Jay does Gale a lot of favors, so to return that kindness, Gale twin-turbocharged and fuel-injected the car’s M47 V-12 tank engine. “We took it from 800 to 1600 hp and doubled the mileage as well,” says Banks. “Jay likes a lot of power and a horn you can hear…Now he’s a happy man.”
Follow along with us as we take a behind-the-scenes trip through the Banks Advanced Prototype Engineering laboratory to view the magical transformation of a Cold War-era giant into a modern superpower.
Yeah, it’s got a HEMI! Believe it or not, it was early experimentation with hemispherical head tank engines like this that started Chrysler’s legacy of the HEMI engine. In stock form, this engine was rated at 810 horsepower on 80 octane gasoline.
If you had a vehicle the size of the Chrysler building powered by a Korean-War-era M47 Patton tank engine — a 2000-pound, 1790 cubic-inch V-12 air-cooled Chrysler-built beast that makes 810 hp and 1560 lb-ft torque, and has an Allison tranny from a Greyhound bus — what’s the first thing you would do? Well, Jay Leno did what any sane person would: he called Gale Banks to give it even more power.
“There’s two things Jay wants in a car,” says Banks: “a loud horn and huge power.” So Gale and his team went to work on twin-turbocharging the tank car’s gargantuan air-cooled engine. But getting the goods to turbocharge a tank engine from half a century ago isn’t as simple as stopping in at Pep Boys. The Banks crew had to build many of the parts themselves, from mongo slabs of billet aluminum. Gale called his friends at the Robert Bosch company and asked them to convert the engine to fuel injection. The turbos were sourced from Honeywell/Garrett Turbo Technologies and are magnesium-housing units originally used for Toyota’s CART efforts. They don’t sell them, officially, but if they did you’d pay close to $10,000 per copy.
Kory Willis, the owner of PPEI, discusses his fight with the EPA, making sizeable horsepower gains on emissions-equipped vehicles.
Read more
This week’s Time Machine transports us to 2006 when Jay Leno, a long-time friend of Gale Banks, called Gale to ask him if his coveted Tank Car could be turbocharged. The Tank Car is a custom-designed giant roadster that is powered by a military surplus 1792 CI air-cooled Continental V12 engine that was originally designed ...
Read more Jay Leno is without a doubt one of the biggest names in both comedy and cars, alongside Jerry Seinfeld.
Read more Episode #8: Completion and testing
Jay Leno’s Tank Car is just one of several high profile development programs ongoing in the Banks Advanced Prototype Engineering labs.
Read more Episode #7: Wastegates and exhaust
Jay Leno’s Tank Car is just one of several high profile development programs ongoing in the Banks Advanced Prototype Engineering labs.
Read more Three pumps, no waiting! On the wet side of the EFI system, Bosch provided us with their 200 liter-per-hour, 5-bar (72 psig) electric fuel pumps. With each pump putting out just under one gallon per minute, it’ll take three of them in parallel to feed this monster.
Read more Episode #5: Electronic Fuel Injection
Jay Leno’s Tank Car is just one of several high profile development programs ongoing in the Banks Advanced Prototype Engineering labs.
Read more Jay to Gale: Hey, Can You Banks This?
Part Four in a Series. Follow along with us as we take a behind-the-scenes trip through the Banks Advanced Prototype Engineering laboratory to view the magical transformation of a Cold War-era giant into a modern superpower.
Read more Follow along with us as we take a behind-the-scenes trip through the Banks Advanced Prototype Engineering laboratory to view the magical transformation of a Cold War-era giant into a modern superpower.
Read more I’ve built twin turbo gasoline engines for boats, race cars & hot rods for over 40 years and nothing comes close to the fun I had turboing and fuel injecting Jay Leno’s 30 Liter V-12! Here’s episode 2 of a once in a lifetime build.
Gale Banks
Read more Jay Leno does me favors, so I thought I’d even the score! I had no idea how much fun that would be!
Gale Banks
Read more
Gale is a featured guest on the widely popular and often times, irreverent, Smoking Tire Podcast.
