TURBONETICS
Asked to recount how
he caught the "Turbocharging bug," Bob Keller smiles. " "I
was working at Grumman Aircraft…" In the early '60s Keller was an
aircraft systems engineer for Grumman Aircraft in the Long Island area. The work
brought him into contact with turbochargers, turbine devices and Wolfgang
Schlegel, who was the East Coast rep for the AiResearch Industrial Division of
the Garrett Corporation.
As a hot rodder and
mechanical engineer (he graduated from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn)
Keller understood and appreciated the potential of turbocharging. So, in his off
hours, with the help of Schlegel and other performance fans who lent their time
and organizations' resources, Keller started modifying cars. Always confident of
coming up with innovative solutions, Keller's efforts-and those of the craftsmen
he worked with-began to pay off. Racers began learning of the Grumman engineer's
unofficial, "moonlight skunk works" in late 1964 and early '65.
Everything was soon being done on a bigger scale. Keller's experience and
computer time "donated" by a friendly cohort at Garrett helped produce
a combination of impeller, housing and nozzles that resulted in many new
applications and components for automobile turbocharging.
If you think
intercooling and supplemental injectors are a recent development, note that in
1965, massive water-to-air intercoolers, multiple fuel nozzles were already
being used by Keller (on Hilborn injection systems) to help things at high
boost. The intercoolers were fed by
coolant stored in trunk-mounted 15-gallon tanks! With the potential to make
2,000 horsepower, the turbo engines were ahead of its time as there was no
transmission or racing tires that could make full use of the horsepower being
produced.
Racing has always
been the "R" in auto aftermarket R&D, and Keller and his friends
following the time-honored entrepreneurial tactic of keeping their "day
jobs"-founded Turbonics to "develop" and continue their
obsession. The plan called for making turbocharger kits for small- and medium
block Chevy, Ford and MoPars. The Press coverage helped, a writer concluded,
"Once you realize the actual potential of a turbocharger, such as the one
marketed by Turbonics you have to admit it's senseless to go any other souping
route."
Turbonics went on to
be acquired by Echlin, which renamed it TurboSonic and hired Keller to run it as
a division under the mighty Accel marketing umbrella. From Echlin/Accel and
Roto-Master, Turbonetics was created in 1978.
From Grumman to full-time turbo man, Keller and Turbonetics have not
looked back.
The ceramic
ball-bearing turbocharger that they developed, is one of
several patents related to turbocharging that Turbonetics own. The
breakthrough-design dramatically improves "spool up" and, more
importantly, withstands up to 50 times more thrust than conventional bearings.