[Tom Vaught]

About the 2009 time frame, I was selected to be do research on what it would take for my company to have their own Turbocharger Gas Stand.

The first "Battle" was whether the Gas Stand would be located in England, Europe, or in the USA. We did a bunch of studies comparing the benefits of each location vs the negatives.

Eventually it was decided that England and Europe mostly did smaller engine work and that the USA (Dearborn, Michigan) could support a much larger variety of vehicles and Boosted Engine Systems. So Dearborn, Michigan was chosen for the location of the Turbocharger Gas Laboratory.

It was determined that the old Gas Turbine Car Laboratory (Walls several feet thick) would be a good choice if we ever had a high speed Turbocharger failure in the Lab.

So one Engineer (that I worked with Keith Plagens) was selected to put the initial proposal together as far as what we needed, what it was going to cost, what the timing of each stage of the program was, who were the key parties in that portion of the work, and finally co-ordination with the SKILLED TRADES located on the Research campus.
(There was a lot of Brick and Mortar work required as well as Electric and Plumbing Work
before we could even think about what Turbo Test Stand we could select for the installation.
Mr Plagens did a Outstanding Job on his part of the program.

There were a total of 13 Engineers assigned to the project. Each Engineer brought a specific "Skill Set" to the team.

The team was divided up between people who had a lot of experience with the "Building" side of the project and people who were well versed in the Turbocharger Size, Selection, Program "wants", Turbocharger Testing, Fabrication of Turbocharger Systems, and how a Turbocharger Test Stand actually operated.

The Team reviewed other Turbocharger Test Stands in Europe, China, Japan, Germany, and the USA. The Turbocharger Test Stand selected was the Kratzer Automation stand.

https://www.kratzer-automation.com/t.../turbocharger/
(Picture of a Turbocharger Test Stand shown below).

Just a comment, this was not a "ONE YEAR Project", and then move on to other work.
This was 'Do your NORMAL WORK PLUS do the work required on getting the Turbocharger Test Stand "up and running" as soon as possible. We spent over 5 years working on this assignment.

So 5 years later we had the Turbocharger Test Stand up and running.
Also during this time frame, my company decided to come back to racing in the Le Mans
race in France, after 50 years of not racing there. They won the race in 1966, 1967, 1968, and 1969 with the GT-40 Race Car. The Guy who hired me into the company was the Program Manager for the 4 years that they won, HOMER PERRY, may you rest in peace.

So the Cars were designed and built, the engines were designed and built (Turbocharged V-6 engines) making a 'dialed back' 600+ HP (the original GT-40 engines with the 427 engines made a durable 475 hp on the dyno for 36 hours of simulated racing in the 1966-1969 time period. They asked me early on if I could make 1000 HP with durability, I said yes.

So during the last year before the 2016 Le Mans race, the cars were running at Daytona, Sebring, and other tracks and were having issues with "Losing Boost" during the race.
In some cases the car would come in and the Turbocharger Wastegate for one side of the engine would be loose at the Marmon Flange clamp location. No Boost or partial boost and you do not do well in where you finish in the race.

So members of the Turbocharger Test Stand Team decided to test some component parts on the stand and determine the failure point that was causing the lass in boost pressure.

A few weeks before Le Mans, Mr Plagens and the team identified that the Marmon Flange Clamps had a "failure point" in the clamp design. A different design using different materials was tested with 100% durability of the parts.

So the Le Mans Race, my company won the race leading the #2 Italian competitor by a full lap (7 mile lead) and won the race after 50 years. My Boss, Homer Perry watched the race and saw the win. he passed away at the hospital two days later a happy man.

Obviously the company is using the Turbocharger Test Stand for other tasks beside the Race needs. Over 2,000,000 vehicles now have that Turbocharger Technology on them.
So it was worth the money, effort, and time spent making the Turbocharger Test Stand happen.

They were nice enough to give me an Award (The Highest One in Research given out that year) for the efforts of our team. I have attached a picture of the award plaque.

There are a few Companies out there with Turbocharger Test Stands, some quite old, other like ours state of the art. We are very fortunate as Boost People to have access to Turbos designed on these test stands. The Turbos are better than any ever produced in the past.

