Show n'Go: Mark Koehler's Extreme 7 Second Firebird
Posted at 11:58 PM / August 16, 2009
"Realizing I was beating a car to death that wasn't designed for the dragstrip, I set out to construct a purpose built drag car." Up until that day in 2004, Mark Koehler had been getting his fix by hitting the local car shows and cruises with his ProCharger-equipped 2001 Trans-Am. However this hot-rodder’s future was destined for change. Just a few miles North of Mark's Cincinnati home, Steve Turley and Mike Brown, more widely known as Ohio Boys Racing, were busy terrorizing dragstrips across the Midwest. Armed with a pair of home-built turbocharged LS1 F-Bodies, not only were the Ohio Boys pioneers of LS1 performance, but a force to be reckoned with as well. Mark eventually spent a lot of time in the pits helping out with the Ohio tandem's racing operation, and the peer pressure became overwhelming. Mark admits, "Like a couple of drug dealers selling adrenaline, they convinced me racing was way more fun!"
Having experienced the rush of heads up racing first hand, Mark set out to build a racecar to compete in one of drag racing's quickest and most exciting classes, Outlaw Drag Radial. Although this class imposes countless rules and regulations, the principle remains simple. Often times, he who has the most power doesn't always trigger the win light. This class is a high stakes chess match, where its players push the limits of what their tires, and racing surface can withstand. Leave your seven hundred horsepower street warrior at home, because it doesn't stand a chance at making the field. We're talking about unleashing nearly 2,000 horsepower, with nothing but drag radials and stock style suspension parts to put the power to the ground.
As you can probably tell by now, a machine of this magnitude is not built overnight. Off the shelf parts will only go so far when building a one-off race car. From the time the first wrench was turned on this build, and even to present day, the goals have remained the same. Mark was not necessarily looking to break any records, or build the baddest bird ever. Instead, he wanted a car that would be competitive in each race he entered, and do so with deadly consistency. Oh, and the car had to look just as good, if not better than it performed. This proved to be a tough checklist to follow, but after three years, and over one thousand hours of labor, Mark's dream finally became a reality.
The LSXtreme Drag Racing team, composed of Mark, his wife, Kellie, their son, Kevin, and crew members Jim, Ryan, Daniel and Dave, began making test passes during the summer heat of 2008. Before long, the original six cylinder Firebird began exceeding expectations. Mark had set a personal goal of running in the mid eight second range with his initial combo, and he didn't waste much time reaching that benchmark. With an LSX Shootout Dyno Contest victory under his belt, by the end of the racing season Mark had shattered his original goal and rocketed down the 1320 to a blistering 8.06 @ 175MPH. As if that wasn't impressive enough, would you believe they accomplished all of these feats with a tiny 364 CID LS2? Even more surprising, the 6.0 liter powerplant was only intended as a "starter motor" to get the car running well, so the team could become well acquainted with getting down the track. The orange Trans Am would undergo a major transformation over the winter off-season, with plans to go much quicker in 2009.
Having been thoroughly impressed with the performance, and reliability of three previous engines built by Kurt Urban Performance, Mark would have been foolish to look anywhere else for help with his latest creation. "The goal was simple-reliability, consistency, and low maintenance at a very moderate cost," Mark said. The duo blueprinted a build similar to what had worked so well before, only this time, on a much larger scale. The LS2 block was ditched in favor of the GM Performance Parts LSX Block. Diamond pistons fill the 4.155" bore, while Howard's billet connecting rods attach the forged slugs to the 4.125" stroke Callies Compstar crankshaft. Cathedral port Trick Flow 245CC cylinder heads were set atop this 447 cubic inch monster, but not before Brian Tooley of Total Engine Airflow worked his magic. The longblock is finally topped with an Edelbrock Victor Junior intake manifold, along with a Wilson elbow, and 105MM throttle body.
This bird was built for boost, and that process begins with a set of cast iron OEM 6.0 liter exhaust manifolds. After exiting the manifolds, exhaust gasses are pushed through custom hotsides, and into a Precision 106MM turbocharger. Regulated by an HKS wastegate, 29 lbs of boost are then rammed through a custom air-to-water intercooler, and finally reaches their destination via Mark's custom charge pipe. Fueling demands are met by a pair of Weldon fuel pumps, and 160lb injectors pulling from a custom fuel cell located under the rear hatch. As you can probably guess, the stock computer and interior wiring are long gone. A Big Stuff 3 engine management system puts control at Mark's fingertips, while a RacePak digital instrument cluster notifies him of exactly what's happening while going down the track.
Raw power is a key component in any heads up racing class, but chassis tuning and suspension components are even more crucial. Mark started with a solid foundation by installing an array of race-tested tubular suspension components from Billingsley Racing, along with shocks, springs and brakes from Strange Engineering. Torque is transferred to the tires via a Neal Chance 6,000 stall converter, Rossler powerglide, and finally out through a spooled Billingsley nine inch rear. Up front, 15x3.5 Weld Racing wheels are wrapped with Mickey Thompson ET Front tires. In the rear, 315/60 ET Street Drag Radials are secured to the 15x10 wheels with beadlocks. A Wolfe Racecraft 25.4 roll cage, Stroud parachute, and custom fire suppression system keep this Trans Am as safe as possible, even at speeds approaching 200MPH.
If racing isn't your cup of tea, fear not, because there is still plenty here to appreciate, all while sitting still. As you can already see, the paint is far from stock, as is much of the body work. There's a lot going on here, so we'll start up front, and work our way back. First order of business was installing a VFN WS9 Outlaw hood. Not only does this hood look killer, is functional as well. The front bumper and fenders are attached together, so within minutes the entire front end can be removed as one piece. While t-tops are nice for cruising downtown, they don't have much function at the drag strip. They were ditched, in favor of a new hard top panel. The original Firebird hatch was replaced with one from a Trans Am, but not before the spoiler was removed, and the holes were shaved. A carbon fiber Joe Van Overbeek drag wing extends from the rear hatch, and increases stability on the big end. Once the build was complete, the car was ready for paint. The original Navy Blue Metallic color was ditched, and the new scheme began with a silver basecoat, followed by a few coats of Sherwin Williams Planet Color Orange. Finally, the car was buried under several layers of orange candy, resulting in one of the most wicked color's we've ever laid eyes on.
Fast forward to the 2009 racing season, and the LSXtreme crew has been hitting the track hard this year as well. Early on, Mark and the guys had some trouble putting this newfound power to the ground, however, after some minor adjustments, things really started to fall into place. Just a few weeks ago, Mark was able to break into the seven second range at Milan Dragway. In fact his new personal best, a 7.81 @ 186.50MPH, most likely holds the record for the quickest, and fastest hydraulic roller LS1 in the world. And recently, at the August Outlaw Street Madness event held at Kil-Kare Raceway, Mark was able to win the event and was also the number one qualifier. The plan is to keep making adjustments, and improve on the already impressive timeslips, but more importantly, continue having fun. Mark admits, "There’s still some left in the tank," so look for this bird to ruffle some feathers in Memphis at this year's LSX Shootout.
**9.21.09 Update**
Mark has informed that he went 7.76@188mph on 9.4.09 at Milan Dragway. From the sounds of things he has more things to try so more is to come!
