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After hanging out with Yannick and his twin engined rod today, I realized there are quite a few details to this car that are really easy to overlook. It's easy to overlook a lot when you first see this car. Two engines mounted front to back are totally in your face. And, those headers. Oh my freaking Gosh, look at those headers!!! But once you get over the shock value, there are a ton of really cool engineering ideas hiding out in this monster.
But first, lets go back a bit. Two years ago exactly, Yannick was looking for something different to build after years of doing the same thing, a common affliction to artists that need to stretch themselves. Test themselves. So, one day he has two engine blocks and two frame rails sitting in his driveway and a really nutty idea. That's how this all started. Then the mad scientist locked himself in his home garage and got to building. Two and half months later, he had what you see here. I asked him how he managed to do this and still work at his shop and his answer was, "I don't sleep much." I guess not.
This is the first thing Yannick made. The engine coupler. Without a way to connect the motors, this project was dead in the water. It's mostly made of rubber. That piece comes from an '04 GTO's driveshaft. It's the rubber isolator that is at the rear differential on IRS cars. He then fabbed up a bracket to bolt it to the rear of the front engine via an aluminum flywheel. A stick style flywheel was necessary cause flexplates get real flexy when a starter hits them without a convertor bolted to the back of them. The rear motor fires 45 degrees behind the front engine, so it's like a V16 firing order. 1-1, 2-2, 3-3, 4-4 and so on.
Yannick then set about designing the frame around his two engines. You may think that this required using a computer and CAD designing. He could have gone that route, but this was old school. Chalk drawings on the floor of his garage, just like a bunch rodders built cars back in the day. The frame and cage are built from 1 3/4 in. mild steel tubing and hand bender, mig welded together.
What about those engines? Those are "junk 350's", as Yannick puts it. Nothing special. The rear short block is a crate engine with a steel crank and cast rods and pistons. The front 350 was tossed together with a cast crank and what ever else was lying around the shop. Both engines have AFR 195 heads, Engle solid flat tappet .500 lift cams, 1.6 roller rockers, Edelbrock RPM Air Gap intakes, and Holley 650 double pumpers (one new, one used), and junkyard scored HEI's that he custom curved. That's it, and they make around 450-470 hp each. Then, of course, there are those amazing headers. Pure artwork in themselves as they snake back from eight to four to one massive pipe. The mufflers are mufflers in name only. Those five inch sewer pipes do have baffling in them, or so Yannick claims. My ringing ears beg to differ. It's true that you sit with head not 24 inches away from the exhaust exit, but at full throttle your eyeballs literally vibrate in your skull.
The front suspension is all handmade. The custom A arms are connected to gen 2 Camaro 2 inch drop spindles with C6 Z06 14 inch brakes. There are heim jointed rods connected to bell cranks that actuate a pair of inboard QA1 double adjustable coil overs hiding behind the front radiator. There are a pair of Tilton master cylinders that have a custom built equalizer bar. Behind the master cylinders is a 30 inch long rod that is pushed by a hydroboost power assist that is run by the power steering pump on the rear engine. The rack and pinion came from a Suburu STI.
The hydro boost is under the power steering pump. Honest, it is.
The rear suspension started with a Dana 60 stuffed with 3.54 gears that came from a '69 International Travelall. He cut off all the stock brackets and welded on tabs for a three link set up. One below on each side and a center top link. The horizontal QA1's are connected to bell cranks and a horizontal, top mount Watt's link set up of his own design. The rear brakes are Z06 as well. The wheels front and back are 19 inch from a BMW X5. (BMW bolt pattern is nearly identical to Chevy's. A little die grinding and they bolt right on.)
Hanging out back is a custom fabbed 33 gallon fuel cell uses a -8 line to feed the two Carter fuel pumps on the motors. He says it's too big, but it helps the car ride smoother when it's full of petrol. Yannick claims a 17 mpg on the freeway pulling 3000 rpm on the freeway. The battery is mounted behind the passenger seat and those aligator clips work the LED taillights, for now.
The body is custom built. Well, most of it is. Yannick found an ad on Craigslist advertising a cowl, windshield and partial roof from a VW Karman Ghia. Perfect!! He slammed down the asking price of $40 and got to building some skin for his pet monster. The whole Karman Ghia bit is built on a hinge and the roof, cowl, dash, windshield all tilts forward so Yannick doesn't have to imitate a gymnast getting in and out of the car. The nose piece is straight from an English wheel and a bunch of rivets. The headlights were stolen off a BMW left unattended in Beverly Hills.
Inside is quite comfy thanks to a pair of Scat Procar buckets. The gauges are Autometer and the wheel is from Grant. That B&M shifter is connected to the TH400 built by Mike's Transmissions to handle the 900 hp of the motors. There is no carpet or insulation from the heat of the engines and transmissions so it gets toasty pretty quick today. Riding in the car today in 73* temps felt like it was closer to 90* in the car even with air blowing over you. A cowl vent would be a Godsend, as would some Dynamat.
