205. 2000HP Trucks, Choosing Types of Boost, and LS vs LT w/ New Era Performance
Minnoxide · Jun 18, 2026
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Term
street racing
Street racing is when drivers race each other on regular public roads instead of a track. It’s dangerous because there’s no controlled environment or safety equipment like at a race track.
Term
supercharged
A supercharger is a device that forces extra air into the engine. That extra air helps the engine make more power—one reason people use it for fast builds.
Car
Mustang Fox Body
The Mustang is a sports car made by Ford. It’s popular enough that people talk about it constantly. The podcast mentions it in the context of what kind of Mustang they prefer to build or not build.
Car
Chevrolet Silverado
The Silverado is a large truck made for carrying things and towing. People talk about it a lot because it’s a popular truck to modify for more power. The podcast mentions it as one of the bigger cars the speaker has worked on.
Car
CTSV
CTSV refers to the Cadillac CTS-V, which is the high-performance version of the CTS. The speaker is saying it was one of the very fast cars in their past lineup.
Car
G8
The Pontiac G8 is a V8 performance sedan. The speaker is saying theirs was fast enough to run in the 9-second range.
Term
extended cab
An extended cab is a truck configuration with extra space behind the front seats. Here it’s just part of the lineup the speaker is comparing for how fast they ran.
Term
eighth
In drag racing, “the eighth” is a short track segment (one-eighth of a mile) used to measure how fast the car is getting. The speaker is quoting the speed they reached by that point.
Term
fire suppressant system
A fire suppressant system is a safety setup that can quickly put out a fire automatically. The speaker is saying that at the speeds they were hitting, they realized they didn’t have that safety gear.
Term
cage
A cage here means a roll cage inside the car. It’s there to protect the driver in a crash, and the speaker is saying theirs wasn’t set up for the level of racing they were doing.
Term
parachute
A parachute is like an extra brake for a race car. When the car is going extremely fast, it helps slow down safely after the run.
Term
L.S.
“L.S.” is shorthand people use for a popular GM engine family that’s common in performance builds. It’s the kind of engine swap/race setup people use when they’re trying to make a lot of power.
Concept
liability
They’re basically saying there’s a safety risk when you make extreme power without knowing the car can handle it. If something breaks or fails, it can become a serious problem for the people involved.
Term
quarter mile
In drag racing, the quarter mile is one of the standard race lengths. Cars accelerate hard for a longer distance, so it can be harder on the engine and transmission than shorter races.
Term
stock block
The “stock block” is the engine’s original, factory core. When you try to make huge horsepower, that factory engine core may not be strong enough to handle the stress.
Term
aftermarket blocks
An aftermarket engine block is a non-factory version of the main engine housing. Builders use them when they want the engine to handle more power than stock.
Term
short block
A short block is a partial engine kit. It usually includes the main bottom-end parts, but not the top-end parts like the heads and intake.
Term
long block
A long block is a more complete engine kit than a short block. It usually includes the heads and top-end parts too, so it costs more.
Term
budget motor
A “budget motor” is an engine build where you try to spend less money. Usually that means you’re accepting limits on power or durability compared to a more expensive build.
Term
heads
Cylinder heads are the top part of the engine where the valves sit. Better heads can help the engine breathe better and make more power.
Term
intake valve and exhaust valve
Intake valves let the air/fuel mixture into the cylinder, and exhaust valves let burned gases out. Their design affects how easily the engine can breathe, which changes power.
Term
hydraulic
“Hydraulic” means the lifters use oil pressure to automatically adjust valve clearance. That usually means less routine adjustment than solid lifters.
Term
solid
“Solid” means a valvetrain style that usually needs periodic adjustment to keep the valve clearance correct. It’s common in performance engines that rev higher.
Term
springs
Valve springs help push the valves back closed after they open. If you’re running a more aggressive cam, you often need stronger springs so the valves don’t lose control at higher RPM.
Term
5.3
“5.3” means a 5.3-liter engine. In this context, they’re saying it’s easier to replace and get back on the road if you damage it.
Term
LS
LS is a GM V8 engine family that’s popular for swaps and upgrades. The aftermarket is huge, so people sometimes think you can make massive power very cheaply.
Term
internals
“Internals” are the engine’s inside moving parts. If you’re chasing big power, those parts have to be upgraded and matched so the engine can survive.
Term
cam
The camshaft controls when the valves open and close. The right cam helps the engine make power where you want it in the RPM range.
Car
stock LS three
“LS3” is a popular GM V8 engine. People build it for big power, and the point here is that even a strong engine can eventually get damaged when you push it hard enough.
Term
bent a rod
“Bent a rod” means an internal engine part (the connecting rod) got damaged. It’s a sign the engine was pushed too hard or shifted in a way that created a damaging load.
Term
dart block
A “Dart block” is a stronger aftermarket engine block used for big-power builds. The host is saying that even with a tougher block, extreme horsepower can still lead to engine damage.
Term
sequential transmissions
A sequential transmission is a gearbox where you shift step-by-step (like up/down in order) instead of using a traditional pattern. It’s common in racing because it can make fast, consistent shifts.
Term
six XD gearbox
A gearbox is the transmission. The host is saying the “six XD” is a beefier transmission built for racing-level power so it can survive hard launches and shifts.
Term
FD field
“FD” means Formula Drift, a pro drifting racing series. When someone says “FD field,” they mean the cars and teams competing in that series.
Term
sleeve it
“Sleeving it” means adding an extra inner wall to the engine’s cylinder. People do it when they’re building an engine for very high power so the cylinders can survive.
Term
twin turboed
“Twin turboed” means the engine has two turbochargers. Turbos force more air into the engine, which helps it make a lot more power.
Term
E 85
E85 is a fuel blend with a lot of ethanol mixed with gasoline. People use it on turbo engines because it can handle more boost and helps support bigger power.
Term
honed it
“Honed it” refers to cylinder honing—using an abrasive process to restore the cylinder wall surface finish and shape after damage. Proper honing helps new pistons seal correctly and reduces friction and blow-by.
Car
Ford F150
The F-150 is a big pickup truck made by Ford. It’s popular and shows up a lot, including at car events. The podcast mentions a blue one as a point of reference.
Car
Ford Mustang
The Mustang is a sports car made by Ford. It’s very popular, so a lot of people have one or talk about them. The podcast mentions it as a car “everybody” seems to own.
Term
two door cars
“Two-door” just means the car has two doors instead of four. It’s being used here to compare different body styles—coupe-like cars versus sedans.
Term
sedan
A sedan is the common “four-door car with a trunk” shape. Here it’s used to point out that the Chevy SS is a sedan, unlike the other cars in the comparison.
Term
single cab
“Single cab” means the truck has just one front seating row and no extra rear seat area. It’s a specific truck layout the host is referencing while talking about what kind of truck to buy.
Term
single turbo
A single-turbo means the engine uses one turbocharger to force more air into the cylinders. More air can mean more power, but the way it “spools up” can feel different than with two turbos.
Term
3200 pounds
Weight matters because a heavier vehicle takes more effort to accelerate. The speaker is basically saying: if the truck were lighter, it would be easier to make power without breaking parts.
Term
super chargers
A supercharger is a device that forces extra air into the engine. That extra air helps the engine make more power. The host is basically saying there are limits on how much power you can make in that class.
Term
Turbos
A turbocharger uses the engine’s exhaust to spin a compressor that pushes more air into the engine. More air usually means more power. The host is saying turbos give you more options than superchargers, but you can’t just pick any turbo size.
Term
6L90
6L90 is a GM automatic transmission. The host is saying it can handle hard driving for some people, but if it fails, it’s not a quick or cheap fix.
Term
T H 400
TH400 is a well-known GM automatic transmission that’s popular in drag racing. The host is saying it’s the best choice for going fast because it tends to handle abuse better than some other transmission options.
Term
OE transmissions
“OE” means factory-original parts. So “OE transmissions” are the transmission setups that came with the truck from the manufacturer, not upgraded racing parts.
Term
8 speeds, 10 speeds
“8-speed” and “10-speed” refer to automatic transmissions with 8 or 10 forward gears. More gears can help keep the engine in its power band, but they also add complexity—more shift events and more parts that can fail under high power.
Term
6L80
The “6L80” is a specific GM automatic transmission with 6 forward gears. The point here is that when you race and shift hard, it can be tough on the transmission.
Place
Texas 2K
“Texas 2K” is a drag-racing event in Texas. It’s where the host went to race their truck in quarter-mile runs and elimination rounds.
Term
injector driver
An “injector driver” is the electronics that tell the fuel injectors when to spray fuel. If it’s not working right, the truck can run poorly and potentially hurt the engine.
Term
standalone
“Standalone” here means the engine uses its own aftermarket computer instead of the factory one. That gives the tuner more control over how the engine runs. It’s common when people are building cars or trucks for higher power than stock.
Term
motoc
“Motoc” is a fancy computer for the engine. It helps the tuner control how much fuel and spark the engine gets, which matters a lot when you’re making big power. It can cost more than other options, so not every customer chooses it.
Term
port injection
Port injection means the fuel is sprayed into the engine’s intake passages before it goes into the cylinders. It’s one common way engines deliver fuel, and it affects what kind of tuning setup works best. The host is saying some setups are better matched to engines that use this style.
Term
direct injection
Direct injection means the fuel is sprayed straight into the cylinder where it burns. It’s a more modern fuel system than spraying into the intake. The host mentions it because it changes what tuning and fuel setup you need for big power.
Term
fuel tick
“Fuel tick” sounds like another aftermarket engine computer/tuning system. The idea is the same: it helps the tuner control fuel delivery so the engine runs correctly, especially when you’re pushing power. They’re saying both systems can work well.
Term
Holly
“Holly” sounds like the name of an aftermarket engine tuning system. The host is basically saying the car and truck were running different tuning computers, and both worked well. (It’s likely a brand name rather than a generic term.)
Brand
FuelTech
FuelTech is an aftermarket “engine computer” brand. People use it to better control things like boost, and the model they choose can affect how smooth the tuning feels.
Term
boost control
Boost control is how the car’s computer manages how hard the turbo is pushing. It tries to keep boost at the right level so the engine performs well and doesn’t act weird.
Term
ECU
ECU means the engine computer. It decides how the engine runs, and if it starts acting “weird,” the car can behave unpredictably.
Term
firmware update
A firmware update is a software patch for the engine computer. It can fix bugs or improve how the computer controls boost and other engine functions.
Term
HP tuners
HP Tuners is a computer program that lets a tuner change how a car’s engine computer runs. It gives you lots of adjustable settings, not just a couple.
Term
timing
Timing is when the engine’s spark happens during each engine cycle. Tuners adjust it to make more power and avoid damaging knock.
Term
injector data
Injector data is the tuning information that tells the engine computer how the fuel injectors work. If it’s wrong, the engine may not get the right amount of fuel.
Car
Coyote motor
“Coyote” is Ford’s V8 engine family. They’re saying that once you know how that engine is calibrated, you’re aiming for specific timing and fuel targets.
Term
methanol
Methanol is a different type of fuel sometimes used for racing. It can change how the engine burns fuel, which affects what the tuner can safely command for timing and mixture.
Term
MoTeC
MoTeC is a racing computer that controls things like fuel and ignition. It can also talk to other car electronics, so you can customize how buttons and paddles work.
Term
can
CAN is the car’s internal “data network.” It lets different computers in the car talk to each other so one system can coordinate with another.
Term
traction
Traction is how much grip the tires have. If you’re spinning tires, you don’t get the power to the ground, so tuning helps the car accelerate more effectively.
Concept
street car
A “street car” is a car you drive on regular roads. It has to feel good and behave predictably in normal traffic, not just at the track.
Concept
thousand horsepower modern cars
“Thousand horsepower” means the car is making extremely high power. The point here is that these modern builds usually require more advanced tuning and electronics work.
Car
Camaro ZL one
The Camaro ZL1 is a top, high-performance version of the Chevrolet Camaro. The host is talking about how you can modify it to make roughly 1,000 horsepower and still drive it regularly.
Car
Challenger Hellcat
The Challenger is a performance muscle car from Dodge. People modify them to make them faster and more powerful. The podcast talks about how much power can be made and whether it can still be used regularly.
Term
LTE four
“LTE four” is the host’s shorthand for the engine they’re talking about in the Camaro ZL1 build. They’re saying the limiting factor is how the engine gets fuel, so you add fuel upgrades to reach very high horsepower.
Term
big turbo
A “big turbo” is a turbo that can force more air into the engine. With the right fuel upgrades, that extra air is how you make much more horsepower.
Term
big injectors
“Big injectors” are fuel injectors that can spray more gasoline. When you add boost and try to make huge power, you need more fuel to keep the engine from running too lean.
Term
big fuel pump
A “big fuel pump” helps the engine get enough fuel when you’re making a lot of power. It’s basically about making sure the injectors have the fuel pressure and volume they need.
Car
LS
“LS” is a type of GM V8 engine. People like it for engine swaps and making more power because it’s popular and has lots of aftermarket support.
Term
ringland
A ringland is the “bridge” on a piston that holds the piston rings in place. If it breaks, the engine can start losing compression and can run poorly or fail.
Term
piston
A piston is the part inside the engine cylinder that moves up and down to make power. If you push an engine too hard, pistons can be the first parts to break.
Term
rods
Rods are the parts that connect the piston to the crankshaft. If you’re building for high power, rods may need stronger versions too.
