Hire Power

We’re Not Ready to Pop the Champagne Corks Yet, but the Turbo Taxi Is Getting Quicker by the Day

- Scott Taylor

WE BOUGHT a taxi and we turboed it. At its core that may sound like a pretty simple concept, but when you consider that the Turbo Taxi still runs on LPG, things get a little more complicated.

The number one question we get asked is: What did it cost?

We can’t answer that yet, because we still haven’t finished, but it’s probably not as cheap as buying an XR6 turbo and boosting the bejeebus out of it – and that’s kind of the point. We’re not trying to replicate something that’s been done 100 times already. By trying to push our 1760kg taxi into the 10-second zone on LPG we’re aiming to break new ground.

Last month we took our taxi on a massive 1800km round trip to Sydney Dragway and back, and ran a new PB of 12.30@114.6mph. We actually ran four 12-second passes that night, but it revealed that traction was becoming an issue.

Knowing that we had plans to do something about the rear end, we kept an eye out for a suitable replacement and we jumped on a complete BF XR8 LSD rear cradle and differential when it popped up for $300. With 3.46 gears and beefier 30-spline axles, the XR8 rear end had a lot going for it, but it was the LSD centre that was the real prize. However, with magazine deadlines being what they are we had to turn the job over to the guys at MPW Performance.

Bolting in the XR8 rear end was slightly more painful than we’d anticipated. Compatibility issues between the BF sensors and FG wiring loom caused us no end of problems. Eventually we solved the issue with a few washers to space the longer FG sensors out of the BF rear end. Then we headed towards the setting sun and Heathcote Raceway.