The pedals are a mix of bought and custom built. The brake pedal has a heim jointed rod connected to a bell crank and another rod exits through the firewall at an angle to connect to the hydroboost.
A common question from onlookers is: What is it registered as? Yannick bought a frame, cowl, and rear diff with a title and license plates from a '69 International Scout 800 for a $100. He then riveted the cowl tag to the cowl of his car, bolted the rear plate on the back of the car. He then went down to the local CHP office. They took one look at it and said Yep, that's a '69 Scout, here's your signature. It is now officially a '69 Scout 800. I don't think he's fooling anyone with that 142.5 horsepower rating on that tag.
Is this car done yet? Of course not. There is a list longer than my arm that Yannick wants to do do this car starting with a pair of engines that make real power. He also wants to tweak and pretty up the suspension front and rear, as well as find some highway gears for the differential. Then, he wants to hide all that beautiful fabrication work with a proper body with fenders. I say leave it naked, but it's not my car.
Yannick has put close to 4000 miles on it already. He's even taken his two little girls to school in it scaring the begeezus out of the Prius driving set. With it's long wheel base, it rides like a Cadillac. A really loud Caddy. Mashing the gas at any speed will break those massive Nitto 315's drag radials right loose and the car will drift into a different lane. It's stupid fun to drive. You can't help but smile if your behind the wheel. Passengers are usually left with scared looks on their face and deafened from the roars. A grab bar would be a nice addition for the passenger to feel somewhat safer.
The one other thing I noticed is how close you are to the rear differential, suspension, rolling tires, and spinning drive shaft. That rear U joint is less than two feet from your shoulder blades. You also hear everything all that stuff back there is doing. Without any side windows or back windows, there is very little wind noise in the car. Mostly, it's the drone from the exhaust that you are left hearing. But, Yannick showed me if you just get the engine cruise rpm down to 2000 rpm, the drone is almost completely gone leaving only the hum of the tires meeting the roadway. 0 to 60 times are in the 3.5 second range if he can get it to hook. Yannick has gone well past the triple digit mark with it and says it takes about 4 seconds to go from 65 mph to 150 mph. Thankfully, I wasn't the one who was holding the stopwatch that day.
I want one and am currently taking donations.
Here's a video of us getting on the freeway.
A view of the rear suspension at work as well as that spinning driveshaft. Oh yeah, you can see my Caprice trying to keep up in the background.
But first, lets go back a bit. Two years ago exactly, Yannick was looking for something different to build after years of doing the same thing, a common affliction to artists that need to stretch themselves. Test themselves. So, one day he has two engine blocks and two frame rails sitting in his driveway and a really nutty idea. That's how this all started. Then the mad scientist locked himself in his home garage and got to building. Two and half months later, he had what you see here. I asked him how he managed to do this and still work at his shop and his answer was, "I don't sleep much." I guess not.
This is the first thing Yannick made. The engine coupler. Without a way to connect the motors, this project was dead in the water. It's mostly made of rubber. That piece comes from an '04 GTO's driveshaft. It's the rubber isolator that is at the rear differential on IRS cars. He then fabbed up a bracket to bolt it to the rear of the front engine via an aluminum flywheel. A stick style flywheel was necessary cause flexplates get real flexy when a starter hits them without a convertor bolted to the back of them. The rear motor fires 45 degrees behind the front engine, so it's like a V16 firing order. 1-1, 2-2, 3-3, 4-4 and so on.
Yannick then set about designing the frame around his two engines. You may think that this required using a computer and CAD designing. He could have gone that route, but this was old school. Chalk drawings on the floor of his garage, just like a bunch rodders built cars back in the day. The frame and cage are built from 1 3/4 in. mild steel tubing and hand bender, mig welded together.
What about those engines? Those are "junk 350's", as Yannick puts it. Nothing special. The rear short block is a crate engine with a steel crank and cast rods and pistons. The front 350 was tossed together with a cast crank and what ever else was lying around the shop. Both engines have AFR 195 heads, Engle solid flat tappet .500 lift cams, 1.6 roller rockers, Edelbrock RPM Air Gap intakes, and Holley 650 double pumpers (one new, one used), and junkyard scored HEI's that he custom curved. That's it, and they make around 450-470 hp each. Then, of course, there are those amazing headers. Pure artwork in themselves as they snake back from eight to four to one massive pipe. The mufflers are mufflers in name only. Those five inch sewer pipes do have baffling in them, or so Yannick claims. My ringing ears beg to differ. It's true that you sit with head not 24 inches away from the exhaust exit, but at full throttle your eyeballs literally vibrate in your skull.
