We’ve all seen those over-the-top movie scenes, the ones where a character pulls off some impossible automotive feat with just a few spare parts and a whole lot of bravado.

In “The Fate of the Furious,” Vin Diesel’s Dom Toretto does exactly that, rigging a turbo with a soda can tab and some wire to win a high-stakes race.

Naturally, the trio (Bisi Ezerioha, Tory Belleci, and Faye Hadley) behind the Motor Mythbusters couldn’t let that slide. They had to see if this cinematic trick could hold up in the real world.

“Look at the size of that turbo! It’s massive. It’s huge! Turbo that’s bigger than my head,” Hadley exclaimed, setting the stage for the sheer scale of the project.

“Would this budget friendly, low tech technique ever work in the real world?” the narrator asked, diving headfirst into the challenge.

So, what’s their test subject? Well, it’s a 1973 Monte Carlo, a “beautifully ugly” machine with plenty of engine bay space for their ambitious modifications.

To replicate the movie scene, they added a massive turbo, a nitrous system, and a data-logging dashboard to monitor the engine’s vitals.

However, real ingenuity came with their solution to the soda can tab. “Using a rat trap to control boost,” Ezerioha declared, showcasing his clever substitute for Dom’s makeshift wastegate control.

After stripping the Monte Carlo down to its bare essentials – “We’re just gonna do it Vin Diesel style.” Said Belleci. Then, they hit the airstrip for the ultimate test.

With the engine roaring and the nitrous flowing, they pulled the “rat trap,” mimicking the movie’s bailing wire. “It was like, woah… and then as soon as I hit the rat trap, it was like, boom, you felt the boost,” Belleci recounted after reaching a blistering 130 mph.

The experiment proved that while the movie’s portrayal might be a bit exaggerated, the core concept of manipulating turbo boost with a simple mechanism had a grain of truth.

“This is Poor Man’s Turbo,” they concluded, demonstrating that even the most outlandish movie stunts can spark real-world innovation.

It’s easy to get caught up in the spectacle of Hollywood, but remember, not everything you see on the big screen is scientifically real. That’s why we have folks like the Motor Mythbusters, who are willing to push the boundaries of automotive knowledge and test these wild scenarios. They do the stuff we wouldn’t dare try at home, and for that, we can thank them.