Mike Vine xe turbo

[Anonymous]

G'day all,

Ive seen that there is one of these for sale at the moment in unique cars and just cars magazines.

Any one know anything about them or anywhere that i can find info on them?? Or anything about any other factory turbo xe's. I think ive read somewhere that 30 or so were built based on the esp or something

Thanks

Aaron

PS they want $7500 for it

 

[Anonymous]

Aaron,
Hullo. If this is a factory fit system then the factory should have information on it. Give the customer care line a call at The Ford Motor company broadmeadows. I do not have the number but can locate it if you want.
There was a lot of so called factory modified cars that were never modified by the factory.
Always disbelieve until proven otherwise!!!!!
Happy motoring,
Noel.

 

[Anonymous]

G'day guys

From what i know, the Mike Vine systems run a suck through set-up, they utilize a Stongberg carby (not sure on on CFM) They usually have a t3 turbo (same as VL's) and a custom Exhaust manifold.

I recently saw a kit advertised over here in WA not long ago for $1500, but i was to slow to pick it up.

As for being a factory unit, none were made from the factory they were all dealership options. The majority of the conversions were done by AVO over east.

$7500 sounds about right, just make sure you check the turbo/housings for oil leaks and any shaft play. But yer, it would surely boot.

If you have any more qestions, just ask.

-Mike

 

[xctasy]

I've got lots of info on Turbo Falcons. There are three main breeds - Mike Vines, Garret Normalair, and AIT. I've no info on AVO

Mike Vine kicked out XE/XF conversions of the 4.1 carby and EFI sixes in Brisbane. Most conversions had compression plates on early turbo instalations, which ended up blowing. Mike quickly decided to use remachined alloy heads with metal removed, and then added 50/50 Methonol/water injection on top version to stop detonation. (This was an idea first used by GM in the early 1963 Olds Jetfire F85's which had what became Rover 3500 V8's). The carby versions were never well regarded because, although they were well engineered, they couldn't cope with poor quality service. All carby turbo versions that Mike did had either single or dual Stromberg CD 1.75" carbs. These were often bored out to 1.875 inches, and could top dual caby versions could drop a maximum of 260 kW at the flywheel.

Two were tested by Modern Motor in 1985. Check old issues of for details. Ancedotal reports of them are found in some issues of Performance Street Car in late 1999. . EFI versions were much better set up. Some customers used 600 cfm Holley draw through versions, but this wasn't an authentic Mike Vine system. The guy kept out of the schtuck by ensuring the conversions never detonated or experienced head gasket failures.

AIT systems were far more advanced than Mike Vines, but the 1987 recession took out this company, along with a monumental wipe out of their stove hot XF Twin turbo 4WD Fairmont in the hands of some jurnos in Britain. They had a subsidary fuel system in addition to the normal EFI system, which is the first thing to look for to pick an AIT vs MV Turbo.

Ford gave no support to Turbo conversions. BW 35/40/45 transmissions couldn't take the strain of a turbo without proper stator supports, clutch packs and other mods. Ford was totally unwilling to import the FMX replacement trans, the AOD4, to act as an upgrade auto gearbox. Tougher imported C4 gearboxes ran out in the XD serise in the sixes, so Ford Ausralia had no way of supporting warranty claims when a BW gearbox was used. Mike Vine suggested 4-speed BW SR or 5 speed BW T5 be used. Ford was very close to engaging IHI (via Dick Johnston) to supply turbos for the XF Falcons, but they had a disaster with the hastily cobbled up Laser Turbo's that used a local turbo conversion. Mitsubishi had the same issues with there local 1981 Sigma Turbo. Wisely, they waited until they could get a proper trans and developement budget. The XR6 Turbo is 18 years late, and could have been out in 1985 if they tried.

 

[Anonymous]

The Mike Vine kits are not totally his own invention. He has a huge collection of all the old AIT, and Garret manifolds in his shop and he chooses the best ones for each application. Cortinas etc use different manifolds to falcons etc.

