Bary’s 2016 Nissan 370Z NISMO is in to get a new shot of life! This round, John is setting the VQ37VHR up with nitrous system components from Nitrous Outlet & Nitrous Express, then to get dialed in for both naturally aspirated & nitrous (Bary will be able to change calibration files on the fly with the cruise control buttons), she’s hitting the rollers for a custom calibration by Vlad via UpRev with ARC! Stay tuned for results!
Superb handling is one of the many things the latest generation Focus RS is known for the world over. But for guys like Mike — who owns this beautiful Stealth Gray 2017 Ford Focus RS — superb isn’t quite surgical, and that’s what Archer is addressing by installing this amazing Tractive suspension system from DSC Sport!
Unlike other suspension systems on the market, these coilovers do not eliminate the factory electronic damper control — but instead, the Tractive suspension system upgrades the hardware, and also retains the factory electronic controls for the best of both worlds. The result is an astronomic improvement in both ride comfort & handling. Perfect suspension solution for the tracked street car!
The Vortec 5300 engine: loved by all. Whether it be by the practical guy for its reliability & surprisingly good fuel economy, or by racers/Sloppy Mechanics for its junkyard price tag & ability to hold obscene amounts of power with a little boost. Nearly everyone can agree that these engines are fantastic.
However, in the case of the AFM (Active Fuel Management) variants — such as the LY5 found in Dante’s 2007 Chevrolet Tahoe pictured here — lifter failure is a near certainty at some point. While the practical guys may just want it fixed back to factory working order, the gearhead views lifter failure as an opportunity to improve, and pick up a little lope in the process… obviously, Dante is the latter.
Louis has this LY2 under the knife to bring it back to life and better than ever! This round, he’s installing a COMP Cams camshaft & supporting components, OEM GM LS7 lifters, Melling Performance Parts engine oil pump, C5R/C6R timing chain, and all the miscellaneous OEM GM bits-and-pieces necessary to delete the failure-prone AFM system. Once the mechanical work is wrapped, she’s hitting the rollers to get dialed in by Vlad via HP Tuners.
A customer recently brought us his 2006 Honda S2000 to have it dialed in by Vlad on the dyno. These F20C/F22C engines are already impressive in factory form, but add a little boost into the equation, and they really come alive. National Speed is no stranger to these engines and we were excited to have this great example in our Richmond shop.
The owner left the powertrain in his gorgeous AP2 mostly stock, but equipped it with a KraftWerks Performance Group supercharger system featuring a Rotrex C38-81, and a Skunk2 Racing exhaust system to let the boosted F22C breathe a bit easier.
Calibrating via Hondata FlashPro, Vlad was able to extract 428.20whp & 292.97lbft on 93 octane! Overall, a super well-rounded build, that must be an absolute blast to throw through turns!
Keith’s ProCharger F-1A equipped 2006 Chevrolet Corvette is in for some attention! While she’s pumping out plenty of horsepower, portions of the drivetrain weren’t exactly up for the task of managing the output. This round, we’re replacing the damaged torque tube, installing a carbon fiber driveshaft from Driveshaft Shop designed to delete the rubber guibo couplers, adding driveline support components from East Coast Supercharging, and adding 70A durometer polyurethane mounts to keep the drivetrain firmly mounted, while maintaining acceptable NVH levels.
Moe’s 2012 Nissan GT-R Black Edition came in for a little attention! As his R35 approached the 100,000 mile mark, Moe began to notice some odd transmission behavior. After some diagnostics, we discovered significant debris scarring on the solenoids, and evidence of clutch-pack wear. So, rather than just rebuilding, Moe decided to lay some groundwork for more power down the line, and upgraded to a ShepTrans build! This GR6 transmission received a Pfitzner Performance Gearbox – PPG 1st gear, 7-plate clutch pack, billet clutch baskets, a long list of Dodson Performance reinforcements, all brought together with select OEM Nissan components. Now she’s in Louis’ hands to get brought back to life, and back on the streets!
Courtney’s 1992 Mitsubishi 3000GT VR-4 is now Flex Fuel enabled, and making some power! This round, Kevin set up the wonderfully built 6G72 with an AEM Performance Electronics Infinity 506, ethanol content sensor, fuel pressure sensor, 4.2LSU UEGO wideband sensor, DSM 24-tooth trigger wheel, various fuel system modifications, and Injector Dynamics ID1050X fuel injectors.