Term
forge the motor
“Forging the motor” means upgrading the engine’s internal parts to stronger versions. It’s done when you’re making a lot more power and want the engine to survive.
Concept
LTE for
This sounds like the host’s shorthand for a particular Camaro LT setup they recommend. The main point is that starting with a lighter car makes it easier to build a fast, high-power setup.
Term
snout
In supercharger talk, the “snout” is the front part that drives the blower. Changing it can change how the boost system behaves.
Term
High compression
High compression means the engine squeezes the fuel-air mixture more tightly. That can make more power, but it also makes the engine more sensitive to knock, so it needs the right setup.
Term
blower
A blower is a device that forces more air into the engine so it can make more power. Here, the host is saying different blower setups change how hot the intake air gets and how easily they make big horsepower.
Term
2650
“2650” is the blower setup the host is recommending for making huge power. He’s basically saying it makes the same (or more) power with less strain, so the intake air stays cooler and the car/truck is happier for repeated pulls.
Term
intake air temps
“Intake air temps” means how hot the air is going into the engine. Hotter air can make less power and can be harder on the engine, so builders watch these numbers during a quarter-mile run.
Term
log
A “log” is a recording of sensor readings from the car while it’s running. The host is using it to show how hot the intake air gets during the drag run.
Term
chiller
A chiller is extra cooling equipment that helps keep the intake system cooler. The host is saying you can add one to help a blower setup stay cool enough to make big power.
Term
dig
“From a dig” means starting from a stop and punching it to accelerate quickly. Drag racers care a lot about how the car launches.
Term
mile an hour
In drag racing, miles per hour is how fast the car is when it reaches a certain point. Higher trap speed generally means the car is making strong power as it speeds up.
Term
LS forums
“LS” refers to GM’s LS-series small-block V8 engine family, which is a popular swap and tuning platform. “LS forums” are enthusiast communities focused on building and tuning these engines for drag racing and high horsepower.
Term
five point three
“Five point three” means a 5.3-liter engine. In this conversation it’s about which engine size and turbo setup you choose to make big power.
Term
76 mil turbo
That “76 mil” is shorthand for a turbo size (usually around 76 mm). Bigger turbos can flow more air at high speed, while smaller ones often spool up sooner.
Term
98 mil turbo
“98 mil” is shorthand for a much larger turbo. Larger turbos typically make more power at higher engine speeds, but they can be slower to spool than smaller ones.
Term
single 76
It means the engine is using one big turbo, roughly in the 76 mm size range. Bigger turbos can move more air at high boost, but they may take longer to spool up.
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So, then, obviously, you went to school for construction management.
Did you learn some business skills along the way?
Is everything you've done here, is this all kind of like learning as you go?
Everything's learning as you go.
Once you own your own shop, everything just goes out the window of what you've learned.
It just doesn't work like that anymore.
When was the day that New Era became the name?
On my birthday, September 29, 2015.
That was the day that I got all the paperwork.
It was an LLC then.
It's a Corp now.
We switched it over.
Don't ask me why, my accountant.
Yeah, you let them handle that.
Yeah, I let them handle it now.
Back then, I did everything.
So the first thing was, you got to get an LLC.
Okay, cool.
Went online, figured out who could help me out.
So September 29, 2015 is exactly 10 years, is last September, and it lands right on my
birthday.
It's kind of like my birthday present.
You're going to take it.
This is what you're going to do.
Well then let's do it.
Plus, obviously help from parents.
At that time, I was much younger.
And I didn't have the money to open a shop to buy toolboxes, lifts.
I mean, I spent a good penny, and obviously it happened with the help of the family, I
guess you could say.
Yeah.
So, yep.
Were you by yourself then?
You had the space to yourself at that point, or did you have somebody helping you, a hand?
No.
I always had help, I guess you could say.
When I was out of my house, it got to the point where I had help.
But I was doing a lot of the work.
I was doing the cams.
I was doing any type of work I was doing it myself.
And then on the weekends, I had somebody that would come down and help me, which is actually
one of my cousin's employees.
He's owned the business for 20 plus years.
He has an employee that was a lot younger, more of my age, that knew how to work on cars.
So I asked them to come down and help me.
I would pay for his gas.
It was a two hour drive, but he would come out here.
We would wrench Friday, Saturday, Sunday nonstop, and then he would go home.
So he helped me.
When I opened up the shop, obviously Monday through Friday, he wasn't available.
So I wrenched for probably three years by myself, working on cars, tuning the cars, giving
it to the customer, and just doing everything on my own.
Eventually, I started having to do, learn the whole, needed an accountant, manage books,
do estimates, invoices.
You got to be more on the legal side.
But I did that for like three years, seven days a week.
And then two years after that, I was six days a week.
And then after that, we were back to five days a week.
And then right now we're five days.
And now it's nine to five, right?
Yeah, right.
That doesn't change.
So I used to work.
Honestly, I would be here till midnight every day back then.
Now I'm still here, but I have two employees now.
And thankfully, I'm able to get work done from nine to five.
So they leave at five, 36.
They do stay late.
And we do knock out things when we have deadlines, Texas, 2K, any sort of Texas race, any sort
of race out here in California.
We stay late.
We wrench.
We'll go pretty late.
After this, we're going out and doing some support for some customers.
So we'll be out late tonight, but I love what I do.
So I don't and I don't really have to go home.
So it kind of works out.
Let's talk a little bit about the racing side of things, though.
Like when you go, when did you first start modifying cars?
Let's go far back to that point, like 18 years old, 18 years old.
The first the first time I got my.
The first time I got my.
My first truck.
OK.
It was intake headers, I don't know, cam heads, converter, stroker, turbo.
It just kept going bigger and bigger.
So I was the guy that was spending every paycheck on my truck at that time.
So I've been modifying cars for, I don't know, since 2012.
So I've been after this pretty hard, probably sooner.
The truck was actually was a lot sooner.
2005 is the first truck I ever got from factory from the dealer.
And since then, I've been modifying it ever since.
At that point, though, with the truck, I mean, you mentioned
turbos and all that stuff, how does that evolve?
Like, did you start doing some street stuff at that point?
Are you going to the track?
Like, you know, for example, in Texas, they got XRP and, you know, Yellow Belly.
Did you have an equivalent over here in California or not really?
We had a local track.
We weren't fast enough.
We were more of the meetups late at night and go street racing.
Sure. So street racing was kind of popular.
Yeah. Street racing is not what it is now.
Back then, supercharged, so vibrato and you were fast.
Nowadays, you're a nobody, you know?
So it just really depends.
But we started doing this years ago.
It just happened that we would be out on the street races and doing all that stuff.
As time goes by, things get faster.
Eventually I sold that truck because a thousand horsepower back then.
It was fun until until it wasn't.
So then you kind of just want to go bigger and better.
And and after that, I've I've built three trucks, I could say.
Since then, a couple of cars, mostly sedans.
I've never been the type to build a Fox body, you know, just like you don't
like going faster one.
No, I just don't like being like everybody else.
Yeah. Yeah. So if you've noticed most of the cars I've built, G8,
CTSV, Chevy SS, Silverado.
I mean, those have all been full size cars, you know, street cars, you can call them.
But as time gets crazy, things just evolve.
And this last truck that I had was no longer a street truck, as much as we want to call it.
You still have that truck?
No, just sold it.
Just sold it.
That's the one.
I don't know if you were a Texas 2K, but that's the one we had
at Texas 2K. Oh, like the maroon red one, right?
Yeah. Yeah. OK.
Of those of all the various race cars and trucks you've had over the years,
which one was this?
Was there any of them that was like the scariest, the fastest one?
Or they all kind of in the same caliber?
Or every single one of them got in fastest.
We weren't from 10s in the extended cab to 9s in the G8 and the CTSV to 8
and the Chevy SS to 7s in the truck to 7s in the Chevy SS.
So I think that I've been around horsepower and speed for some time now
that it doesn't really scare me anymore.
I think what I get scared more of is safety at that point.
The adrenaline rush is there.
The and I think that when you're done making a race and then you go,
I just went 160 in the eighth.
I just went 165 in the eighth.
You know, then you're just like, oh, shit, I don't have a fire suppressant system.
The cage is not set for it's not a 25 to cage.
So then that's that's kind of what what's changed in the years.
Not more not not the oh, I went 200 miles an hour.
I don't think that scares me anymore.
I think that I made a 200 horsepower an hour pass and I didn't have a fire
suppressant system in case it caught on fire.
What? What's going to happen?
So that that thing, that was changed more than anything.
When did you start thinking about safety more?
When I started going faster.
OK. I mean.
Out here in California, it's hard to go fast.
I started going to Texas and I started going faster.
And that's when you kind of just find out how fast you really are.
Because out here you go 150 and you need a parachute.
You need this, you need that.
They're really on your ass.
And that's California has been known for that out in Texas.
They don't you give them a tech card, you sign your name and go race.
You know, but then at that point it's on you to to make sure you're you're on
the safe side. So I don't know.
I guess maybe when I got older, maybe that's just the answer, you know, that makes sense.
So you more of an eighth mile, do you much quarter mile stuff or not?
I still I love quarter mile stuff.
Now that I've been building more in the 2000 horsepower range cars,
eighth mile is already fast enough.
I can only think of what a quarter mile car would do.
And just the fact on how hard how hard you have to push your your motors to go that fast,
mostly in L.S. if you kind of know about L.S. is yeah, there's 3000 horsepower L.S.
is yeah, you can make 3500 horsepower.
But at what point does it become like
not unsafe, but I don't even know the proper word I'm looking for.
But you just you can't just go out there and make it without knowing that something might happen.
Yeah, just like a liability.
It's like, yeah. So at that point, like now that you're building bigger horsepower cars,
you have to just kind of realize that a quarter mile hit is a lot harder on an engine than an eighth mile.
Hey, so we do a lot of eighth mile stuff.
And then California doesn't have the prep.
I keep going back to California because we just don't have the prep.
We don't have the tracks.
And when you go to Texas, you get all that.
So you start going real fast in such a short distance that you're just like,
there's no need to go quarter mile, you know,
and almost all the fast cars just go eighth just because they're trapping 200 miles in the eighth
nowadays. You know, what are they going to trap in the quarter?
So it just depends.
I like the eighth mile stuff.
I feel like it's safer on engines, safer on everything.
And at the end of the day, building a 2000 horsepower car is a lot more expensive than it was back then, building a
1200 horsepower car.
You know, you can't do that on a stock block.
You can't you can't do a lot of things.
Has it been done? Yes.
You know, there's a lot of controversy as far as how far you can push a stock block.
But once you start going into aftermarket blocks and stuff like that, I mean, it gets pricey.
So it does kind of change everything, doesn't it?
When you're dropping what's an aftermarket block cost if you want to go to that level?
I mean, if you order a short block, you're going to pay $18,000 for a short block.
You order a long block, you're going to pay 25,000, 30,000.
It just depends.
I mean, you can build a budget motor and people can go on there and be like,
I can build you a dark block for 427 for $13,000.
You could. But at what power, you know, what's the power rating on that motor?
What Roger and what Pistons, you know, you can go with, oh, I can get some
$3,000 heads. Well, what intake valve and exhaust valve is in it?
What springs? Is it a solid? hydraulic?
So it just really depends.
But you can build stuff from $15,000, $20,000 to $55,000 blocks for full
billet long blocks, you know, from oil pan to manifold.
So are you willing to blow up a motor or hurt a motor for whatever reason?
Anything happens, not your fault, you know, and put another $55,000 motor in there
or, you know, it's a lot harder versus you have a 5.3 with with rods and pistons
and you hurt it and you go get another junkyard, 5.3 put rods and pistons,
you're back out on the road.
Yeah, because like that's one of the things that you see in every comment
section, it's like, oh, I can just go build a LS for 500 bucks or a thousand
bucks or whatever it is. Is that a reality still?
Can you do that? Yeah, you can do a thousand horsepower, six,
oh, block with the right internals and a gen 46 oh, with the right cam,
right turbo, you know, right tune.
It'll make a thousand. OK, it'll live at a thousand.
Will it be a reliable solid every day?
No, you might early shift and shift into second early and bend the rod.
So things can happen.
We ran a stock LS three at 1260 wheel for the while for a long time.
And with no issues, eventually it bent a rod.
You know, you do that on a dart block at 1200 horsepower.
You can run that thing the rest of your life.
When you get to a certain level in a build, whether it be drag racing or drifting,
road course or just a bad ass three car, you'll have to upgrade your transmission.
And when we're talking sequential transmissions, there's no one on the planet
would a stronger gearbox than six XD and the proof is in the pudding here, folks.
Half the FD field is rocking a six XD and even 3000 horsepower
vipers have not been able to tame the best that six XD has to offer.
So if you're ready to take it up a notch, go to six XD gearbox dot com.
And when contacting them to place an order, use code Minoxide five or reach
out via socials to figure out how one of the baddest transmissions on the planet
could fit in your build. Let's get back to the show.
You know, so it just depends on what level can it still be done?
Yes. Do people still do it?
Yes. Is there a five point threes out there that make 1200 horsepower?
Yes. You know, but then you got to get into what block are you going to sleeve it?
You know, what rotating assembly, what cam, what manifold, what converter?
It just gets crazy.
And at the end of the day, to build something that out of a 53 that makes 1200,
you know, for, I don't know, whatever price it is, you know,
is it just not worth putting a dart and make 1200 reliably? No problem.
But it just depends. A lot of people have the ego of I can make a 53
do the same thing. Yeah, you can. I'm not going to say you can.
It's still possible. People do it all the time.
