 psi boost. We used a 3 Bar MAP sensor and MP +20% injectors. Also installed was a Walbro 255l/hr fuel pump in the tank. We installed a MP/Weber aluminum flywheel and Centerforce Dual Friction clutch. Attached to this is a new A568 Transmission with a Quaiffe Automatic Torque Biasing differential. Since most of these goodies are hidden, we have a mostly stock appearance under the hood, which was one of our main goals.

In January of 2003, we sold the GLHS after more than a decade of ownership. We did more with this car than we ever intended, and have enjoyed owning it all these years. We hope the new owner will get as much out of it as we did. We have some pictures on the next page of the car as it was right before it sold. Thanks for reading!