During the end of last season and the winter off season, the team had aquired three spare Pratt & Whitney J-60 engines. All three of them had been overhauled for installation on an aircraft, but we were able to talk them out of doing that.
After getting them home, we spent some time configuring one of them for installation into the Invader. It was a slow painstaking process to insure all was modified and installed correctly. Also it had to look right! The compressor was sprayed with a high gloss black, the oil tanks polished as well as the combustion can. We don't want to just go fast, but look great doing it!!
The new turbine was installed and the one from the Invader was put on the work stand to refreshen. With the new turbine installed, we headed out to Firebird to test fire it. With the car firing up cool, and a solid idle completed, we called it a day. We will come back out and make a test pass, when the track is ready for us and see what she can do!
Coming up for the Invader is the 161st Air Refueling Wing's Family Day celebration on March 4, and Concours in the Desert car show for the Phoenix Area Girl Scouts. For more info on the car show click here