You know, I'm more of the why start with that when you can start with this and,
you know, be safer. But at the end of the day, it ends up being money.
Were you always like that?
Or are you kind of like the kid early on doing that?
No, because when you're 22 years old, going to college and you have $20 in your pocket,
you're going to look for the five point three in the forums and all the people online
talking about my 53 makes 800. No problem.
And you're going to want to do the same thing until you heard it.
And then you're like, well, should I do another 53
Well, that's all I can afford. We're going to do another 53
OK. So I guess it just depends now that I own a business.
Do I want to go out there and and try to compete with these small tire cars
at XRP that are making those guys make 3000 horsepower all day?
You know, what am I going to do with 1200 horsepower out there?
You know, but you see 1200 horsepower common on the streets, no prep stuff.
That's standard.
You know, you can't put 3000 horsepower on the street, at least not that easy.
Right. So, you know, 1200 horsepower is common.
Give me an example of like a 2000 horsepower car that you've had.
What is it running the eighth?
The Chevy assess made right around 2000.
I don't know if you ever remember that one.
Blue Chevy assess twin turboed E 85 radiator.
We were in four fifties at 100 and 58
OK. That was 3700 pounds.
And then for content, so I'm hold on real quick.
Why did you sell that truck, by the way?
The red truck, the ruined truck.
Uh, I think I opened my mouth and I shouldn't have.
The motor was out after Texas to Kate to kind of get a clean fresh
because I don't know if you remember, but after Texas to Kate pulled the motor
freshened it up at LME, put it back in the truck and finished the race
or the weekend after I the first pass on Tuesday, I nicked the piston.
I had a cylinder just I had an injector driver go out and I took out a piston
torched the piston, hurt the cylinder wall.
So we went, we put new pistons, honed it, boarded the whole nine yards,
put it back together, in, finished Texas to Kate.
When I came back, it was more of a rush job to get it to finish.
We came back, I pulled the motor while the motor was out.
I made two posts in a matter of like three weeks of me just waking up,
being bored one day and posted the truck for sale.
And I put a pretty good price for all the work that had done to it.
And, um, it's old.
And the thing about it is that I had the Chevy assess for sale for like a year.
And I just kept on getting lowball offers.
Right.
So I just, I sat here for the longest.
I just didn't have the time to work on it and finish it and get it back up and
running plus the truck was running.
And I really liked the truck.
I'm always been a truck guy.
So when that truck sold, it's hard to sell things when you want to sell them.
So when the opportunity came, I said, money talks done.
And the funny part is that the truck sold and a week before the car had sold.
So both cars left in the same week.
So now I'm completely carless.
So now you got, you got that money burning a hole in your pocket.
That's exactly what it's doing.
Okay.
It's burning a hole in my pocket and I'm looking for something else.
What are you, what are you thinking?
Something that nobody has.
Would you do a truck again?
Yeah, I'll do a truck again.
I just love fast trucks, man.
Like you're familiar with Nick Coleman, right?
The stick shift.
Yeah.
The wheels.
Yeah.
Dude, that thing is nasty.
It's fun.
It's nice to see him go down.
And I think he was probably the, I don't know if he was the only truck at Texas
2K and the stick shift on side.
But then again, I remember I was on the other side and
I just got a, what's his name with the blue F-150?
David VanVors?
Yes.
Yeah.
Yeah, it's him, right?
Yeah.
He was there.
We were the only trucks there.
Yeah.
So is it pretty cool to see two trucks, a truck or three trucks go down at Texas
2K when you all you're seeing is Camaros, Corvettes, Fox bodies.
I mean, that's must things.
That's all you see.
So I think it's pretty cool.
It's different.
That's one thing I love about drag racing is like when you're not,
when you're not niched down to it, like, for example, like how many times can you
watch a GTR go down at Texas 2K?
Like I love GTRs.
They're fast.
They're awesome.
But like, man, it's like, we just saw 75 GTRs in a row go down to track.
The GTRs, I mean, the Audi's, the BMWs.
I mean, I mean, they're fun.
They're cool.
I think it's a pretty cool platform.
I think it's badass on how fast you can make them with.
But it's cool.
So something unique.
Yeah, but everybody has one.
Everybody's got a Mustang.
Yeah.
I mean, how many trucks were there?
Yeah.
That's that's what I like.
When I took the Chevy SS, I think I was the only guy with a sedan.
Well, I think there was a BMW two might have been.
That was three years ago.
That was the blue Chevy SS.
We I think we went out the night before and it was like four in the morning
and we showed up to the lanes and we were tired.
And there's a picture on 1320 video of one of my employees in the back seat
sleeping of the car.
How cool is that?
You're you have a four interior Chevy SS and somebody's sleeping in the lanes
because we're tired, but you don't see that in any other car because
they're all two door cars and they were all tin can gutted.
And even if they're not gutted, regardless, they're not sedan.
So it's something different.
So I took that three years ago.
And then two years ago, I took nothing.
And then this year I took the truck.
And I think the truck has been probably my favorite truck that I've owned.
And I've had you're good.
I've had a good, a fair amount of of cars that I've owned.
And I think the truck has been the favorite one.
OK, would you still stay GM, though?
Yeah, I won't. I can't.
What can you like?
Let's say you wanted to go to truck route.
Would you have to go with something older still?
Or what would you do?
No, I'd probably go something newer.
Really? Like, what's this one?
Like something that's out there?
Like that single cab over there?
Or one story, I just bought that truck.
Oh, so it's your truck.
Yeah, OK, so I just can't see myself doing something crazy to it.
OK, it's a four by four.
So you might see something on the not at the track
because four by fours just aren't needed at the track.
I mean, they're fine and all, but you got all that extra weight.
So I'll probably have that one put together.
Just have some fun on the streets.
But but would I build something again like a truck?
100 percent, I'll build a truck.
I've always liked that.
Then that GT 800, the 99 through 07 trucks, the same one I had.
Those have been my favorite.
OK, that's kind of just been a thing since since I was younger.
OK, so let's say you did the same thing again.
What would you do anything different in the build?
Yeah, more powerless weight, more powerless weight.
Yeah, I guess that's a formula.
I mean, it's it's a formula for everything.
You know, weight is your enemy and power is your friend.
So would I build the same truck at a lot lighter?
Yes. Same combo as far as the motor goes.
I already know what works.
So when you get a platform, combo that works.
There's no need.
The car and the truck had identical motors.
One was single turbo, one was twin turbo.
They both ran pretty much identical times as far as eighth mile times.
So I already know what works.
But they were also the same weight.
They were 3700 pounds.
So if I were to do anything different, I would have to do
maybe similar motor, better rod.
The rod was only rated for 2000.
So it got I think I bent two rods at one time
from trying to push them pretty hard.
And the rods just said no.
Cars are too heavy.
So you end up hurting parts with the weight.
But if I could just get a car down to like 3200 pounds,
I think it'd be pretty bad ass.
And it not being your typical car that's out there racing.
So that's what I would do.
I'm thinking another truck, just lighter.
I think again, it goes back to the unique thing, right?
Like it's just it's so cool to see those.
It is cool, like even at Texas UK, like you don't really see that many Vs either.
No, I mean, just a few.
But I think I didn't see any.
I think there was one or two on heavy weight.
Yeah. Yeah, you don't see the CTSVs back then.
And those are pretty fun cars.
But again, all these cars are heavy.
I mean, that class does have a weight limit.
And you're kind of limited to super chargers at that point
because you can only make so much power.
So I think Turbos is the way to go.
And then you're limited on turbo size because it limit you.
But I think you can do a lot more with Turbos than you can.
And I think that the CTSV platform is a good platform.
I think the transmissions, the OEM stuff is definitely a limiting factor for a lot of people.
I know there's a lot of people out there going really fast with 6L80, 6L90 stuff.
And and I give it to them.
I mean, we've been eight with the stuff with that stuff.
But the headache that comes with it is is just at another level.
Now, if you own your shop, it's not that bad.
I did 6L80, eight seconds, 6L80s before.
I had a 6L90 on my Chevy SS.
We went eight seconds.
But when it goes out, you come home, you freshen it up, you rebuild it,
you get another one, you put it back in when it's a customer's car.
Different story. It's a different story.
So when customers come to me and they tell me,
I want to start going fast and that's a whole different conversation.
But T H 400 is just the way to go.
So and and you can talk to a lot of people out there right now.
The grudge game in the in the OE OE transmissions is big.
And there's a lot of people out there really pushing those those eight speeds, 10 speeds.
But not a lot of people tell you the headaches that they give you when they break
and how you have to put it in the scenes. Yeah.
Yeah, I guarantee you and my people might not agree with me,
but I guarantee that every fast eight, 10 speed out there,
even six speed has a backup transmission in the trailer.
OK, because try doing a four or five shift on a 6L80.
You're going to it's not going to be happy, you know, same thing with 10 speeds.
You know, you try to get up there in the 67 shift and not going to be happy.
So making them live at high horsepower, quarter mile is definitely
a lot harder than making them live at eighth mile, just like it goes for engines,
you know, a quarter mile is just a lot harder on parts in every way possible.
Speaking of quarter mile, though, you were racing a truck quarter mile
at Texas 2K, right? I was. Was that your first time doing that with that?
Or it was. OK, I've made quarter mile hits,
but you always kind of just feather it and lift early and kind of just cruise it.
I think I made one full rip on the truck because after we put them, I I hurt the motor.
I hurt the I put a hole in a piston on the first pass
at Texas 2K after the truck had been running great for, I don't know, for a year.
We freshened it up and then I was fighting an injector driver,
which we eventually figured out right before we jumped into eliminations on Sunday.
And when I figured that out, I made a hit,
but I was far ahead of the other guy that I lifted like.
1,000 feet, 1,100 feet.
So I never made a full, full quarter mile rip,
but that would have been like the first time I made full, full rips on the truck.
I mean, it still went 740s. I'm not complaining.
Right. Yeah. Yeah.
When you put it that way.
So I went 740s at 184.
I mean, I'm thinking it would have trapped something more in the 190 range
based on the eighth mile, because I think it went for
72 at 155 to the eighth.
So I know it had a little bit more in it.
But I mean, it's hard and and trust me,
every time I make a quarter mile hit, I'm just waiting for see what what's going to give up.
You said and you were lifting at that point, too.
Would you say I lifted on every pass at Texas 2K, OK, including the last one I made.
OK, right before the 1320.
So I I I was just more on the keeping it safe.
I had I was looking over data.
I was making sure I mean, at that point, I think the last two hits, the data looked fine.
I could have stayed in it.
But when I when I looked over and I didn't see a car next to me,
I I pedaled it at the end just because I if I did win the round,
I didn't want to lose a motor for whatever reason.
And once you start building your own stuff and knowing how much it costs to replace the motor,
you definitely start taking care of it, you know.
So OK, so you said you're looking over data and stuff.
What's your standalone of choice then is the truck was on a standalone, I imagine, at that point.
Yeah, the trucks on standalone.
Anything that we anything that's no longer a street street car
and even if they're street cars, they make systems for them now.
So it just depends on what power and and what level you're you're looking to play with, I guess you could say.
Like CTSVs, Chevy assesses, six gens,
just like GTRs and Audi's that have full motocs.
There's full motocs for all these cars.
So you can put a full motoc.
Do we recommend it to the customer that's making a thousand horsepower?
No. You know, is it smart to put it on on a motoc at a thousand horsepower?
Yes. Mostly if you have like a direct injection motor that's requiring port injection,
you can do a motoc. You can do there's a there are a couple of companies out there.
Motoc would be, you know, the choice for a lot of us,
but not for a lot of the customers because of the price point. Gotcha.
So but as far as like my personal stuff, I've had motoc on the truck before.
That truck was actually four by four.
It was on full motoc.
And then I pulled it all off and I went on fuel tech.
People always ask, why do you do certain things?
Because fuel tick was kind of like starting to get really popular at the time.
And what better way of learning something unless you have it on your car?
So the car was on Holly. The truck was on fuel tick.
OK. OK. They're both great systems.
They both do what they have to do
for a full blown race car.
You know, people are going to have their own preferences.
I like fuel tick for A to B.
I like Holly for stuff that you're going to swap.
You want to drive every day.
There's a couple of things that I prefer on Holly over fuel tick.
There's a couple of things I like over fuel tick over Holly.
There's things I like on motoc.
It just really defends halter.
All these systems are great.
They all do what they have to do.
It just comes out.
It just comes down to to the end user, to the tuner.
OK. And what you're looking for.
Yeah, that's one of the things that, like, for example,
I've had Louise from FuelTech on the show at one point, two.
And it's like they're talking about how they developed everything.
So when it comes to.
I guess what was appealing to FuelTech, what made you go try it out?
Because what were you doing before FuelTech?
You said Holly. Holly. Holly. OK.
And I was like, how many years ago?
Well, I've been playing with Holly for maybe.
I don't know.
No, I mean, like the fuel tech, like,
when did you make the jump to FuelTech?
That was two years ago. OK.
So like FT 600 then?
Yeah, it has an FT 600. OK.
And don't get me wrong, I actually got it.
I ordered a 700 for the truck.
But at that time, there was still issues with boost control and.
They're still working it out.
We're still working it out.
So I think I went out a few times and it just it was nothing but struggles.
No boost.
ECU kept on doing weird things.
So we went back to a 600.
And that's one thing with FuelTech.
I can I can contact that contact FuelTech tomorrow and they'll work with you.
They'll make sure it's right.
So that was pretty cool.
