[andy]

I made the drive from Las Vegas to L.A. this weekend. There's a 200 mile stretch on the 15.
I am on cruise control 80mph, I see a Tian or Armada inthe rear view mirror closing in on me fast. I pull over to the right lane, and a silver Armada goes flying by me at least 100+. I heard a very weird sound. He pulled off the next offramp north of Bakersfield and I followed him.
Then he pulled back on freeway again. I pulled next to him and floored it, he pulled away from me like no Armada could and when I hit 95mph, he was a good 20 cars lengths ahead of me.
Here's the weird thing.
Car had mfg plates and all stock looking. I had my window half way down and heard something very strange. Sounded like a twin turbo. I'm almost positive. Double high pitched whine with an almost uncorked exhaust. For sure not a supercharger.
Had a straight 4" flat black exhaust out the back.
That's all I could see and hear. Never caught him after that.

There's no way that thing was a stock engine. I'm running a totally stock setup with no load other than me and wife, and he pulled away from me like only a Corvette or 911 could have.

This Armada was crazy fast.

If anyone out there makes Vegas to L.A. runs, keep your eyes open for a Silver Armada that drives like a bat out of hell.

I want to know what he has under the hood.

 

[Campfamily]

Turbo-Diesel?

 

[andy]

Didn't sound like a diesel at all. It sounded like a gas engine with turbos. But I'm no expert in diesel engines though.
Oh well, what ever it was, it'll probably turn up in a magazine or?? I hope.
Could you imagine a twin turbo version of our engine. 500+hp Maybe 600

 

[casinojames]

Sounds like some kinda ghost story!! Someone from cali having the cash to modify an Armada with that kinda power doesn't shock to much but I'm curious about the Manufacters plate. I have seen a strange mod on some of the titan's on the other forum not the Stillen but some sort of turbo or blower of some sort.

 

[PumaFiveOh]

I highly doubt it would be a twin turbo Armada, mostly because twin turbo cars like the 300ZX, Supra etc have one smaller diameter turbine for low end...and the larger one picks up on the top end. This is done to get rid of turbo lag....however if you want to go all balls out, you run a single monster size turbine and live with the low end lag.

On an SUV it would be pretty pointless/ expensive/ and not practical to run a twin setup. Especially a twin simultaneous setup. You also wouldn't be able to tell the difference from outside spool noise...the only thing that would give it away would be if you heard two blow off valves during shifts or when he let off the gas.

If anything I would guess this car was a prototype turbo diesel, or running a large centrifugal blower or single turbo. With turbo the exhaust would have been relatively quiet with a louder whistle, where as with the blower the exhaust would have been extremely louder then the whistle. Was there a lot of black smoke coming out of the tailpipe when he got on it? And how loud was the exhaust?

 

[Houston_Rider]

maybe it was someone doing tests for the Supercharger...or....maybe you dreamt the whole thing...

 

[ggeorgie]

maybe it was someone doing tests for the Supercharger...or....maybe you dreamt the whole thing...

I am sorry, but you need to read Andy's threads, before saying maybe he dreamt the whole thing. please let us know if you need help with anything, and we do appreciate your expertise on this forum, we are here to help each others out. and welcome. LOL

 

[andy]

Well, if it were a dream, it was a good one. But like I said, here's what I got.
Looked like a totally stock exterior. Had a white CA license plate with MFG on it. I assume that means manufacturer.
The male driver was not shy about accelerating hard and braking hard.
We were dead even getting back on the freeway, side by side, I floored it, and kept it floored until I hit 95'ish. That's as fast as I'll go in a large SUV.
By the time I hit 95, the silver armada was 20 car lengths or so in front of me. Maybe more, it's hard to be accurate.
For the 10 seconds he was next to me and pulling away, it had an electronic sounding whine to it and there were 2 distinct whines at different frequencies. I didn't hear or notice any waste gate or other sounds.
I assume it was twin turbos because of the 2 whining spooling sounds. But I don't know what a supercharger sounds like. or even exactly what twin turbos sound like. I've driven many turbo charged VW's in the past, but didn't sound like those.

Bottom line, that Armada was substancially faster than my Armada. Had to be more than a CAI or cat back. And the engine was loud and had a hi pitched whine coming from it.

Can a diesel be that fast?

 

[armoody]

I think superchargers whine, if I recall Mad Maxx . Anyone heard the Stillen setup?

 

[adjmcloon]

Diesels can make some serious horsepower and torque. With all of the rumors I've read online about Nissan coming out with a diesel, I wouldn't be surprised. Plus the Nissan rep that I met a while back told me that there were some great surprises starting in '07. He didn't elaborate

I wouldn't be a bit surprised. Did it have Nismo type wheels/tires on it or anything? Too bad you couldn't snap a pic with a cell phone camera or something.

 

[PumaFiveOh]

Well, if it were a dream, it was a good one. But like I said, here's what I got.
Looked like a totally stock exterior. Had a white CA license plate with MFG on it. I assume that means manufacturer.
The male driver was not shy about accelerating hard and braking hard.
We were dead even getting back on the freeway, side by side, I floored it, and kept it floored until I hit 95'ish. That's as fast as I'll go in a large SUV.
By the time I hit 95, the silver armada was 20 car lengths or so in front of me. Maybe more, it's hard to be accurate.
For the 10 seconds he was next to me and pulling away, it had an electronic sounding whine to it and there were 2 distinct whines at different frequencies. I didn't hear or notice any waste gate or other sounds.
I assume it was twin turbos because of the 2 whining spooling sounds. But I don't know what a supercharger sounds like. or even exactly what twin turbos sound like. I've driven many turbo charged VW's in the past, but didn't sound like those.

Bottom line, that Armada was substancially faster than my Armada. Had to be more than a CAI or cat back. And the engine was loud and had a hi pitched whine coming from it.

Can a diesel be that fast?

Ohhh yes, a turbo Diesel can haul some serious ass. Last time I was at Searspoint raceway, there was this monster sized turbo diesel Ford truck with duelies and all....and that thing was running consistent 11.7's in the 1/4 mile all night. For those that don't know how fast 11.7 is.....it pretty much blows the doors off of a stock new Z07 Corvette.
So I would guess to say it was either a turbo diesel or running a roots style blower. If it had a Stillen roots style blower...it would sound similar to a higher pitched blender on crack...which would also give off different pitched sounds as he accelerated. If it was a centrifugal blower, then it would sound like a Turbo with a loud spool noise, but I doubt it was running like that style of a blower or twin turbo's.

 

[andy]

Diesels can make some serious horsepower and torque. With all of the rumors I've read online about Nissan coming out with a diesel, I wouldn't be surprised. Plus the Nissan rep that I met a while back told me that there were some great surprises starting in '07. He didn't elaborate

I wouldn't be a bit surprised. Did it have Nismo type wheels/tires on it or anything? Too bad you couldn't snap a pic with a cell phone camera or something.

I didn't think to take a picture because it looked totally stock. The only thing I saw or noticed was the exhaust that stuck straight out back, not to the side. I only saw the wheels while they were spinning and looked like stock setup.
Oh well, time will tell what Nissan has brewing...