Sorry for the long post but the background was important. (The Marmon Flange "Swivel Pin" is fine for Drag Racing but will fail under long race Turbo Durability cycles.)

Tom V.

[Tom Vaught]

The Turbocharger Test Stand in the picture can test two different Turbochargers at the same time if you look at the plumbing. This is not our test stand which was built with our own design features. It can do very small 3 cylinder Engine Turbos and very large Truck engine Turbos. The stand takes up a large amount of room. There is the "Testing Room", the "Control Room", and a Office type "Engineer's Data Review Room" where the people on site can analyze data and do program work. It was a great field to work in. We need more young people to look into that kind of Engineering/ Hands On Hardware type work. Similar to Racing vs Accounting type jobs.

Tom V.

[Tom Vaught]

Last post on this deal, you can PM me if you have any questions.

The POINT of the Thread is that their are still LOTs of Jobs in the auto industry that can be rewarding $$$, fun, and at the end of the day you get credit for what you did.

We seem to have lost that desire to work in an Automotive Field completely since the days in the 1960s. The Formula SAE competition helps keep interest up in some of the Universities.

For the most part though, the auto industry is in need of a LOT of HARDWARE based people. We have lots of Business People. Lots of Management People. The people that post on PY or read PY are CAR & Truck People, People interested in the Calibration side of the Performance Industry, and finally people interested in the Boost side of the the industry and we need those HARDWARE people in the near future.

Talk to your sons and daughters if they are interested in going down that path.

Just saying. Will not be a PY Board if all of the old guys and girls have died off.

Tom V.

[CraigGT37]

Tom,
My son graduated from UNOH last fall and moved to Southfield Mi. He finally landed a job at Valeo doing testing. He loves the job and the work. He cant talk about all the things he does (understandable). There are guys there that just look at the job as a place to show up and make money and go home, no care for the things they are testing.
Oh, and he loves turbos. He has built his Plymouth Laser, right now its at 575hp at the wheels.

[Tom Vaught]

I was involved with Holley on carbs as part of my education at the last University I attended. Worked for a Speed Shop after I graduated until I could work for Holley full time doing carb Boosted Engine work. Worked on the Boosted Buick Regal when at Holley.
When I heard that Ford was doing a Turbo Mustang program for release in 1979, I left Holley and went to work for Ford Engineering doing that program. 39 years later I left.

Jobs can be transitional things to a better job, more fun job or you can get into the field you want immediately if you have the co-op experience or attended the right schools for the work they want you to do. Pretty much a flip of the coin with a lot of luck involved.

Problem is we had hundreds of Engineers with Masters and Doctors degrees from Europe, China, and the US that were very smart but we had to teach them about the basic engine and how it was put together. We had classes at Ford Research for that, taught by other Engineers that worked in that field. I took one for Diesel Engines as I had never taken a Diesel Engine apart before. Everyone can learn new things if you are willing to acknowledge that you know everything.

Southfield Mi is not far from Dearborn, Mi. Autonomous Vehicle Technologies by the OEMS is going to be very big, just like Boosting was in the late 70s and early 80s. Lots of good jobs out there for "Hardware Guys who are SMART".

Good luck to your son.

Tom V.

[John V.]

Hey Tom, was just wondering how you were doing today and saw this. Awesome thread both for the acknowledgement of the great work you did on behalf of your employer for which you can be rightfully proud but also for the "help wanted advertisement" telling all that the auto industry can still offer an exciting career path for young guys today. They should hire you back as a recruiter. You made me think about joining up!

Hope all is well in the rest of your world. All good here.

[Tom Vaught]

Thank You very much John V.
I thank you for being a Great Friend (who also owns a 64 GTO).
You helped ME so much with info on my 64 GTO Convertible.

There ARE JOBS out there for Hardware Guys. Chris Piper is a Hardware Guy, a Pontiac Racer, and has contributed greatly in Dyno Research projects.

Tom V.