And we went over to 600.
We got the truck working on the 600 and I took over and I never look back.
I mean, 600 does exactly what I needed to do just to go down the track.
Yeah, that's what I've heard as well.
It's like the 600 is pretty dialed, but the 700 are like dropping
like a firmware update like every week or I mean, that's it's that's what they're doing.
But they're just trying to make it better.
Right. But I think last week I logged into the 700 to kind of just pull their latest
update and and check it out.
And it's it's 10 times better than it was when I tried it a year and a half ago.
OK. And.
And I wouldn't hesitate to try it again.
There's already people out there running the 700 with no problems.
So that might be an option in the future.
Holly's always there.
Holly, we we just understand it's so reliable.
It's just everybody knows how to work it, use it.
You know, you can ask for help.
A lot of people know how to tune it.
So at the end of the day, Holly's just there.
Feel tick was good. I learned it.
I feel like I know pretty much what there is to know that you're always learning.
So I can't say I'm an expert.
But when it comes down to tuning and stuff like that, like I know these platforms
pretty good that I can get around to doing what I need them to do.
I've heard various opinions on this when it comes to like you get guys that know
567 different systems, you know, like MoTeX, FuelTech, whatever.
Are you able to be proficient in all of them?
Or do you think so?
Or do you think people bite off more than they can choose sometimes?
I think that comes with experience with time and just with time.
Just like, for example, stock HP, tuner stuff with all these these platforms.
I know L S. T.
Can I say I'm the best at both of them?
No. Do I feel like I know a lot?
I can close my eyes and navigate HP tuners pretty much top to bottom on both platforms.
And they both have different tables and I can tell you where everything's at.
But at the end of the day, I learned this with 12 years of experience.
You know, I've been tuning L T since they came out in 2014.
So that's been 16, 12 years now.
You know, I've been doing L lessons.
I started in 2008 or whatever it was.
So I think it just comes with experience.
If you do too many platforms,
I feel like you do lose a little bit of what you can gain in a different one.
But the aftermarket computer systems, I feel like they are all identical
when it comes down to like what you want them to do and how you want them to do it.
That adjusting fuel and timing on a holly in a in a field tick is the same thing
versus versus acting like, you know, how to tune Ford, Dodge and Chevy.
That's a lot more than five computers.
You know, because like if you get five cars, they all have a different operating system,
whether it's a V two, a G eight and a Silverado ones, a P 059
ones that he 67 ones and he 38.
That's all three different operating systems.
They're all different, but it's three complete different ones.
Got my this kind of delivery.
Yeah, that's a big one.
Yeah, not sponsored by Red Bull.
This is a wrecking energy podcast, but they haven't sent it to me yet.
But yeah, the platforms are just.
I think that that there's a certain amount of things you can learn.
And I feel like I've only been I've only have experience for fuel took for maybe two years.
So I'm always willing to learn.
But for drag racing, you don't have 5000 tables like HP tuners does.
Oh, true, I guess.
Yeah. I mean, at the end of the day, once you set up a car at the drag
at the drag strip, you're only adjusting timing, fuel, traction and control.
Although it's very minor versus you bringing in a, I don't know,
a Dodge demon and trying to tune it.
Right. And it's different than changing injector data than it is to doing it to a
CTS VV three.
I just feel there's like a lot more in
in the different platforms of GM and
Mopar and Ford cars than there is the annoying for four different ECUs.
Because at the end of the day, the the Coyote motor with an on methanol
is going to shoot for certain timing and fuel.
And then you're going to have the LS and then whatever other platform you're tuning.
They're all pretty much the same concept.
OK. So what you're saying is basically like.
You're an LSLT guy, right? Right.
You could do all these different types of stand alones. No problem.
But it's like, let's say you're like a Haltech guy,
but you're doing it on all these different cars.
Is that kind of like where it becomes a struggle?
Like if you're trying to do too many like different platforms.
I think it just depends. Race car stuff.
I feel like has a lot less tables.
Now, if you start doing like a MoTeC that's integrated with can and you got a random.
I'm doing exactly. Now you got to play with, you know,
your cruise control button does this, your tap up does this, your paddles do this.
And you can change all that on MoTeC.
Then you're really like, holy shit, this is a lot more than me going down on
FuelTec and just adjusting fuel timing and traction to get down.
Gotcha. OK. So it just really depends.
When you're trying to keep kind of like a little bit of that street car sort of.
The knowledge for street car has to be there, because that's what I rely on.
My business relies on Monday through Friday.
Thousand horsepower modern cars.
You know, that's that's where most of my time and money goes into and just time
and work and everything is is all the modern stuff.
The the race car stuff, I do it because I love it.
And I do it because I just don't street race.
I don't drive thousand horsepower cars on the street anymore.
That was back then.
Now that I can afford something a little bit faster, I'm in I'm at the track.
So I do that.
But then you start getting the customers that start following.
And then you have to learn how to do that as well.
But most of my stuff is just all the LSLT general, everyday driver stuff.
Are you seeing?
Because obviously it's 2026, right?
Are you seeing less and less LSL stuff or you see more LTE?
Is it about the same as always been?
No, LTE is taking over 100 percent. OK.
So if I were to go back from how I started the shop to where I'm at right now,
I started with LS only, LS only, even though LTE's were out.
They weren't as popular.
Right. Now LTE's 90 percent of the things we do are LTE's.
Oh, OK. So we work on Corvettes, Camaros right now.
Black wings have been like very popular.
So I love that car, the black wing.
So we get that.
And then right now you saw that I just got a LS 5.3 Silverado
good dropped off. Yeah.
I still work on all that stuff, but I feel like everybody's buying these newer
Camaros, they're faster.
The LTE platform is more efficient.
It makes more power.
It's why go buy an LS3 Camaro when you can get an LTE one Camaro
that's just faster and better, you know?
Oh, actually, that's a good question right there then.
Let's say I want a thousand horsepower of Camaro.
Thousand horsepower of Camaro is the goal.
What should I buy?
Should I get me like an SS?
Do I get me a ZL one?
Where do you land on that?
It just becomes a budget thing.
OK. Do I like the the do I like a stock motor stock,
tranny thousand horsepower car?
The Camaro ZL one is one of my favorite options.
Mind you, this is what I build that I'm an I'm a GM guy.
Can you make a hellcat make a thousand every day?
Sure. But as far as like what I work on, I love the ZL one Camaro
with the 10 speed and the LTE four.
You can make a thousand on that car.
Monday through Friday, drive it every day and it's fun.
You got to add a port injection, heads in cam, 2650
You're going to drop, I don't know, 2030
I don't want to give a wrong number, but you're going to drop some money.
Now you can go to LS, big injectors, big fuel pump,
big turbo, half the price than building the LTE
and make the thousand horsepower as well.
LTE is just the fueling is the problem.
So once you add port injection, you add a good amount of cost
and then you can shoot for whatever you want.
So what would I do if I was building something right now?
I do an LTE.
What would I do if I was 22 years old in college?
I would have started building an LS.
No, but real quick, though, is like when we're looking at like
like the SS like like a LTE LS or sorry, S.
I'm starting like crazy.
No, it's like if you look at like a Camaro SSL 21
Yeah, yeah, yeah. There you go.
Like if you do that versus like what's, you know, the LTE for that would be a
I do LTE for all day all day. OK, I'd find I'd finance the LTE for
put it into my monthly payment because I'm starting with a better motor in general
that will handle the power. The LTE one is a good car.
We have cars out there making 700 and fifty horsepower.
OK, the problem is that that motor is known to break a piston or a ringland
at 650 It's just a much, much weaker piston than the LTE for combo.
So if I'm going to spend the money, you're going to take a lot more money
to make that LTE one as fast as an LTE for.
Gotcha. OK, yeah.
OK, that's what I was going for.
And so that that's the main weak point then is when couldn't
wouldn't you just be able to do pistons in an LTE one?
You can do pistons and rods, but it's just not worth it at that point.
I mean, if you're going to open it up to forge the motor, I mean, it just depends.
I wouldn't. Yeah. Do we do it here all the time?
Of course, we do rods and pistons on cars all the time.
But what would I start off with?
I'd start off with the LTE for.
Got it. But then again, it just depends.
You get these six gen Camaro LT ones that is like a gutted car from the factory
that already comes with like no speakers and like half the interior in there.
They're already, I don't know how many pounds lighter, but you get that car.
You put a rod, a piston combo in it.
You you make it 3000 pounds and you go fast on the motor.
So and you can't do that with the two SS Camaro just because they come
with leather interior, they come with all the bells and whistles.
And now you're just trying to go fast with so much weight.
OK. When do you start?
Because like Magnuson's in your backyard over here, right?
Right. What does that conversation look like with customer customers?
Like, when do you advise them to go from an LTE for to a 2650
Their moment they bring it to my shop.
OK. The problem is that you're going to go back out there
and you're going to hear a lot of people.
The stock LTE for will make 900 and fifty horsepower.
We've seen people make a thousand horsepower.
No doubt about it.
Change the snout, go crazy on the port, put a big motor behind it.
High compression, you know, you're going to make it.
But you're always fighting intake air temps.
You're always fighting a bunch of things.
Now, can you solve all those problems?
Yes. But by the time you're done putting all these money and time into that
LTE for blower, which a lot of people will brag about and I have nothing against them.
You can put a 2650
Make a thousand horsepower.
And if you look at a log without changing anything on your car,
you look at a log going down the quarter mile, it'll start at 100 and fifty
intake air temps and it ends at 100 and 2100 and ten
out the back of the track.
You try to do that with an LTE for.
There's not one time that I've ever seen an LTE for go down on temperature.
So can it be done?
Yes. Put an ice box, put a chiller, do whatever you want.
You can get the LTE for to make that power.
But the 2650 just makes it easier.
You know, less stress, nicer cooling, everything else just works.
So I tell customers, save up your money.
So explain it to me like I'm new to cars, right?
Like what what is a bit?
Why does the why is the 2650 better?
Like why is it able to do that?
Is it just because it's a bigger blower at that point?
It just has better cooling, better, better brakes, better design.
OK. You know, overall, you know, it's a 2650
So it works less to make more power.
Now, is there a.
Do I tell people if you're not spinning it hard enough, will you lose low in power?
Yes, that little one point seven liter one LTE for blower.
It's nasty from a dig.
Once you pour it, you turn it up.
It's it's a it's a mean machine.
The 2650 is great, but it just it shines out the back, not not on the front.
OK. You know, and you'll start seeing
mile an hour differences when you start comparing 900 horsepower
LTE for blower to 900 horsepower 2650 cars.
You'll see the difference by the 330
And then at the eighth mile, you'll see the mile an hour change.
You'll know that the 2650 is just going to shine out the back.
Well, OK. That's a good explanation.
Because I got again, you're in the same forums.
I am probably like the Draggy forums, the LS forums, and you always have the the hero cars, right?
They're they're they're all out there.
Yeah, I did this for a shoestring budget and I, you know, it's like why, you know,
everybody does it.
And I mean, I probably would have been one of those guys, you know, back then.
Right, it comes with age, right?
Well, it comes with age.
It comes to the am I going to put a
a five point three with the 76 mil turbo or am I going to put a
dart for 27 with the 98 mil turbo?
You know, we're both going to make a thousand horsepower.
Which one do you want to put in there?
You know, ideally the five point three might make a thousand horsepower
because so and so made it, you know, with rods and pistons, it will.
Maybe not with the single 76 and need like an 88 turbo.
But if it's my car and I'm going to do it once, I'll put a, you know,
little dart block, six bolt head, 98 mil turbo.
It'll sneeze a thousand no problem.
Monday through Friday.
That's what I want.
That's reliable and fun.
And and it just comes with age and.
I don't know.
I hate pulling my motor out every freaking.
That comes with time, too.
I hate pulling my motor every three months because I heard it.
Even though I heard them all the time because now I'm not making a thousand.
I push them at 2000 horsepower.
So you heard them also.
So the next step is step up to a big block or something and then make two
thousand horsepower reliably.
So just depends.
That's why there's the pro lines.
That's why there's the big blocks, the all these motors out there that are
75000 dollars because you can make 2000 horsepower.
But once you have that motor, you're not going to want to make 2000
You're going to want to make three now.
So that's a fair point.
OK, let me see if I remember correctly.
So the truck was twins, right?
Truck was single.
Oh, no, that was single.
And then the was twins.
That was twins.
You said they were making about the same power, though, at one point, right?
Basically, like same setup besides that.
What was the reason between twins versus single?
Any preferences there?
No, I think the car was always been twins.
And then the truck, I think I came up on a deal on a single 98 turbo
when I was first putting it together and I said, I'll try single.
You asked me what I like now.
I like twins. OK.
You know, they both went same on hour.
The truck went a little bit faster with the single,
but I was also pushing 36 pounds of boost.
OK, where the car was pushing like 30, 32.
So it took a little bit more boost out of the truck.
It did my an hour a little bit more.
We went 160 in the truck.
We went 11
We went for 61 at 160.
And then I went for 58 at 158 on the truck.
OK.
You said you kind of like lean towards twins now, though.
Is there any benefits to that over the single?
I think I just like how it looks.
Oh, yeah, it does look cool.
It does look cool.
I think twins make more power. OK.
They make more power.
I do like the way a single single turbo sounds
versus a twin turbo.
I feel like there is a difference in tone and sound.
And I feel like the single is laggier to spool than a twin.
But I feel like the twins just mile an hour better.
So I don't know. Maybe it's just me.
I don't have hard data to back this up.