Gale is a featured guest on the widely popular and often times, irreverent, Smoking Tire Podcast. And, this week joining Gale at the round table is Dan Neil of the Wall Street Journal. Many across the country enjoy Neil’s Rumble ...
Read more
The gang from Adam Carolla’s “CarCast” stopped by to see what Gale’s been up to since their last meeting. Lots going on … check it out!Professor Sandy Ganz and Motorator Matt D’Andria make a visit to Gale Banks Engineering in Azusa, CA. Gale gave them a deluxe tour of his shop and showed just about ...
Read more
Now is your chance to see the infamous “Tank Car” up close and in person at the NHRA Museum at the LA County Fairgrounds
By John Espino
Jay Leno’s Tank Car is now on display at the Gale Banks Engineering’s exhibit in the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum located at the Pomona Fair Grounds in California. If ...
Read more
How much do you want to know about wastegates and variable geometry turbos? Lots? Then give this a read. Plus, gain some insight into the engine that powers Jay Leno’s crazy behemoth known as the tank car. There’s HOT ROD POWER TOUR info too!
By John Espino
By-Pass: Better out than in
A couple of weeks ago ...
Read more What happens when you leave a Korean War tank engine sitting too close to the hot rod that you parked over at Gale Banks Engineering?
Read more
“What I hope to bring SEMA is a clear view into the future, its challenges and its opportunities.” — Gale Banks
How can I help SEMA today? Well, I¹m a futurist. My entire career has been about what¹s next. Through the decades, we at Banks have opened new markets in marine engines, turbocharging, truck and motorhome ...
Read more More of an art project that a real car … check out one the most famous vehicles in Jay’s collection …
Read more Only a few little things remain to be completed before we can light this thing off. We hooked up vacuum lines for the power brakes, reworked the crankcase ventilation system, and did some slight trimming of the body panels around the new turbo components. The short wastegate outlet pipes were abandoned later for pipes that ...
Read more Our first task on the “hot” side of the Tank Car’s turbo system was to route tubing from the exhaust manifolds to the turbochargers. We started by replacing the original mild steel tubing with stainless tubing and installing a V-band flange at the exhaust manifold outlet. Fabricator Daniel Dominguez and Bob Robe check the angle ...
Read more Three pumps, no waiting! On the wet side of the EFI system, Bosch provided us with their 200 liter-per-hour, 5-bar (72 psig) electric fuel pumps. With each pump putting out just under one gallon per minute, it’ll take three of them in parallel to feed this monster. We mounted the pumps and relays on one ...
Read more Jay Leno’s Tank Car is just one of several high profile development programs ongoing in the Banks Advanced Prototype Engineering labs. One of the Banks Sidewinder Duramax Diesel race trucks can be seen in the background. At this point in the Tank Car’s transformation, all of the fabricated intake components and the fuel rails were ...
Read more One of Gale’s goals when converting Jay’s engine to electronic fuel injection was to improve driveability and throttle response. These twin 75mm throttle bodies, designed for Ford Mustang applications, replace the original Stromberg 2bbl. carburetors. We could have gone bigger, but this was a good compromise for off-idle transition. We’ve modified them with new throttle ...
Read more A big engine’s gonn’a need a lott’a fuel! With the airflow potential of 1600+ horsepower from the two Honneywell/Garrett TR 72T turbochargers, the fuel system must supply at least 2-1/2 gallons per minute at full throttle. No, it won’t need this most of the time, but it must be there when called on. In an ...
Read more Jay Leno’s tank car Gallery #2: Intake manifold construction
The AV 1790 Hemi is an air cooled 90-degree V12 with cylinder banks over 50 inches long and a 42 inch width across the rocker covers. Because of Gale’s concern for thermal expansion in such a long engine, and for ease of manufacturing and assembly, we decided ...
Read more Follow along with us as we take a behind-the-scenes trip through the Banks Advanced Prototype Engineering laboratory to view the magical transformation of a Cold War-era giant into a modern superpower.
Yeah, It’s got a HEMI! Believe it or not, it was early experimentation with hemispherical head tank engines like this that started Chrysler’s legacy of ...
Read more