The front suspension is all handmade. The custom A arms are connected to gen 2 Camaro 2 inch drop spindles with C6 Z06 14 inch brakes. There are heim jointed rods connected to bell cranks that actuate a pair of inboard QA1 double adjustable coil overs hiding behind the front radiator. There are a pair of Tilton master cylinders that have a custom built equalizer bar. Behind the master cylinders is a 30 inch long rod that is pushed by a hydroboost power assist that is run by the power steering pump on the rear engine. The rack and pinion came from a Suburu STI.
The hydro boost is under the power steering pump. Honest, it is.
The rear suspension started with a Dana 60 stuffed with 3.54 gears that came from a '69 International Travelall. He cut off all the stock brackets and welded on tabs for a three link set up. One below on each side and a center top link. The horizontal QA1's are connected to bell cranks and a horizontal, top mount Watt's link set up of his own design. The rear brakes are Z06 as well. The wheels front and back are 19 inch from a BMW X5. (BMW bolt pattern is nearly identical to Chevy's. A little die grinding and they bolt right on.)
Hanging out back is a custom fabbed 33 gallon fuel cell uses a -8 line to feed the two Carter fuel pumps on the motors. He says it's too big, but it helps the car ride smoother when it's full of petrol. Yannick claims a 17 mpg on the freeway pulling 3000 rpm on the freeway. The battery is mounted behind the passenger seat and those aligator clips work the LED taillights, for now.
The body is custom built. Well, most of it is. Yannick found an ad on Craigslist advertising a cowl, windshield and partial roof from a VW Karman Ghia. Perfect!! He slammed down the asking price of $40 and got to building some skin for his pet monster. The whole Karman Ghia bit is built on a hinge and the roof, cowl, dash, windshield all tilts forward so Yannick doesn't have to imitate a gymnast getting in and out of the car. The nose piece is straight from an English wheel and a bunch of rivets. The headlights were stolen off a BMW left unattended in Beverly Hills.
Inside is quite comfy thanks to a pair of Scat Procar buckets. The gauges are Autometer and the wheel is from Grant. That B&M shifter is connected to the TH400 built by Mike's Transmissions to handle the 900 hp of the motors. There is no carpet or insulation from the heat of the engines and transmissions so it gets toasty pretty quick today. Riding in the car today in 73* temps felt like it was closer to 90* in the car even with air blowing over you. A cowl vent would be a Godsend, as would some Dynamat.
The pedals are a mix of bought and custom built. The brake pedal has a heim jointed rod connected to a bell crank and another rod exits through the firewall at an angle to connect to the hydroboost.
A common question from onlookers is: What is it registered as? Yannick bought a frame, cowl, and rear diff with a title and license plates from a '69 International Scout 800 for a $100. He then riveted the cowl tag to the cowl of his car, bolted the rear plate on the back of the car. He then went down to the local CHP office. They took one look at it and said Yep, that's a '69 Scout, here's your signature. It is now officially a '69 Scout 800. I don't think he's fooling anyone with that 142.5 horsepower rating on that tag.
Is this car done yet? Of course not. There is a list longer than my arm that Yannick wants to do do this car starting with a pair of engines that make real power. He also wants to tweak and pretty up the suspension front and rear, as well as find some highway gears for the differential. Then, he wants to hide all that beautiful fabrication work with a proper body with fenders. I say leave it naked, but it's not my car.
Yannick has put close to 4000 miles on it already. He's even taken his two little girls to school in it scaring the begeezus out of the Prius driving set. With it's long wheel base, it rides like a Cadillac. A really loud Caddy. Mashing the gas at any speed will break those massive Nitto 315's drag radials right loose and the car will drift into a different lane. It's stupid fun to drive. You can't help but smile if your behind the wheel. Passengers are usually left with scared looks on their face and deafened from the roars. A grab bar would be a nice addition for the passenger to feel somewhat safer.
The one other thing I noticed is how close you are to the rear differential, suspension, rolling tires, and spinning drive shaft. That rear U joint is less than two feet from your shoulder blades. You also hear everything all that stuff back there is doing. Without any side windows or back windows, there is very little wind noise in the car. Mostly, it's the drone from the exhaust that you are left hearing. But, Yannick showed me if you just get the engine cruise rpm down to 2000 rpm, the drone is almost completely gone leaving only the hum of the tires meeting the roadway. 0 to 60 times are in the 3.5 second range if he can get it to hook. Yannick has gone well past the triple digit mark with it and says it takes about 4 seconds to go from 65 mph to 150 mph. Thankfully, I wasn't the one who was holding the stopwatch that day.
I want one and am currently taking donations.
Here's a video of us getting on the freeway.
A view of the rear suspension at work as well as that spinning driveshaft. Oh yeah, you can see my Caprice trying to keep up in the background.
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