Fair enough.
Speaking of data, though, let's talk about,
let's say you're racing on a bad surface, you know,
we'll just call it that.
What are you looking at data wise?
Are you are you able to make, I guess,
you have a lot of experience in working with bad surfaces, I imagine.
Not really. No, OK.
I've never been.
We do.
No, not bad surface.
I guess I don't.
Bad surface is a bad track for us here in California,
where you can walk on your haydudes on the on the track.
And that's a bad surface for me.
But as far as like street street racing,
I we do some here and there, but I don't have a big experience.
Sure. Sure. But I mean, I know what I'm looking for.
You know, you're looking for you need to make sure you have the proper data,
the proper sensors.
And then you're looking for, you know, what's what's causing it?
Suspension changes, wheel speed and power management,
power managing, all that stuff.
That makes sense.
Do you have a speaking of suspension?
Do you have any preferences on who you work with or just kind of all across the board?
Personal preference.
All my cars have been on Santa off.
OK. Coil overs and struts, whatnot.
I work with people that that work with me.
So I can call Chris right now and say, it's doing this.
What do I do?
I've never had this happen to me before.
He'll answer.
There's other companies out there that you can't get ahold of them.
So I work with companies that they're easy to get ahold of people that I can work with,
people that help with with their with setting up their their equipment, their their their product.
So we work.
Santa has been great for me.
I'll put that on any car that comes in.
And that's what I work with.
Let's just cut back in.
So my brother talking off camera for a second here about an A builds.
Do you do a lot of those?
Or is it all boosted in here?
How's the boost?
No, we do a little bit of everything.
I don't have a I'm known for an A builds or I'm known for boost builds.
I feel like we have a little bit of everything.
We have fast six gens on the motor.
We have fast six gens boosted, C sevens boosted.
Anything else I've done.
Turbles, superchargers, pro chargers.
So we do a little bit of everything.
I kind of feel like I I do a little bit of everything.
But we don't do big horsepower of everything because I just feel like people in California.
Don't spend all their money on their cars because they got to spend their money on the living
to live.
So it's kind of hard to get customers to drop a 100000 dollars on a on a fast car.
We boost a lot of stuff.
I love boost.
People tell me what would you do?
I throw a supercharger before I throw a heads in camera.
I throw a car on a car.
Oh, but you can do 600 on heads and cam and you're going to make 600 on a supercharger.
Yeah, but when I go to the grocery store, I'm not going to sound like I'm freaking over
here all crazy it out because I need headers and loud exhaust and high ram and all this
stuff to make 600 horsepower when you can make that with the with the Maggie on E 85
and sound bone stock and take the kids and the family and and do everything you got to
do at the same horsepower level.
So I mean, it just depends.
I love boost.
I don't think I would ever go back to building an a car.
But again, it comes down to age and budget.
You don't as a 40, 50 year old like older person, you're not going to want to have a
car that you can't even sit on because everything rattles and shakes and it's an A build.
Yeah, GM's do that.
Crazy.
Yeah, like these crazy cars out there that are.
Oh, we run eight seconds on our car.
Yeah, it's a tin can and it's always a fox.
Body to damn fox body.
But you know what I'm trying to say?
I rather have a full way full interior 1200 horsepower car that goes nines reliably
quiet with the AC on.
So yeah, but we do a little bit of everything.
I like I said, I mean, I got a freaking 57 ballet here that we're going to ask you about
this next.
Yeah, what's the story of this car?
Nothing.
It came in as a roller.
We dropping in motor tranny.
It's a it's an L T for with the 10 speed.
Um, we're going to wire it up.
We're going to do fuel system, brake system, get it all running, make sure you can move
it in and out and then it's going out for paint.
You know, it'll have radiator, AC condenser, heat exchanger, the whole nine yards.
So, um, we do a little bit of everything.
So do you guys do the pain body or no?
That's one thing I asked them to do.
So if you can see the insides painted red, nice and clean, because that's going to be
kind of final when we're done with it.
The outside, I said, don't even touch the outside until I'm done with it because I
don't want to have to deal with it.
You know, scratch it or anything.
So yeah, right.
I said, let me get everything going.
You'll leave with this car running and you can take it in for body work and
finish the rest of it later.
So, but we do a little bit of everything.
This is an L T for swap that we're doing.
Um, I have a truck outside that we just did a 416 LSA blower, four L 80 Holly that
we just finished not too long ago.
And then on top of that, we have 2650 LT fours, 2650 LT ones.
We have a twin turbo Camaro on the other bay.
Um, is it like a Grazie L one that we saw in there?
Yeah, the Grazie L ones, a twin turbo.
Okay.
Um, Camaro, we have a white 2650 C seven outside.
Um, I just finished the heads cam, six gen.
Like I said, we, we, we do a little bit of everything at the end of the day, the
LS and the LT, that's all there is to it, no matter what car it's in.
What was your favorite build that you've done out of the shop in the last 12 years
that you've been in business?
I don't think I have favorite builds.
Okay.
I think I just enjoy all of them.
I did a 2650 Chevy SS 416 built tranny 1200 horsepower.
The things, uh, it's fun.
It's, um, it makes great power.
It runs.
Um, I think those are pretty cool for sedans.
Then we've done C sevens that make, I mean, we did a, a single turbo C seven that
made like 1400 horsepower and down was pretty cool too.
You know, it's like MoTek down was on MoTek.
So that was fun.
Um, we, we've done all kinds of stuff.
We've done full blown race cars.
Um, I don't know.
I like everything I do.
That's, that's the cool thing about it.
Like it's just, I don't like one particular thing.
If it's getting a supercharger, I like to do it this way.
If it's getting turbos, I like to do it this way.
But I think the only thing I don't like are pro chargers.
Other than that, okay, I'll build anything.
Uh, any reason you don't like pro chargers or like, I guess century is just
centrifugal blowers across the board.
Okay.
They're loud.
Yeah.
They're annoying.
Yeah.
You can hear them from a mile away.
I get, well, dude, I, I mean, I'd go fucking insane with this traffic here too.
Pshh, pshh, pshh, with the blowers up.
Dude, I'd go insane.
I, so I just, I guess when you get older, you want something quieter and fast.
Why don't people start buying these expensive cars that are thousand horsepower
but sound stock and run stock because you get to enjoy all that without having
this crazy ass loud, annoying six on your horsepower car.
That's fair.
I can see that.
I don't know.
Everybody's different.
Um, okay.
Who do you respect in the industry?
Um, people that do things out there for.
Others, I guess you can say, um, I mean, if we were going to start naming names,
um, I think Dave, we were talking about that earlier.
I think he's done a lot for, for what we do.
We, we own a shop.
He's done a lot for us as far as helping us, you know, do things with cars that we
couldn't do without them.
You're talking about Dave Stack.
Yes.
Yeah.
Yeah.
DSX.
Right.
Stack.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I got confused for a second.
Yeah.
Um, I feel like a GPI, Ryan, I've known him for, since before I opened up my shop,
uh, I've known him for since forums days back in, and back in the days.
Um, I feel like lately in the last couple of years, he's, he's really gotten into
helping, uh, get into the background on HP tuners and helping us develop and find
new tables, which besides keeping things to himself, he puts out there a
lot of information for us that we can use and benefit from.
So I think that's helpful for us.
And I don't have the time to sit there and, and make some weird code in the
background or, or play with certain things, but he's done that.
And I, I respect them for, you know, making posts and, and putting out,
putting out for me information that can help us as, as a shop owner, as a
tuner to, to better customers cars in general.
So, um, any, any YouTuber out there that actually has valid information is
pretty cool, not just people that make it for click baits and for, you know,
stuff like that.
Oh, so you're watching a lot of Chris fix in here then, huh?
No, what do you mean?
Wait, what?
I don't even know that is.
Um, I just like people that just kind of help the industry and, and, and, and
there's a lot of names out there that I can start.
It's a long friends list.
Yeah.
Yeah.
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Let's get back to the show.
In general, there's just a lot of people out there that help us.
Mike at too high PSI.
Oh yeah.
That guy's amazing.
I have any issues.
I call him, he's smart.
He knows this product.
You know, there's just people that help me make my job easier and better and
faster and in general, that's people who I respect.
You know, what makes your job harder?
Being in California, probably being step number one.
Well, California is definitely the number one list.
Customers that don't listen, customers that spend their time on on Facebook and
Google and doing their own research or listening to everybody else or
customers that don't understand.
And we're going back to the 5.3 subject.
So and so made a 5.3 at 1200 horsepower.
Like, why doesn't mine live at 1200 horsepower?
Why won't you make my car make 1200 horsepower?
People that are just hardheaded.
People that don't understand, you know, what it takes to do that at that level.
You know, that makes our job difficult.
If I tell you, tell me you want a thousand horsepower and I give you the
head cam 2650 port injection combo and I tell you I'll make a thousand horsepower
and then you come back at me and you go.
But so and so that's what makes our job difficult, you know, because as a shop,
I know what will make it.
I know what will be reliable.
I know what I can send you out with and send you for the next five years with no
problem versus so and so did it with this combo.
Well, yeah, well, how long is it going to live?
You know, are you willing to mix 37% ethanol content to make sure you make
that thousand horsepower and when you when you're at E 20 and you detonate and
break a piston, you know, are you ready for the consequences?
So it's a good point.
It just really depends on what it is.
But customers, California.
That's it.
Honestly, it's just California.
It really sucks out here.
Do you guys have pumpy 85 out here?
I do.
Okay.
Our pumpy 85 is decent.
We make 1200 horsepower with the no problem.
Okay.
I'm sure we've make more.
I usually switch them over to drum fuel once they're up in that power range.
What's your choice of a drum fuel?
Um, whatever I can get faster and easier.
Um, again, it's hard to get stuff out here right now at the no one R.
Okay.
Gotcha.
Okay.
So before Ignite Red, except I started having a hard time getting them out here.
Oh, wow.
Okay.
Um, ethanol one R is probably the easiest we can come around.
So we'll do one R.
Um, we'll do X 98.
You know, it just depends, but, but ethanol one R is probably my choice of,
of fuel to, to push up in the, I've been probably 2000 horsepower with that.
Then one R.
Okay.
Yeah.
I, I see a lot of people running that at this point.
I like all the twin turbo viper guys, cause like we're from Minnesota, right?
So like twin turbo vipers is kind of like a thing or backyard thing.
Yeah.
So it's like all on one ethanol.
Um, okay.
Do you ever see yourself phasing out LS's?
No.
As customers, you just like keeping that customer base.
Well, I mean, I think LS is, is I think LS is just going to continue and not die.
Okay.
It hasn't died since, I mean, it's an old combo.
It's an old LS.
It's been out there for years.
Um, so I, I don't think that's going to die.
And honestly, what keeps us in business is people that keep going back to wanting
their cars LS, LT swap.
So we still see 90% LS swaps, 10% LT swaps.
Okay.
Oh, okay.
Yeah.
Okay.
When it comes down to that subject, I, I don't think LS is are going to die.
I'm not saying I, I work on LS is a lot.
I actually work on LT's more than anything, but the LS platform is common.
It's out there and there's still people out there that want to go fast.
And the LS is just proven.
This is kind of like rest of our country out here too.
You do see a lot of rest of mods or like people just doing swaps over here.
It's common.
Okay.
Um, it just, it's hard to find the fancy expensive, you know, swaps, but you do see
a lot of LS swaps in like, it's just coming out here.
That makes sense.
So what's the craziest, what's the weirdest LS swap you've seen?
Um, like a VW bug with an LS or something crazy.
Like though, I haven't seen a VW I've seen.
I mean, I had a 1932.
What was it?
It's a, I wasn't a, I forgot the name of it.
It's a, it's some sedan looking old school car that was sitting on a, on a C4 chassis.
I actually did that earlier today.
Yes.
I post about that.
Yeah.
Down was pretty cool.
Um, I don't know.
I've done a lot of LS swaps.
I mean, I've tuned swaps in a boat, you know, so nothing kind of surprises me
nowadays.
People throw LSes on everything.
That's fair.
Do you, uh, if somebody like, let's say I do want like a common thing.
I'm starting to see now is like some of these older Porsches, you could throw
like an LS seven in there.
If I wanted to get like an LS seven swap into something like that, would I,
would you do entertain a project like that?
Or is that just too out there?
Too many issues to figure out?
No, uh, that's a good question.
I, I, I take in jobs that customers are willing to spend the money in doing it.
Right.
Okay.
So would I take a, a swap like that?
Yes.
There is parts for them already.
So it's not like it's, it hasn't happened.
Um, as long as you're willing to properly wire it properly, do this and do that.
I have no problem.
Okay.
You know, we swapping, I just don't like the customer that shows up at the motor
and goes, Hey, can you swap this in here?
The guy in the backyard quoted me $3,500.
That's what I don't like.
I wouldn't entertain that.
Now, if you tell me, Hey, I have a swap.
I instantly shoot you with, it's going to start at this price range.
And it can go up to this price range.
If this is within your budget, I'm willing to do it.
You know, so I'll do a swap on anything as long as they sell the parts that
doesn't require me to go custom make every single piece.
I can custom make certain things, exhaust or usually a thing that needs to get
either made or modified, but as long as there are motor brackets, there's
tranny, uh, tranny mounts and stuff like that.
As long as I can sit a motor in a car, I can take care of the rest.
That's not a problem.
Uh,
are you doing fab work out of here as well then?
Uh, we started doing fab work like maybe a year or two years ago.
Um, we'll build anything you want.
