Quote:
Originally posted by nota
put a hemi in it
with a big supercharger sticking out the hood
|
Practical Performance Car magazine currently has a Silver Shadow track car - took it to the Nurburgring last issue, and they're adding a turbo as their next project. Given the rebuild cost, lots of Shadows have had Chevy crate engines installed as well. The Silver Shadow was built with a lot of GM parts (AC is from Cadillac, the trans is a turbo 350, iirc).
As far as parts availability: remember that RR/Bentley has never had much money for development. The 8-cylinder engine in the Silver Shadow (Britain's
first production V8, I've read) was introduced in 1959 in the Silver Cloud and was still in production in 2000 when VW and BMW took them over. I think VW is still using the engine in Bentley cars not based on the Continental GT's W12 twin-turbo. The Silver Shadow fuel system is your basic SU carb set-up until '77, and then a CIS fuel injection system like the 911SC. I got almost all my parts from the local RR dealership. The one time they didn't have it in stock, I got it from a dealership in Indiana.
Seriously, the car isn't as tricky as it sounds. Even the braking system is only a mystery to Americans - it was licensed from Citroen, so Europeans find it much less daunting.