David “Turbo” Dantonio took a more difficult route to supercharge the LS6 in his 1982 Volvo 244. The air-to-water charge-cooled supercharger was originally mounted to a Cadillac XLR-V. For those of you that forgot about that short-lived, high-performance Corvette cousin, it was powered by a Northstar V-8 which does not share the same port spacing as an LS6. Consequently, Dantonio had to fabricate an adapter. He welded up the custom piece using an aluminum LS intake flange and used the supercharged Northstar’s intake gasket and had a flange water jet cut to match. To connect the two flanges, he welded short runners that were each made from four pieces of sheet metal, breaking up the laborious task over the course of a month.

In addition to the supercharger, Dantonio’s LS6 sports a new cam and, obviously, a custom tune. It’s bolted to a Tremec TKX five-speed that sends power to a Dodge 9.25-inch rear axle. Additional upgrades include Cadillac ATS Brembo brakes and a full suite of gauges to keep tabs on the blown LS. The combo has been thoroughly road-tested and delivers 17mpg, not bad considering the engine’s performance attitude and the Volvo’s barn-door aerodynamics.