Uh, the hardest, the craziest thing we've done has been like full on custom
headers and full twin turbo kit, uh, from, from scratch.
Um, that we don't do often, but I love doing them because when they're done,
they just, it just makes the product look so much better.
Um, we're not really known for having a full blown fab shop.
But intakes, exhausts, any sort of fabrication that needs on cars we're
working on, we can get all that.
Gotcha.
Okay.
That makes sense.
So you're more, yeah.
Okay.
So it's not like I, I bring in cars and I go, yeah, that's what do you need for
fab work?
No, it's more of a, this car right here is going to need an exhaust done.
I can get it done.
We're going to probably do a custom expansion and overflow tank.
Uh, sorry.
Yeah.
Overflowing and catch can and expansion tank and we're probably going to
take them in the corners.
That's going to get all custom done.
We'll do all that instead of ordering like your standard catch can.
We'll, we'll do custom stuff like that, but for whatever's already here, I'm
not, uh, Hey, I got a job.
Can you bring it in just for fab work?
No, but when it's here for a motor swap and we have to do something custom,
that's where my fab shop comes into place where we can kind of provide that
service without having to, you know, send the car out.
No, that makes sense.
Yeah.
This thing is shiny, man.
Yeah.
He bought the, the whole chrome polished accessory drive.
I'm more of a black type of guy, but you can appreciate on these older cars.
Like they, I feel like chrome looks good on them as well.
More than modern stuff at least.
Yeah, I don't like it on the modern stuff.
Yeah, it looks a little, yeah.
Customers like to have their own taste.
I don't say no.
I know it's your car.
It's your money.
Yeah.
How long?
So for example, like how long is this thing expected to be here for?
Um, I'll probably hire for like two months.
Okay.
No, no.
Um, yeah.
I need to do breaks, fuel and wire the whole engine.
Um, and then somebody else going to take care of all like the interior and stuff.
They're going to send it off to the next shop.
Sort of deal.
After it leaves here, it's going to leave here running.
That's, that's goal number one.
After that, it goes for interior body, you know, all the other things that are missing.
That was the whole plan.
Originally I was going to do more wiring on it, but, uh, he wants to kind of do other
things to it.
It's his long term project.
So my goal is to get it running, get it driving, send it out.
He continues with the rest.
That makes sense.
Um, are you doing all wiring in a house typically though?
Yeah.
All my wiring's in house.
Okay.
Um, we wire everything we do here is pretty much in house.
If it has to leave in, I'll probably just recommend another shop to do whatever's missing.
So fab, the fab work, the wiring and the brakes, we do all custom brake lines, all that.
That gets done in house and then obviously paint or anything else that needs to get done.
We'll just recommend them or he might have a shop already.
That makes sense.
Well, let's talk a little bit.
Let's go back to racing for a second here as well, because if you have to do anything
out of track, I mean, can you even do anything locally or do you just have to go to the next
state over sort of deal?
We have one track two hours away.
Um, I try to go with customers when there's like testing tune on Fridays.
But again, it just depends on the type of customer, what they're trying to do.
If you have a 1100 horsepower car, they want to hire you for track support.
I'll gladly go.
If it's a 1200 horsepower car, testing tune on a Friday night at a local track isn't isn't
going to cut it.
So what I try to do is I try to convince all our customers to, uh, to go to these events
that are happening.
We have one happening in on Saturday locked in.
It's, uh, it's going to have good prep or at least better prep than your average
Monday through Friday.
We have one in Sonoma called race wars coming up in two months or one month.
Um, same thing.
They'll have better prep.
They kind of their focus more towards the racer than just your, your Friday night college
student that wants to take his track car to the track.
So, um, I try to travel when there's events.
When I had a race car, I was in Phoenix, North cow, you know, the local track and Texas.
I've been to Florida.
If there's events, I was the schedule to go to, was it bragging rights?
Not that just happened, but the truck was, it was sold.
So I couldn't, I couldn't make it.
So you'll, you'll go anywhere in the country.
I'll travel to race.
I love the, I love racing.
I, I invite my customers, but again, leave the job for five days.
You got to leave on Tuesday, be there Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday to come
back Monday and figure out how to get there and how to get back.
Some of these people just aren't cut for it.
Are you trailering everything yourself?
Like if you go to like Florida, for example, no, okay.
Florida, I'll probably send the driver.
Okay.
Um, it's, it's more convenient for me to stay and work three days while they're on the road
than it is for me to be on the road and not work.
Okay.
So it's just a, a situation.
If I'm traveling 10 hours away, New Mexico, Phoenix, you know, Tucson, I'll, I'll drive.
I'll leave at night, get there, race, leave in the afternoon, come back, get back to work
on Monday.
If I'm leaving Texas, sometimes I drive, I'll run through the night.
I'll leave like on a Friday, get there on a Sunday or leave on a Monday, depending.
Texas, okay.
I usually, it's a long event too.
Well, that one, I usually send the, send somebody with the car and truck and trailer.
And what will happen is they'll get there and then I'll just fly in the next day to be there
because I'm trying not to lose so many days of work.
Cause at the end of the day, I call it a one man shop, although I have two employees
that helped me out, but the emails, the phone calls, the text messages, the tuning,
everything is done by me.
Yeah.
No days off.
So at the end of the day, if the guys don't have anything to do on Friday, they're not
going to go on, on and see what customers next.
They're not going to call them to bring it in.
I have to do all that.
So I make sure that the guys have work.
If I leave or if I don't leave, I make sure I have everything scheduled for them to,
to get things done around the shop, you know?
Okay.
What's next for you then?
So what's the next like 1235 years look like?
Does the shop change it all?
You're going to be doing more the same.
What's the plan there?
I think the work is based on what's coming in at the time.
I don't focus on one platform.
Like I said, I'll do LLESSs.
I'll do LTS.
I'll do swaps.
We pretty much do a little bit of everything.
We got a hang of a little bit of everything.
So I think it just depends on how the market goes.
I feel like eventually it's going to start being more Black Wings, Escalade Vs.
All these newer cars are going to start kind of shifting in and we're going to
start pushing more of the older stuff out.
What do I see as far as like the building and the shop?
I'm trying to leave this building.
I'm trying to get up my own building.
You know, I'm just trying to expand.
I think that's what every shop owner eventually tries to do, even though
I've been stuck here for 10 years.
I feel like it's time to grow and time to expand.
And I think that in the next five years, it'll be a whole different ballgame,
which might attract a whole different type of crowd.
And we'll see what crowd that is at that time.
Yeah, that's something that I talked about with Brandon on their podcast.
This is like that change, like the builds are just entering like a different
type of caliber.
I mean, they still do a lot of the bread and butter stuff.
But yeah, you never know.
Would you still stay in this area?
Would you try to go on like at the different part of California or?
To be determined.
It's to be determined.
Honestly, out here, it's just expensive.
Yeah.
So have I thought about moving 100% the problem is making that change.
We all we're all scared of that change.
I think, I mean, other people might not be scared.
I'm scared of closing out the shop and and leaving 24 hours away,
1500 miles to start the shop all over again.
No, I mean, that's that's for sure.
But you also just sold two cars.
You got that money burnt in the whole of the pocket.
I'm not that's still a listing.
So have you updated by tomorrow morning?
I mean, I've been going pretty crazy on looking for something to race.
I love racing.
So I really hope you get a truck again, man.
Me just sitting here.
I love working on cars, but I would like for me to go racing and take
three customers with me.
And then I've been to Texas to K with three customers and myself.
Like I've done it.
But at the end of the day, it doesn't happen every year because not everybody
can afford to leave their work for a whole week.
Right.
So it's they were able to do it this year, but they can't do it next year.
You know, I kind of plan Texas to K every year.
So it's like already on the calendar.
Like that's my vacation.
I call it a vacation because I'm not necessarily working.
The emails are not even being answered during that time.
The the guys are here for like a day or two.
And then they I fly them out to Texas and then they're out there with me the whole
weekend, you know, we kind of shut down the shop.
So it's already in my schedule and my plans.
So that's what I keep on doing.
And I'll keep on doing.
I just love the racing scene.
I love.
I just like going fast.
I think that's got to be every shot then.
There's probably what 60 maybe 100 shops at Texas to K.
Yeah, there's thousands of emails.
I can answer.
Yeah, there's I have I have customers that will email me and be like,
Hey, so I was going to go to the shop, but they're not answering
because they're at Texas to K. I was wondering if I get back and I go,
by the way, I just got back from Texas to K myself.
You know, do you still need, you know, to bring in that vehicle or whatnot?
But we a lot of shops closed for a whole week that week.
And it's like PRI.
PRI, SEMA, Texas to K, any big event that that's for racing.
I think the bigger majority of the shops closed down.
Yeah.
Shops that have cars that can compete in at that level
because going to Texas to K doesn't seem like a lot until you realize
that you got to be a 50 or faster.
And then you go, well, Jesus, half 80 percent of the cars
at my shop don't go 80, 50, 80, 50 or faster.
Then you're just like, well, certain shops that are going
is because they build cars that go that fast and they're there with their
personal cars. I mean, I can name 23 shops that that take their
customers and take their own personal car to go racing because they want to
have some fun. And then there's people out there that just don't care for it
anymore or are much older and they did this 20 years ago.
So they don't care to be out there with custom with their personal car.
I guess I'm still in that stage where this is all new to me.
You know, that truck was probably the fastest truck I've ever built.
You know, so it's it I get excited when I when I go race it.
How fast can I go? Will I go faster?
You know, maybe if I have that truck for six years straight,
I just wouldn't have the feel like I've already been to six Texas to Ks
with the same truck. But I don't think I think I've been to two.
I think I've had like 34 different cars at every Texas to K.
I think all cars I've had, I think the SS went.
I think the CTSB when the Chevy SS went two years and then the truck went one year.
I've been going to Texas K since it was in Houston,
which is it's been five years or so by this time.
That's why I started going in 2021 or 2022
I think that's right around when I started going.
Yeah, it was back in Houston.
I think it was there for two years or three years before they closed it.
Yeah, I went for two years in Houston and I've since then it's been Dallas.
Yeah, which I do like Dallas, but like Houston.
I think Houston had a nicer, crazier street scene.
Yeah, it was fun. Street racing, all that stuff was crazy back then.
Dallas, it's just I mean, you leave Texas to K and you got to like
watch your speed because there is just people just waiting for you to speed everywhere.
I do like Dallas though, like as a city, though, it's fun to stay in.
I've like that over Houston, 100 percent.
Yeah, personally. Yeah, it's just a little it's a little nicer.
A little more stuff to do like outside.
Definitely. 100 percent.
Um.
But, uh, OK, let's say you get this next truck.
Are you going to start?
I'm just going to pretend it's the truck.
I'm trying to figure out what truck I'm going to buy right now,
because you got me thinking of one.
Yeah, I mean, it's I mean, you're limited to your options.
It's GM.
It's only you're thinking about, OK, you know, doing what Manuel's doing with that.
Imagine. Imagine I do a coyote.
Don't just kidding.
Yeah, I'd have to come in.
Well, I just got my.
I don't know what I'm doing.
Why are you running 62 turbos when these things won't work on on anything but like
seventy sixes, those guys run small turbos, lots of boost, you know?
Yeah, those small engines just don't need 110 mil turbos to get up and go.
He does a lot of crazy stuff.
I respect him for what he does. Yeah, he's got a lot.
He's pretty big in the no prep.
Yeah. Out there.
So I'm focused more on the the track stuff.
I don't even know if I could build something that's crazy fast to compete.
Those fours are just hands down to them.
I I respect them in every way.
I won't build one.
I won't. I won't say I won't buy one because I the tow truck is a Ford.
But every shot's got a Ford as a tow truck.
Dude, they're great.
I've had, you know, the Nali's and ATFours and I don't know this Ford.
I really like that.
I really, really like that Ford for towing.
What do you got for a Ford truck?
That's an F 250.
Like, well, like a newer one or 2022.
OK, yeah. 10 speed.
It works. Yeah.
I put the limiter at 98 miles an hour with the Goose net going to Texas.
And I'm over here like, why ain't going faster?
But it tows amazing.
It's stable. It tows. It's strong.
It I haven't had one problem since I bought that truck.
That's awesome.
And everybody says the same thing.
Are they are great.
Would I build an F 154 by four twin turbo combo like Mano?
No. Do I like what he's done?
100 percent that green truck he just finished.
Yeah, love it.
That is like a beautiful truck.
So you're getting a four, then? No.
One of the things I've noticed is with those F one fifties is if you don't have
them dialed in, they kind of like to skate the four by fours.
Is it the same thing with the Chevy's?
No. So I don't know what it is.
I can't sit here and tell you I've looked into it.
But I'm pretty sure it has something to do with their whole front suspension on it.
Those things don't.
They don't bunny hop.
They don't do no crazy stuff.
The Chevy I've been to.
I've been I think the four by four I had was making like 1600 horsepower.
At one point, I was thinking of putting it out,
straight racing it, then I realized I want to shop.
I don't want to go to jail.
What not?
We never got them to leave that smooth.
We tried everything we can think of.
And I think without doing some major work in the front end,
I just don't think they work as good as a Ford.
I could be wrong.
Maybe I'm missing something.
I have seen a lot of four by four GM trucks out there that are fast.
But I feel like not one truck works as good as the Fords do.
And they got down.
Ford's got down with whatever they're doing.
I don't know if they're swapping diffs.
I don't know if they're what they're doing.
But whatever they do, I know they're skating around.
