Banks ‘Rat Rod’ Shop Truck
by Tim Gavern
The
Banks Race Shop crew recently built five high-performance
trucks to do “the long haul” on Hot Rod Magazine’s
Power Tour 2005. Banks’ “Rat Rod” Race
Shop Truck was the only gasoline-powered truck of the
five. Because this is Gale Banks Engineering, the other
four trucks were turbodiesel powered.
What
a truck the ‘Rat
Rod’ turned out to
be. Gale bought the 454SS new in 1990 and it did duty
as a family vehicle for many years. It was actually built
into its twin-turbo race-shop-delivery-truck form last
year, but it only recently received it new “Rat
Rod” look for Power Tour.
In
the past few months, the truck was disassembled again,
the body straightened, stripped, masked and a flat
black paint job was commissioned. Unfortunately, the
Rat Rod just didn’t look right
when it came back from the paint shop. When Gale found
out that the painter put the flattener into the clear
instead of the black paint, the clear was buffed off
and the black paint was rubbed out. (I guess some shops
aren’t exactly hip on
to how to achieve the rat rod flat black look…).
Well, we like the gloss black better, anyway.
Of
course, the Rat Rod’s twin-turbo small block
Chevrolet was developed as part of the Banks “revival” twin-turbo
program last year. Banks’ extensive twin-turbo
program was dynamometer developed to have four variations;
each with different horsepower and torque outputs. There
are 91 and 100 octane ratings with and without charge-air
cooling (see chart). Besides octane and charge-air cooling,
about the only other changes necessary to achieve the
astronomical horsepower and torque numbers are larger
injectors and different wastegate settings.
The
maximum effort achieved from Banks’ new 366
cu. in. twin-turbo engines is 1,115-horsepower at 6800
rpm. It arrives by using 100-octane gasoline with serious
charge-air cooling, having the largest injectors available
and setting the wastegates to achieve a maximum boost
of 20-lbs. Torque is a stump-pulling 905 lb.-ft. @ 5800
rpm. Yikes!
The
next step down is also intercooled, but on 91 octane
gasoline. The horsepower rating is “only” 825
@ 6800 rpm with 695 lb.-ft. at 5800 rpm at 14 lbs. boost.
Without
charge-air cooling, on 100 octane, the
horsepower numbers become 800 @ 6800 rpm with 655 lb.-ft.
@ 5800 rpm at 14 lbs. boost.
In
the Rat Rod’s present state-of-tune
(without charge-air cooling running on 91 octane), its
366 cu.-in. twin-turbo small block Chevrolet was dynamometer-tested
at 640 horsepower at 6,800 r.p.m. at the flywheel at
9-psi. Torque is a healthy 545 lb.-ft. at 5800 r.p.m.
Believe me, this is more than enough horsepower to absolutely
pin you into your seat. And the acceleration keeps coming
as the turbochargers force you to upshift one gear right
after another. In a hurry.
When
the truck was built into its twin-turbocharged form
last year, the huge power twisted the stock frame like
a pretzel, so Banks’ crew
removed the bed and fabricated several round-tube street
rod-style frame strengtheners that now tie the chassis
together in several places. This made the truck considerably
stiffer; you could really feel the difference. Also,
adding Cal Tracks bars to the heavy-duty Detroit Locker-equipped
3.73-geared 14-bolt GM rearend now allows much more of
the power to get to the ground–instead of being
wasted as tire smoke.
Banks ‘Rat
Rod’ features
a Richmond 6-speed trans with a Centerforce
12” billet
steel flywheel and Dual Friction clutch
and pressure plate. Stopping the truck from high rates
of speed requires great brakes and the call went to
Baer for a set of its incredible GT Plus 12.75" front
and rear disc brakes. After many miles spent in the
Rat Rod on Power Tour, I can attest to their stopping
power. Finally, if you’ll
notice, the front end was dropped several
inches—this was handled with Bell Tech Spindles modified
by Baer to work with its GT Plus Brakes. It looks just
right. It’s not too low.
Finally,
there are Gale’s
superb choice of wheels. They are red powder-coated 18" billet
aluminum "pseudo
steelies" by Wheel Vintiques on suuuuper-sticky
Nitto NT555R 305/45R-18s. They really set off the retro
lettering on the doors and give it the “Rat Rod” look.
Okay, Rat Rod on a suitcase full of fifties.
Oh,
and to top it off, a twin to the ‘Rat Rod’ is
also being built at Banks Race Shop. The twin will be
intercooled with a 4L-80E automatic trans. Expect well
over 1,500 horsepower from its intercooled twin-turbo
BIG BLOCK Chevrolet. To get all this power to the ground,
an Art Morrison rear subframe with 4-link and a 9-inch
rearend is being installed. That’s all we’re
telling you for now. You’ll just have to wait and
see how it turns out.
We
know after seeing Banks’ Rat
Rod, you’re
going to want to build a twin-turbocharged engine for
your ride. Complete engines rated at up to 1,115 horsepower
are available as are complete kits to bolt two turbos
onto your small block Chevy. Kits start at $5,995.00.
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