Words: Tommy Parry      Photos: Slo

It’s nice to see that the classic madman of a hotrodder mold still exists. Every so often, you’ll find these certifiable auto junkies devising the meanest and most humiliating ways of sneaking up on unsuspecting owners of Cobras, Hellcats and Vipers. Hell, with the amount of thrust this turbocharged LQ provides, some fairly-dedicated drag cars might have a hard time keeping up. Best of all – it looks inconspicuous from the outside to all but the trained eye.

This sinister Cadillac DeVille sports a LQ motor from a 2005 Chevy van with a 4L80E transmission for smooth cruising. Slo took the the transmission to a local speed shop to fit it with a big external cooler with a Rev Maxx 3600 stall for a little more response. While the LQ motor was a great addition, it wasn’t quite enough to get the Caddy to spin the tires at 60 mph, and so he picked up a big, whoppin’ turbo for some more zest.

The snail of choice is the much-loved Borg-Warner S475, and with a planned 20 pounds of boost, that should be enough to vaporize rear rubber. Slo ditched the MAF sensor, hooked up a 3-bar sensor and remounted the IAF sensor just behind the throttle body.

Power was only half the equation. By Slo’s admission, “the car is not a max-budget build,” and it wasn’t gonna be a show-stopper. Yet it had to look a little evil, so Slo shaved off all the paint, plastered some primer on and gave it a thick coat of matte-black paint. With a lowered stance, the car wasn’t going to turn heads wherever it went, but for those in the know, it commanded a certain attention.

With the car coated and looking a little fiendish, Slo set on installing the LQ motor. Because the steering linkage forced him to mount the motor a little too high for his tastes – a big cowl might not be the most discreet addition around – he picked up the front clip from a 2004 Lincoln for a little more wiggle room.

Stealing the steering linkage from the Lincoln, he was able to lower the motor to his desired height without the tie rods hitting the oil pan. After cutting two inches out of the crossmember and binding the Lincoln steering column linked to the Ford steering rack, Slo had a car that steered responsively. This upgrade also gave him plenty of room to work which, with a bunch of turbo plumbing on the way, was appreciated.

Next, Slo started mocking up the turbo assembly. Pushing the radiator support as far forward as he could, he shoehorned the 4” intercooler, wastegate and piping in with surprisingly little effort. The radiator is a 31” crossflow piece from Speedway Motors, and the fans from an LT1 Camaro sit behind it.

Slo’s aim was to mount the turbo behind the motor for shorter hot-side pipes and an added ease of downpipe routing.

Underneath, a set of slotted and drilled rotors sat beneath a set of 22” rims. For a little bit of subtle flair, Slo dashed the calipers with a little purple paint. However, what steals the show is the prominent filter, which Slo had to cut a portion of the wheel well out to fit. Not the most practical of modifications, but it’s definitely one of the cooler tweaks we’ve seen in a long time.

Slo then mounted the “sewer pipe” exhaust, wrapped in 40’ of heat insulation. Keeping it as flush to the bottom of the car as possible, Slo mandrel-bent the exhaust to exit in front of the rear wheel, then painted the tip black. Gotta keep a low profile.

To keep that LQ’s thirst sated and to add a little more weight over the rear axle, Slo pulled some of the rear trunk out, laid down some diamond plate and bolted in a fuel cell. Hopefully with all that extra metal in the trunk, the rear tires will have a little more traction. That should come in handy when spitting out 700 horsepower.

After that, the car was ready to roll and do some smoky burnouts. Six-hundred headache-free miles later, Slo snapped a photograph of the 295-section rear tires, showing it might be time for a proper locking differential.