But I mean, when you're pushing 1800 horsepower, right?
16, you're going to have traction issues.
Yeah. And they get a good bit of weight out of those two.
I mean, it's just fun to watch those things race.
All right. I love watching all those races.
I want to go back to this truck of yours, though.
OK, so you got the very would you stick to that one era?
You said, well, is it the 97008 or something or?
Yeah, I'd stick to that.
I think I feel like it's a lighter platform.
OK. The the 07 the 08 to like 2013 are heavier.
And I the newer ones are even heavier.
OK. So I'd stick to the earlier platforms.
If I were to build the truck and we're just talking if hypotheticals,
we'd be looking at building it off of a 99 through
0 to chassis. OK.
It's a lighter, smaller chassis to begin with.
The truck I had was four by four.
It was just factory beefier, stronger and heavier.
So what I would do would be early chassis's newer body and.
More roll cage, fire, suppressing system.
We we said newer body.
What do you mean? Like you're talking about the 99 through two bodies
are a little bit different looking.
Well, the the bed's the same.
The body's the front end looks different.
I don't like the bubble eyes, so brothels.
I don't like the cat eyes, even though that's newer stuff.
I'm a GMC type of guy, but I don't like I just like one particular front end,
which is the GMC 03 to 07. OK.
So it would have to have that front end, which can be swapped out super easy.
OK. The rest of the body is the same, but it would be often earlier chassis.
OK. Or I'd probably just go full on to chassis at that point.
You know, it just depends.
I honestly don't know.
It would I would want to race it in in truck classes,
but I would also be able to I would want to be able to race it in
particular, osteo glass, small tire, and there's rules to follow.
So yeah, I would be more focused in building a truck to follow rules
than just building a truck to race.
Yeah. Well, and that's the tough part, too, is like when you kind of limit
yourself to one class, it's less fun, probably, right?
It is. I mean, the good thing is that the truck itself is a truck class.
So we already got one to walk to get into.
And then popular stuff is the osteo glass stuff, the little gangster stuff.
But that's a class.
It's a cool class.
But at that point, I throw a five point three Silverado to go five thirties,
a five point three motor with the turbo, because you don't need 2000 horsepower
to go five thirties. Yeah.
You know, I thought we did back then, but there were also 4400 pound trucks.
We're at.
37 were already 700 pounds lighter.
So.
Maybe I'll build a little gangsters car.
That'd be cool with the five point three and some China turbos and just go five
thirties. That would probably be something fun to have.
And the payouts out out there are amazing.
I mean, it pays more than half these other classes.
So I think the next car is going to just truck car is going to be
focused on a class, OK, something that I can say I'm going to travel
to these events and race in this class when I go versus the truck before I had
a carbon fiber doors couldn't use it on all steel glass.
It was in it didn't have front suspension.
They couldn't run it in street class.
You know, maybe I'll build a truck for street class, put a radiator back on it,
leave the stock suspension and see what it can do.
You know, it just depends.
Yeah, that's that's the thing.
So little gangsters. OK.
Well, that you like you said, you will need 2000 horsepower for that.
Right. No, not at all.
Mostly if you put it in a Fox body.
Yeah, I mean, that would be kind of a fun class to just kind of play around with.
You don't need to go all out crazy 100000 dollar build or anything.
Yeah, no, I think I think that's a that's a fun class.
I'm trying to get, you know, customers to get into that class
just because it's something that you can have fun in without.
Dropping an arm and a leg on once you go to Texas,
you start realizing how fast cars are.
Oh, it's stupid. Like I just had Tony Paylor on the show.
And it's like you have these million dollar GTRs, you know, it's like it's insane.
It's it's crazy.
The amount of money you can throw out of car is crazy.
And being in California, I don't get customers that are ready to drop
100 grand on a build. So.
I think offering I think that would be a good thing to offer some sort of like.
What's a little gangster's package look like?
Five point three rods and pistons on twin turbos.
All day, every day, no problem.
In a Fox body. Sure.
Fox body. What is a S 195?
All those combos, those things will work great with factory suspension.
You know, put it on a you put on a fifth gen Camaro or stuff like that.
You probably need a little bit more power, a little bit more, more stuff.
But I mean, I think a 530 is super easy to do on on on light cars
and budget friendly.
What's a what are the rules for little gangsters?
Do you have any ideas what the class restrictions are?
There is no rules. OK.
I think it's a small tire type of deal, 28 inch tire and there I don't
can be faster than a 530. Yeah.
I mean, the rule is the limiting factor in the what's the proper term?
The.
Not thinking, but at the end of the day, it's 530s.
Yeah, that makes sense.
You can have a 2000 horsepower car.
You go for 90s, you lost.
So and I think that gives us something to look for as far as like customers
on what to build. I get customers that build cars and then they go to the track.
They go, well, what do I do?
Or what do I set it up for?
Or what class do I register for?
Well, we never built it for any of this.
If you would have told me you wanted to go 530s, I would have had a goal
on what to build and how much power to make.
If you tell me you want to go in the 6 0, you want to go in the 6 0,
you want to tell me in the modern class, modern class is a big thing
and a lot of places out in anywhere, California.
It's a little bit hard because.
Not a lot of people have.
It's kind of hard to compete with hell cats that run 840s on boltons and tune.
When you can't do that on a goddamn Camaro or 01 with boltons and tune.
Oh, you can't. No, OK, 840s. OK.
I mean, you really got to throw some money at it.
Heads, cam, port injection, you know, can you go eights?
Yeah, you can go eights, but 840s.
So then you get in this modern class where you got these hell cats running
eight forties on boltons and whatever they run.
And you can't keep up with them.
Some people get scared, you know, but.
I don't know. I think at the end of the day,
GM also has those issues with the transmission is not holding
where Dodge has transmissions that hold the power. No problem.
Right. So that's another limiting factor.
So and then you put a T H 400 and nobody wants to take you in
because now you got a T H 400 and you don't qualify for the modern rules.
Yeah. So that's the weird thing with all the class.
Yeah. What classes again?
You know, one thing that road course people kick
drag racing people's ass on is you can just go by a kick car.
You can go get whatever kick car for whatever class, whatever series you want to race.
What you're talking about is like if there was like a standard, like,
you know, little gangsters kit that was offered like, oh, just go to New Era.
Get yourself a 53 Fox body.
Like here's the cookie cutter sort of thing.
Yeah. I mean, that'd be kind of cool.
I'm sure it could, but I don't think people are also ready to drop by a car.
And this is the package. Yeah.
I mean, maybe.
I mean, but when you buy a car and you try to put a 530 combo in it,
which would be a 53 or a six oh and rods, pistons and a turbo and
this converter, this this suspension, you're not.
You're also not talking $10,000.
And then a day you're still knocking $40,000, $50,000 combo to get it to run.
Obviously, it's a lot cheaper than building a $50,000 billet motor.
Right. But I don't know if a lot of people are ready to drop.
Hey, I got a Fox body. Can you give me the little gangster's package?
Yeah, it's going to be 57000
I don't think a lot of people are ready for that.
I think people will be like, hey, can I start with an LS swap?
Yeah. Now it's a less swap.
Can we do a turbo?
We slowly build up to it. Yeah.
So true. I don't know.
Maybe in Texas.
Maybe a hundred percent.
Maybe in Texas or in every anywhere else in the world.
The East Coast.
I mean, these guys build cars.
They got it down.
You know, I feel like being out here in California, we're just we just struggle.
I mean, there's a lot of shops out here, but I feel like
there's a lot more shops everywhere else.
It's a music across the country.
It's just every space kind of has their niche.
You know what I mean? Like, I don't know.
It's just it's it's weird.
But what's your favorite thing about what you do?
Why do you even get?
Why do you not go back to construction management?
Because I love racing and me building cars is a chance for me to go to the
racetrack with the customer.
At the end of the day, my hobby is my job.
So I can be here till 10 p.m.
And not feel like I have to go home where in construction, I couldn't wait
till it was five o'clock and go home, do nothing at home.
Really, go find the way to hang out with friends or or find the way to go
online and buy car parts to go work on my car.
But what I do right now is work on customers cars, make sure that they're
happy, you know, order parts for my car, stay late and work on my car.
So I still do it because I enjoyed I enjoyed what I do.
OK, so to me, this doesn't get old.
It hasn't got an old people say, oh, you're going to get over it.
Maybe I've been doing this for 10 years out of the shop.
And in those 10 years, I've seen people come and go.
I've seen people that are dedicated, spend thousands and thousands of
dollars on working on their cars.
And then one day something happens, they disappear and they're by a house.
And now the car is not a priority.
I've been from going to college to having my own place to not being
home 90 percent of the time.
This still hasn't changed.
I'm still here.
If you ever get bored, you can just go to work on Fords.
No, that's where you draw the line.
No, I draw the line on that.
If you had to choose, would you go for it or would you go work on
Hemmys or a Mopar Ford?
You do for it over that.
OK, I don't know if I can.
I think I feel like I understand Fords better than I do Hemmys.
Oh, but the Mopar clientele is the best.
I wonder.
No, it's probably like the Corvette clientele.
We're not going to get into that.
I got to ask now.
Is there anything special about the Corvette people?
They're special.
OK, we can leave it at that.
Every C7 C8 owner.
And I hope they don't kill me for this, but they're just extra compared
to your standard always made Friday at 2 p.m.
by Billy Bob and has the yellow seat belts.
That's sort of it's yeah, they're just different.
I mean, they're the premium.
They're premium.
Yeah, they're premium.
They come in and they do a walk around around their car before I do
the walk around on the car around the car.
Just to to make sure that it still doesn't have a scratch or a nick
from the drive here.
Yeah, Corvette owners are a little bit on particular.
Yeah, yeah, that's what it is.
You're being real premium today.
The the I think I think everybody has a, you know, I don't know if a
Hellcat owner is different than a standard, you know, charger or whatever.
But we have our our customers that are a little bit special and different, you know.
Sure. I don't know.
Everybody's different.
I've had a black wing owners that are just chill, fun, happy, you know, always happy
with the results.
And then I've had a C7 basic model owners that are just like, hey, this line
wasn't clipped on.
Hmm.
Well, I didn't touch that line.
It was like that when you brought it.
No, it wasn't.
And it's like, oh, fuck.
All right.
Here we go.
Let me let plug that in.
But let me push that back in for you.
Like I didn't touch that.
But it's weird.
Different customers and different everything.
I feel like correct me if I'm wrong.
I feel like Cadillac owners are just chill for the most part.
I think all the most of the Cadillac owners are definitely a lot more
chill than I think I just have a thing against Corvette owners to be honest.
Fair enough.
I think I really just do.
It's just the Corvette owners.
The Cadillac, the Camaros, Silverado owners love those guys.
Yeah, those guys just want the thing to chop and sound great.
And they're the happiest people ever.
Oh, I love working with them.
They have a big smile on their face every time they work.
We work on their cars.
You know, they're just happy, you know, so people actually appreciate you
getting their cars worked on and done.
And and if we go to talk about customers, there's great customers out there.
And then there's like any shop, total pieces of.
Yeah, you know, but I'm losing you.
By the way, just pulled us a little bit closer to you.
I'm right here.
Yeah, you're all up in there.
I'm all up in here.
But yeah, there's there's definitely a lot of different customers and
different everything, but it is what it is.
You know, some people understand the concept of transmission is not
living at a certain power.
Some people are but so and so is transmission is still working.
Yeah, I tuned both of them.
Why did his go out?
Can't blame me for it.
How do you drive your car?
How do you abuse it?
What kind of maintenance do you do?
You know, are you role racing it?
Are you banging limiters?
Are you doing burnouts?
It just depends.
Yeah, it's so different.
Like I can't remember who I was talking to, but they just kept having
transmissions go out and it's like they had three friends in the back all the time.
And it's like, you know, just that extra weight kills transmissions.
Power trans kills transmissions.
Rev limiters kill transmissions.
I mean, ask any fast, fast car on an OEM transmission, six speed, eight speed,
10 speed.
They've all killed transmissions, but they know about it.
And like I said earlier, they keep a spare or they know that they're going to go
and have to repair it.
Ask any person who's dealt with stuff like that, that doesn't want to deal with
it anymore, what they do.
Here we are.
T H 400, baby.
Won't skip a beat.
When is the time to go to a T H 400?
When you're tired of swapping transmissions out.
Like if we're talking like, for example, twin turbo six gen over there, is that
going to be on a 400 right away or no?
That's on a six speed.
Six speed manual.
When's at what power level are you, would you consider like, when, when do you
advise a customer?
Me, I say 1200 horsepower is like a nice cutting point for, for swapping it over.
Do we have cars at 1200?
I got 4400 pound 1200 horsepower, 690 transmissions.
Don't skip a beat.
I have, um, six L eighties at about 1000 horsepower in stock form, having
skipped a beat.
I have transmissions that just don't live at that power level for whatever reason.
It could be a valve body problem.
It could be a transmission.
It could be a bad build.
Sometimes things happen, but I tell people once you've done two transmissions
and they're done, just save up for that T H 400.
Um, I just don't like telling people they're going to, we're going to make
1600 horsepower and have their transmission live.
Can it be done?
I guarantee you there's cars out there that make 1600 horsepower with stock, six L,
not stock, but OEM transmissions in the 68 10 speeds that are living.
And I guarantee you they've came down more than once to fix them.
Now at this point, it just becomes how deep are your pockets?
Do you want to keep on doing that?
