Update! Matt Powers Formula D LS7 Powered S14
By Mike Kojima
We last left Matt Powers in the middle of retrofitting his car for the 2011 Formula D season. We dropped back in on Matt earlier this week to see how he was doing and were pleased to observe a bunch of progress being made.
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| The LS7 is all plumbed up with Earl's plumbing and wired by Jordan Innovations. Is that a JWT POP charger? Matt's motor also uses a K&N air filter. The impressive 4″ air intake and custom super low motor mounts were fabbed by GTI Technical Innovations. |
We are surprised on the amount of controversy and general uproar that Matt's V8 conversion has created and we will take a moment to explain some things about V8 conversions and Pro Drifting in general.
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| The dry sump and power steering system are plumbed with Earl's Pro-Lite 350 hose. The Pro-Lite hose features a tough high temperature nylon sheath with a fabric reinforced synthetic rubber inner liner. It can withstand 350 psi of pressure and hot fluids. It is half the weight of standard braided steel covered hose and the nylon sheath won't abrade things like braided steel will. We've used Pro-Lite hose on a lot of our personal projects. |
A V8, a LS motor in particular, is often used in pro drifting because of the engine's light weight, thorough development as a racing platform, wide and tractable powerband and compact dimensions. An LS is lighter than a KA24DE, only slightly heavier than a SR20DE and much lighter than 2JZ's, RB's and other six cylinder engines. It is much smaller and lighter than your typical Japanese DOHC V8 and V6 engine as well due to the compact nature of the OHV valvetrain.
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| Matt's brother in law Mike, fabricates a transmission tunnel cover. |
The LS motor has a wide powerband and is easily capable of producing power in the mid 500's with equivalent torque over a 4000 rpm plus range. It is difficult to have as much area under the power curve with the higher strung Japanese motors. Sure they can have higher power but with either turbo lag and or a narrow range.
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| The Holley HP EFI system is not anything at all like the original Holley EFI systems of the 80's and early 90's. A lot of our readers have the impression that it is. Let us tell you that the new Holley EFI systems are not related to the old Holley systems and are modern full featured stand alone engine management systems that have plug and play compatibility with the LS engine. They can even operate drive by wire throttles. Matt opted to run a conventional throttle on the LS7 even though it comes with drive by wire. |
Matt's car ripping it up on the dyno!