[hgerhardt]

We rented a Focus ST in Germany two months ago and was quite impressed with the 250HP turbo 2.0L. Lovely powerband with tons of low-end torque as well as decent higher-rpm HP and paired very well with the 6-speed manual trans.

Easily saw 145 mph on the Autobahn and was only limited by summer traffic. Also drove it two laps on the Nurburgring and had a blast with that too. Drove 8 Alpine passes and again a hoot to drive.

The torque steer is almost comical at low speed in 1st and 2nd as the poor front tires fight for grip. And fuel mileage at 110+ mph sustained is pretty poor.

[Tom Vaught]

The 2.0L turbo IS fun to drive as are all GOOD boosted vehicles.

Typically there is a "limiting switch" (based on Technology and Cost) that Limits the power the engine can produce. The stock 3.5L Truck's "Limit Switch" was the Direct Injection Fuel Pump. Now you could still make around 425 DYNO HP (rear wheel) with the stock parts and some intake and exhaust system work but the Fuel Pump was the big issue. No different than a stock GTO fuel pump deal. Reach a certain hp and the engine can make any additional power due to fuel capability. We need Engineers and Designers to come up with better components to fuel there boosted engines.

In the old days we had factory fuel pumps, (engine driven) that would give you 348 HP in a 64 GTO. The most basic electric 255 Liter per Hour EFI pump will easily exceed that number. Today Fuel Pump Engineers have come up with Brushless 450 Liter per Hour EFI pumps. At some point those people will retire, where are the next generation of EFI Fuel Pump Engineers to work at Aeromotive Fuel Pumps? Hardware Guys, We need Hardware Guys.

Tom V.

[RUDOLFSSON]

Good read Tom... congrats on the award !

[Tom Vaught]

Thanks, they had that Award Ceremony in April 2016. I retired on December 2016.

Coming up on two years since I left Research & Advanced Engineering. Been back only to pick up Patent Plaques/Awards. Think my old company is actively looking for the next wave of Engineers as the work everyone assumed they would be doing was cancelled by the people currently in office (along with other projects we had invested time and resources into)

The JOBS will constantly change over the years, the Hardware needed to do the jobs will be changing or perfected. Turbos were being tested on Pikes Peak in the early 1900s by Stanford Moss, 100 years later, we are still optimizing the same basic "machine" with better and better "Hardware Designs". "Hardware People" We need You!

Tom V.

[Kevspontiacs@aol.com]

Originally Posted by 69GTO

Good read Tom... congrats on the award !

X2

Haven't been in the boosted section lately. Glad I stopped in

[Tom Vaught]

Glad you did 535 tall deck.

Some info:

The first Beetle was designed by Ferdinand Porsche, in 1938, as a Naturally Aspirated Engine that made 25 horsepower. It was naturally aspirated. Later NA engines made as much as 40 hp NA. Porsche was told to make a basic cheap "people's car".
Volkswagen translates to "people's car".

Ferdinand Porsche, did that with his team and made three different horsepower versions over the years in production. A 25 HP engine, a 36 HP engine, and a 40 HP engine. Hot Rodders were getting 80 HP with Boosted Engines using a single Turbocharger in the 60s depending on the boost levels. Fast forward to 2018.

Today you can buy a turbo kit for a Bug that can make 475 HP in a drag racing application. Original Engine = 25 HP, latest Turbo Engine 475 HP (This is 19 times the original power level - The word is AZN's Beetle engine is dialed back a bit to a 400 HP engine. 10 times the HP of the highest VW "Production HP" VW Beetle engine 40 hp.

What is different?

Turbo Designers know a lot more about the "machine" vs the 1960s.
The Turbo Materials and the basic design are much more robust (Durable).
The Wheel Designs are much more efficient.
Turbo Companies like "Borg Warner", "Turbonetics / Precision Turbo" etc have all stepped up with higher and higher HP and durable Turbo Designs.

Where did these people come from? The last Generation of Racers and Engineers working together. There ARE FUN JOBS out there.

Tom V.

I was a Boost Guy for 39 years, and I loved every minute of that work experience.

[Scott Roberts]

Congratulations Tom... I enjoyed the post, very informative..

[Tom Vaught]

Thank You Scott.

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