He even has a set of the rare XF AIT twin turbo manifolds with a bare casting of the huge water to air intercooler inlet that AIT made for that car. The T28 turbos used in that setup were not very efficient. Mike Vine did cast his own inlet manifolds to use with the suck through carby. The manifold was similar to the XF EFI manifold but with bigger runners and different spacings to achieve more even flow distribution.

He has a few of the rare cast extractor style manofolds that Garrett did also. These look like a set of six into one extractors but are one solid casting. These manifolds only fit into falcons. I could have bought one of these years ago at a wreckers for $500 with the T04 still sitting on it. I went back to get it and Mike Vine had heard about it and gone and bought. It was fitted to one of his cars which ended up smashed.

He mostly uses the Garret manifolds with the top mounted T04 and external wastegate. these are a nice manifold. They sit the turbo slightly forward of the centre and the turbine housing curls in towards the engine making brakes booster clearances nice.

The AIT uses a T3 turbo with a side mount flange and sits the turbo between 3 and 4 cylinder and further away from the engine that the Garrett setup. These also use an internal wastgated T3 with either 0.82 or 1.06 turbione housings. These AIT kits need to be high flowed substantially for any more than 200 rw kw with addition of intercooler and aftermarket engine management. The AIT kits used an extra injector with the factory injection and the Air flow meter was the restriction.

I have one of the AIT kits on my cortina with aftermarket injection and intercooler, which will be making 450 rw hp soon with T04 internals in the T3 housings.

Mike Vine has a whole bunch of reliabilty additions that he has included such as heat shields, oil coolers etc.

He generally uses decompression plates also which I don't like. i would suggest that $7500 is a pretty good price to pay though! it will be a lot cheaper than doing it yourself.

I would suggest pulling the engine oput and giving the bottom end a rebuild though. Use 26.9cc duralites and aim for about 8.5:1 compression wothout the decompression plate. Fit aftermarket injection if it is carby and you will get many happy miles from it. The carby models have no ignition control and tend to ping without heaps of water methanol. The water methanol injected in front of the turbo tends to erode the compressor wheel. I would suggest replacing that with an intercooler.

 

[xctasy]

Cheers Mark! I'm really pleased there's been a reply to this.

I've opened another subject, as I've got a British 1982 TF Cortina, which is very different to your Aussie TE's. Its turbo'd with an IHI RB-series single turbo. I did the turbo conversion because LPG suffers fools gladly, while petrol Turbos require a high degree of apptitude to make them work.

My back ground is Civil Engineering, and 25 years of being a hopelessly addicted car lover. I'm considering some options, and would appreciate the input of yet another person with hands on experience. Nice to see there's yet another cluey guy in this site.

 

[Anonymous]

hey mate,
ive been informed from a friend who is a service manager at a ford dealer here in perth, that the XE ESP falcon was realeased with a turbo on it, i reckon that for $7500 is not a good price, but u do get what u pay for, i just got a quote to turbo charge my XE ute startin from 7000 to 10.000, id be getting someone who specializes in forced induction to have a look at the car before u hand over any cash

Korrupt

 

[xctasy]

You are right, from 1983 dealers did fit turbos, often AIT EFI turbos with 190-200 kw and 500 Nm of torque. Problem was, Ford never covered warranties on them, and after spending $A18,000 on an EFI ESP, you'd be pretty pi**ed if you spent another 4 grand on there wicked turbo set-up and the stupid tranny blew.

If its an AIT turbo, it'll have a secondary fuel delivery system for the extra injectors that cut in when the TO3 turbo stated spoolling. Drive reports showed that they often would only match a mild 351C on a hot day, but were absolutely shattering in cooler weather. Modern Motor in 1983 had there ESP Fairmont up to a 15.8 second quarter on a stinking hot day. Wheels got 16.4 sec for a Fairlane Turbo.