Or do you want to put a T H 400 with the right gear ratio, the right converter
and not have to swap it out in the next five years because 1600 horsepower is not
going to hurt a T H 400.
Right.
What's the go to for T H 400?
Like, uh, what do you usually go through to get them?
There's only a handful of companies that make them, right?
No, I mean, I feel like there's a lot of companies.
I actually use a local transmission shop, uh, here, like an hour away.
They build the tranny.
They ship it to me and I put them on.
So, oh, no, sorry.
I was thinking about like the crazy, what is it?
Is it Eminem?
No, who am I thinking about?
Eminem makes transmissions.
Yeah.
Yeah.
They make great transmissions.
I just, let's say something does happen and T H 400, it's rare that it does.
Right.
But let's say something does happen or you're at the track.
Uh, no, just in general, something happens.
You got to pay to ship it there.
You got to pay for them to fix and pay to bring it back.
I have nothing against that.
I, we work with LME for engines, which we do the same thing, but I found the
transmission shop that I've been working with for the last 10 years, local to us
here and my truck and my car both carry the transmission.
They both made 2000 horsepower and I did have one fail at one point.
He found the weak point.
He upgraded it ever since then.
I haven't had it fail.
The difference is that my transmission fails today.
I haven't erased tomorrow.
He's at the shop right now.
I'll call him, I'll drop it.
I'll take it.
He'll fix it.
He'll bring it.
I'll give it right back to me and we're back up on the road.
Yeah.
So that's why I choose to work with people that work with me.
Like I said earlier, coilovers, Chris, Santa, great person to talk to, great
person to call if I have any questions, um, transmissions, MP transmissions,
local to us, takes care of me.
Converters, circle D takes care of me.
I send the converter.
Uh, Brady, I have a race in a week.
The converter, something's wrong.
Can you check it out?
I got you shipped next day right back to me taking care of.
So we choose companies that work with you.
And I think it goes for every big shop out there.
They have a preference in particular parts because that's probably the company
that works best with them.
And, and, and you know, everybody, just because it's not the same company I use,
doesn't mean it's not a good company.
It just depends on, you know, you got your circle.
I got my circle.
They have their circle.
When you go down the track and they're faster, you're faster.
It's not because the product is better.
It's might just be finely tuned better or things are changed, the combo, the weight,
you know, things, but the product is probably putting out, putting the same
amount of work as it does as a different brand, except that product, I don't have
a relationship with the customer or with the, with the business as, as the product
I'm using.
That makes sense.
Turbos, we use FIS.
Okay.
Yeah, I forgot to ask you that earlier.
Yeah.
FIS.
Okay.
We use FIS.
What made you go that way?
Um, been working with Jose since the extended cab truck days,
back 12 years ago when a lot of these companies, I mean, circle D wasn't big back
then, you know, FIS wasn't big back then.
Um, they've been known, they've been around for years, but I can call Jose.
The Turbos went out.
I next day ship it.
He next day ships are back fixed.
You know, I, I talked to Logan over at it with, with FIS, one of the guys that
works there, I can call him right now.
He can answer.
I can have some questions.
You know, again, we work with that.
You know, I've worked with other companies before.
Also, and so makes a great turbo.
Yeah.
But last time I sent the turbo in, took them two weeks to take it apart.
Give me a health check.
Tell me that it needed a rebuild, quoted me to freaking pretty much rebuild the whole
turbo and charge me crazy amount of money.
And it took three weeks to get it back.
Sometimes you just don't want that.
You want FIS.
Hey, something shot the, you don't have a restrictory to have a, something's not right.
Change this, change that.
Here's the turbo.
Just pay me for parts.
Get it out there.
Let's make it happen.
That's awesome.
So every time I'm out there, FIS, you know, big shout out to FIS for taking care of us.
Same thing with all the other companies we work with.
Well, before I wrap up my usual last question, is there anything that we didn't touch on?
Was there anything in particular that you wanted to touch on?
No, I, I'm sure the comments are going to roll and slide in there and I'll, and I'll
answer what I can and, and whatever I don't like.
I'll just block it out.
I just ignored.
I did.
I just ignored.
Last year, January and February, I got, I was getting like 10 to 15,000 comments a month.
It's like, you can't argue with everybody.
It's not possible.
It's not possible.
Again, everybody's going to have a different opinion.
Everybody's going to tell you why a 5.3 is better than a Dart 427.
Or a KOD is better than a mall.
Or a crew.
You're going to hear why, you're going to hear why, why forward or why you're going to
hear a lot of arguing on forward versus two JZ versus LS versus LT.
ZR1 versus GTD at the Nureberg ring.
Are you in, are you in a draggy group?
You're not?
Okay.
That's good for your mental health.
I don't get into it.
I don't even watch the Facebook draggy groups because people will post the dumbest
stuff ever over arguing on a car.
They don't own something they can't afford.
And there's always something they have to say.
Just like the B58 versus the, what's the Audi other?
What's that other platform?
The Daza?
The Daza.
Yeah.
Yeah.
The, the comments are crazy when I go in there.
I look at it as like 268 comments.
Jesus Christ.
Who wants to argue about this?
Let them do their thing.
That's the same four or five people every single time.
Same post, same everything.
But now I like building big motors.
There's no replacement for displacement.
What's the biggest motor you build?
Four or 54.
Okay.
Big stroke, big bore.
Sure.
When you go street outlaws, do like a big like 500 cubic inch.
No, no, you don't want to do that.
I'm honestly not a fan of it, but I can't say never.
If I build a crazy LS and it still can do what I wanted to, I'm putting a big block
in my next car.
Okay.
But I don't think I'll ever do a Ford or a Coyote or whatever.
But I might just go big block.
Those things are proven.
They make great power.
I try to keep everything LS because LS is what I do.
What would you do?
Like a typhoon or a cyclone, maybe?
I don't like small cars.
No, too small for you.
Okay.
Okay.
It was worth the question.
No.
Okay.
They're nice.
It's like building an S10.
Sure.
Think they're cool.
Wouldn't build one.
Okay.
There's already thousands of them out there.
That's fair enough.
I mean, how many fast Silverado's have you seen?
I've seen a lot of them.
I don't see anything because we're from Minnesota, so we don't see shit out there
for trucks, but I guess I can say I've seen a lot of them.
But but you see them out there.
And I feel like they've gotten more and more popular.
And I've always been a truck guy.
And then I started going to Texas and there's trucks out there.
Yeah.
And then I showed up and it was like, oh, I want to party.
So that truck was my favorite truck.
If you guys haven't seen it, you know, I'm Texas 2K had a couple of videos on it.
I'm sure my Facebook, my new, my my Instagram page has a couple posts on it.
I don't think I ever made like a crazy truck video.
I mean, I don't have time for all that YouTube stuff, but there's videos out there.
I know I have videos from Texas 2K.
Love that thing, man.
It just it looked different and it's nice when you get a shot and the damn truck
is in front of a full blown Corvette Mustang.
You know, just just putting a gap on it.
I just I think that's so badass.
Plus, what been on the R8s and the Huracans out there is kind of cool too.
Well, I don't get to run with them in the class because they they're all in the DCT
for DCT in the truck.
Why not? Let's get you a D.
Now you're asking for me to figure out how to keep another transit life.
I hate struggling with the regular OEM stuff now to do a DCT stuff.
It's it's a big no.
But I'm pretty sure it'd be nice to have a.
Man, I mean, there is a 2JZ versus the world.
So that would be against the 2JZ.
I don't know. Maybe they'll they'll they'll do some sort of different classes
where we can race GTRs and and R8s, you know, and then they're going to complain
of how the tree is not a pro tree and or not a sportsman tree and always how they
need to figure out how to get on the trans break and hold it for only one point
five seconds because if not, it doesn't work out.
I don't know. I I like my pro tree.
I like watching the three drop and just go.
You have your program and that's it.
But I don't know.
But yeah, truck is bad ass.
Might build something else.
I'm going to build something else.
You guys will be right by next Texas to get right.
I'm going to see you with something new next year.
I will have something at 2K.
I promise. OK, that's all the I need to hear.
Well, then on that note, I'm going to drop my last question and it goes like this.
At the end of every episode, I like to ask my guest to pick three cars.
You have an unlimited budget.
You have to pick a show car, a daily driver and a track car.
Build whatever you want.
However you want to do it.
Oh, shit, I broke him.
I never thought about it that hard.
Build whatever I want.
Yeah. For drag racing.
It'd be.
I'm sticking with truck.
If I had an unlimited budget, OK, I'd build the craziest, baddest
truck you can build out there.
That's just keeping up with whatever is out there.
You know, you still go kind of like early 2000s with that again.
The platform wasn't going to change.
That's been a dream for me.
I've always liked them.
That's just who I am.
And sure, that's all it is.
Show car.
I really like.
Wait, it was a show car and what else?
Daily driver.
Uh.
For a show car, it'd be like a sixty nine's Camaro.
OK.
And you're going to hate me for this, but a fastback.
Mustang.
For the daily.
For a for like a show car, like.
Like something, maybe even a daily.
For daily, I wouldn't drive an older car.
I drive something new, something luxurious, something.
I don't know.
I can't tell you what.
Like a 2022 F 250
Like a 2022 No, I.
Built off just something fast and reliable.
Now the nice BMW.
I don't I'm not.
Fancy budget.
What would you do?
German or American?
Probably German.
German. OK.
But it wouldn't be anything like, oh, I need some sort of Bentley car or anything crazy.
You don't want a Maybach or nothing?
No, don't not interested at all.
I need something sporty, something fun, something you can still put a thousand
horsepower with. Oh, you know, 63 has to be Mercedes S63.
No, would you?
I'm more.
Yeah, I mean, I had an RS five already.
Those were fun.
That's what I said.
Something like in the Audi range.
OK, you know BMW, you wouldn't consider like M three or something.
The problem with the M threes is that I wouldn't know how to leave it stock.
Because the thousand horsepower, though, M threes, you have to modify them.
You can do an RA and and OK, make a thousand reliably.
Yeah, without stressing. OK.
OK, so we got truck for the truck car.
Show cars are something basic.
I'm not I don't not care.
I don't really care for you.
So what I drive for a daily driver right now.
I don't think I'm too too crazy on on what I would drive as a daily, as long as
it's quiet and smooth and OK, crazy.
So we'll lock you in like an would you say RS five?
No, I take a seven for sure.
I like a full size car. OK, our seven.
Nice little full size are seven.
Just comfortable twin turbo, you know, OK.
And probably for a show car, it'd be the the 69 Camaro. OK.
On that note, where can everybody find you?
Instagram, Facebook, social media is pretty much everything that we we rely on
where we were based off of new era performance dot com.
Um.
If you need anything, Alex, that new era performance.
That's about it. I mean, sweet.
Can't be that hard to find me.
You go to our performance, you will find me.
If you're this far in the episode, we are people already looked you up.
I bet this might be if you're two hours or almost two hours in.
But on that note, man, thank you so much for making this happen.
No, thank you for coming by.
Yeah, no, it does.
Great way to kick off the California trip.
And everybody, thanks for listening and we'll see you all next time.
About this episode
Minnoxide 205 bounces between shop-building and high-power drag/truck reality: early constraints, running solo, then racing-driven deadlines in Texas and California. The conversation moves through boost evolution, street-vs-track power, and why safety gear matters once speeds climb. They compare eighth vs quarter-mile stress, discuss LS vs LT platform shifts, and argue about boost choices, transmissions, and fuel/ECU setups. The episode also covers costs, reliability limits, and practical tuning/workflow decisions for 1,000–2,000 hp builds.
1200 horsepower
2000 horsepower
2650
28 inch tire
3200 pounds
36 pounds of boost
37% ethanol content
5.3
6L80
6L90
Audi RS5
BMW 5 Series
BMW M3
Cadillac CTS-V
Cadillac Escalade
Chevrolet Camaro
Chevrolet Corvette
Chevrolet Silverado
Chevrolet SS
Dodge Challenger
Dodge Charger
Dodge Ram
Ford F-150
Ford F-250
Ford Mustang
GMC Typhoon
Lamborghini Huracan
Mercedes-Benz S 63 AMG
Nissan GT-R
Pontiac G8
Volkswagen Beetle
Original notes
Alex from New ERA Performance has built everything from 2,000hp trucks to full interior sedans that run eights — this episode covers choosing the right power adder, the LS vs. LT debate, and what it actually costs to build serious horsepower.
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0:00 Intro
7:20 First Car Modifications & Racing Days
9:36 The Build Progression Over the Years
11:15 Safety, Speed & Why Eighth Mile Makes Sense
14:04 High Power Build Costs: Budget Motors to Billet Blocks
18:24 Selling the Cars
22:35 Fast Trucks
29:51 Standalone ECUs: Motec, Holley & FuelTech
35:23 Tuning Multiple Platforms
39:03 LS vs. LT
40:06 Building a 1,000hp Camaro
43:22 Stock Blower vs. 2650 Explained
47:23 Single vs. Twin Turbo: Real World Differences
49:48 Suspension Preferences
53:06 The '57 Bel Air LT4 Swap in the Shop
1:01:05 Fuel Strategy at High Power Levels
1:02:42 LS vs. LT & Weird Swaps
1:05:21 Fab Work, Wiring & What Stays In-House
1:08:44 Track Access in California & Traveling to Race
1:17:58 What should the next build be?
1:23:22 Little Gangsters Class & Budget Race Builds
1:31:12 Ford vs. Mopar & Corvette Owners
1:34:06 When to Go TH400
Minnoxide
minnoxide
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109:29