Now if you want to talk fast cars (and I've heard nothing but talk so far), I can do that. I really did own a GMC Typhoon. My wife and I were in the market for a replacement for my 3/4 ton 4WD Suburban (44" swampers, 20" lift, 5.13 gears, lockers in both ends). I wanted a hot-rod, and she wanted me to have a 4X4 that she could drive. We compromised, and at her suggestion, began shopping for a Typhoon. The only ones that we could find were listed in the Dupont Registry, and they all seemed to be back East. My first choice would have been the dark forest metallic over titanium body cladding, but we found an exceptional example offered out of a private collection in Seattle that was white over titanium. It had both options: roof rack, and CD player. From the moment we saw it, we knew that it was the one. It was an ordered vehicle, sold before it was built. It had never been registered or even titled, so I got the original manufacturer's statement of origin and I got to be the first registered owner. It had never been smoked in. I got every shred of paperwork ever generated on this vehicle. We took it camping. We hauled building supplys with it for home improvement. We took it on ski trips, pushing snow with the intercooler. It was my work car. We embarrassed Dodge Vippers at the drag strip with it. Faster than a Ferrari was not fast enough for me, so I put an additional $10,000 in go-fast goodies into the engine and related stuff. I built the engine on the tailgate with ARP main cap studs and had the block align honed. I had the cylinders honed (stock bore, no ridge) for custom TRW blower pistons. I had the rods magnafluxed and shot peened before fitting ARP rod bolts. The engine was balanced. I installed a big KB roller cam with new roller lifters. The heads got new Manly stainless valves. I installed a KB oil pump and hardened steel oil pump drive. I used Fel-Pro stainless O-ring head gaskets and ARP head studs. I installed the engine along with a 950cfm ATR turbo, a billet 1-3/4" adjustable waste gate, a mandrel bent 3" stainless steel downpipe, and six 40lb injectors. I used a KB 911 converter (3600rpm stall 9" converter with 11" Kevlar lock-up clutch), a KB ram air kit, a KB 2-speed fuel pump overdrive, KB billet adjustable fuel pressure regulator, ULTRA stainless/silicone plug wires (You have to see them to appreciate them), and an ATR 40# prom. This thing ate transmissions like nothing I've ever seen before. Sometime they would only make it to the first 1-2 gearchange. Imagine a trans from a Corvette capable of absorbing about 450lbs of torque. Now imagine that trans in a 4200lb all-wheel driver with 750lbs of turbo-assisted torque applied to it. I'm not talking friction failures, I'm talking planet sets exploding so hard that we broke a slide hammer trying to get it apart the last time. I build my own 4L60s also, and I used hand made Raybestos "Blue plate special" 3-4 frictions, Koleen steels, .500" boost valve, full-on valve body kit with blocked accumulators to eliminate slippage. I used the best parts that money could buy. It was a little noisey. It had no cat, and a 3" inside diameter 12" long straight through Dynomax Race Magnum muffler. I installed a Moroso Super Cool can inline with the intercooler so that I could ice the intercooler at the drag strip. Your grandma could stick in in overdrive and rip 1.60 second 60' times. It would be an understatement to say that it would hook in a mudslide. It hiked one front wheel on the 1-2 gearchange on the all season radials that it left the assembly line on. It would siphon uphill from the washer reservoir under the hood to the rear washer nozzles above the rear hatch. I never had a chance, but I think that it would have run in the 12's on black ice. It had violent chassis rotation on launch that I was finally able to somewhat control by lowering it 3" and installing KYB gas-a-just shocks. I never turned the waste gate up- I left it resting on the 16# spring. I had all the parts in place to run up to 25# boost, but NHRA won't allow a 4WD vehicle to run any faster than 12.00, so there was no point. At 25# boost and on four DOT legal drag radials, my mom could probably have waxed about 75% of stock Hayabusas at the strip. As it turned out, we never had the chance. Last spring break, a 22 year old puke blew a red light and T-boned my Typhoon doing about 55mph according to the witnesses. He was very empathetic. He ran over to me and told me "You no call police. I give you some money." I was hurt, so I told his to sit down on the pavement, and told him that if he ran, I would shoot him. I couldn't find where my cell phone had landed, but several witnesses called 911 for me. He was cited for speeding and blowing the light. I got a rotator cuff problem and a messed up disc in my spine. I wonder what he was running from.
[This message has been edited by Kirk (edited 25 July 2000).]