Once Kevin wrapped the work in the shop, Vlad went to work on the rollers setting up fuel pressure fail safe setup, and performing a Flex Fuel calibration. Starting off with 93 octane, Vlad was able to extract 557.15awhp & 509.65lbft — then, moving on to E85, Vlad was able to extract a strong 650.46awhp & 603.29lbft! A gain of 93.31awhp & 93.64lbft between fuels!
Fantastic results for this beautiful build. We cannot wait to hear Courtney’s feedback after the first drive on E85!
Another 1,000whp+ stock block 2JZ-GTE on the rollers! This Kouki front end 1996 Nissan 240SX belongs to Jared Ward, one of our Wilmington shop’s Performance Technicians, and clearly, it isn’t exactly stock. Crank the volume, and enjoy the beautiful sounds of an S480SX-equipped 2JZ-GTE singing its heart out at 38psi!
But first, a little background: Jared built this car from the ground up & custom fabricated all components himself, with modifications including the 2JZ-GTE swap (stock aside from GSC Power-Division S2 camshafts/beehive springs & ARP cylinder head studs), T56 Magnum conversion, Q45 rear differential, full ethanol compatible fuel system featuring Injector Dynamics ID2000, MagnaFuel Products Inc. 4303 pump, custom fabricated turbocharger manifold, BorgWarner Inc. S480SX turbocharger, custom fabricated 4.00″ turbocharger-back exhaust system, Extreme Turbo Systems 5.00″ intercooler core, sheet metal intake manifold with 90mm throttle body, and of course, AEM Performance Electronics Infinity 506 stand-alone EMS with CD5 dash.
With Vlad performing the calibration, and a tank full of E85, they progressively ramped boost pressure until the goal of 1,000whp was met, and at 38psi, they found it — 1,013.03whp & 759.97lbft! The fact that this engine is taking abuse at this power level, considering the short block is comprised of two failed engines put together to make one (yes, seriously), is nothing short of astonishing. Next up, Jared’s chasing his next goal of an 8-second time slip!
Cool fact: we pursued hiring Jared as a technician after he brought this car in for tuning on the old setup — that day, the car went from first startup (after a ground-up build), to making 900whp+ without a hitch. That, paired with the impressive build quality, was the best resume we could have possibly asked for. A few weeks later after a long interview process, he had his own bay in the shop, and has been doing fantastic work for our customers ever since!
George brought us his ProCharger P-1SC-1 equipped 2009 Dodge Challenger R/T to get her breathing a bit easier, and bumping a lot harder! This round, James set the 5.7L HEMI up with a set of CNC ported cylinder heads from Modern Muscle Xtreme, cylinder head studs from ARP, MDS delete utilizing OEM Mopar components, and camshaft & valve train components from COMP Cams. With the mechanical work wrapped up the shop, then she hit the rollers to get dialed in by Vlad via HP Tuners.
On only ~6.5psi, Vlad was able to extract 512.71whp & 515.96lbft through the automatic transmission, an increase of 68.72whp & 58.76lbft over baseline! That puts us right where we want to be on a stock bottom end 5.7L HEMI for reliable performance.
Parachute, GT4202R, PPG dog-box, corn fed… no matter the car, this combination instantly makes it interesting. And in the case of Wesley’s 2003 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII here, it fits that bill, and far, far more.
Quick rundown of the setup: destroked 2.2L, Manley Performance Products, Inc. internals, 11:1CR, Curt Brown Racing cylinder head, GSC Power-Division S3 camshafts, valvetrain from GSC & Kiggly Racing, ARP 625+ cylinder head studs, forward-facing T4 manifold, twin Turbosmart 40mm wastegates, TREperformance.com 4.50″ intercooler core, full ethanol compatible fuel system with twin Walbro 450lph fuel pumps, and 2,000cc Fuel Injector Development fuel injectors, transmitted through a Pfitzner Performance Gearbox – PPG & ShepTrans dog-box, all controlled via AEM Performance Electronics Infinity 6.
First up, Jared wired in the AEM fuel pressure sensor for fuel pressure failsafe, then she hit the rollers to get dialed in by Vlad AEM Infinity 6! With the factory ignition components still in place, limiting us to ~37psi, Vlad still managed to increase output to 787.20awhp & 619.02lbft!
