After applying and being invited to compete on the popular TV show Pinks, John yan and the crew at Speed Inc put Project Pinkenstein together in only four weeks. Ryan, who some might better know as the LS1Tech.com Co-Founder Pro Stock John, was prepared to lay thousands of dollars on the line and the pink slip of his Camaro, which had been significantly enhanced with the help of Speed Inc and a host of sponsors. Unfortunately, after learning that the car he was originally supposed to race bowed out, and John was unable to reach a suitable agreement with the show's producers for a replacement, the Arctic White 2000 Z28 never made it on the SPEED channel. Following this mishap, though, John has been campaigning the Z at various races including the LSX Shootout and featuring the project car on LS1Tech.
Knowing that he could indeed be losing the title to his Camaro, the formula was simple for John-build the fastest, most reliable LS1 F-body for a reasonable amount of money. The 100,000+mile Z28 was the perfect foundation for making the plan a reality, which John found on LS1Tech for sale. Oddly enough, the owner was local (to Chicago where Ryan calls home); the only downside was that the Camaro required some bodywork and a repaint of the front clip. Thankfully, the folks at All Line Carstar got the Camaro back in shape and even removed the front grille, and fitted and painted a handsome VFN Sunoco fiberglass hood. The potentially 9-second F-body was also given a Stenod Performance 6-point rollbar, to which G-Force 5-point harnesses would later mount.
With the format of the show and the nature of street racing heads, cam, and nitrous seemed the natural choice for motivating the Z. However, fear of losing his ride from an obliterated hypereutectic piston caused John to invest in one of Speed Inc.'s 348 Sportsman Short Blocks. The honed cylinders, mains, and polished stock crank were treated to Eagle H-beam forged rods and Diamond forged pistons and rings. A Katech ported and blueprinted oil pump would provide lubrication, using the stock oil pan and windage tray. The heads and cam package came from Vengeance Racing and consisted of Harland Sharp 1.7 ratio rockers, a Vindicator custom 1.7 ratio rockers, a Vindicator custom grind cam, and milled Trick Flow Specialties 215cc heads. The 13.5- degree, 2.04- and 1.575-inch valves are optimized with a 240/244 duration, .608/.596-inch lift, 112+4LSA hydraulic roller. The 11.0:1 compression ratio combo was mapped out with pump gas and nitrous in mind.
An MTI airlid, K&N air filter, Nick Williams 90mm throttle body, and OEM LS2 intake manifold provide the natural aspiration. Meanwhile, the trick dual-stage nitrous system force feeds the LS1, which was meant to allow Ryan's Camaro to run 10.5 and under 10.0 at the flip of a switch for the purposes of the show. Though he said he has done it before on another car, John thinks spraying both the Nitrous Express 150hp wet kit and Dynotune 100hp dry kit at the same time will be too much for even the beefy Racetronix fuel system. Ford 42 lb/hr injectors and the stock MAF compensate for the dry kit, as the wet kit pulls directly from the source, which would seriously deplete the fuel rails' supply, as well as potentially draining the fuel system's voltage, John said. Since he is already running 10.00 at 133 mph with the one wet kit, it doesn't seem to concern him. Pinky managed to pull 551 hp and 477 lb-ft of torque on Speed Inc's Dynojet on the spray with race gas and Keith Prociuk of HP Tuners tickling the keys. On motor, the same combo managed 413 ponies and 370 lb-ft on pump gas, thanks in part to a free-flowing exhaust that consists of Hooker 1.75-inch long tube headers and Dynomax bullet mufflers (with no crossover).
 The two bottles supply two...  The two bottles supply two entirely different nitrous kits: one is a Dynotune 100hp dry kit and the other (the primary system) is a Nitrous Express 150hp wet kit. |  A Vengeance Racing top end...  A Vengeance Racing top end with Trick Flow 215cc heads, custom hydraulic cam, and a Speed Inc 348 Sportsman bottom end have propelled the Z to 10.92 on motor using an LS2 intake and Nick Williams 90mm throttle body. Meanwhile, a Nitrous Express wet kit gives a 150hp jump that enabled a 10.00 at 133-mph pass and a 551-rwhp pull on Speed Inc's dyno. |  At the time of purchase, the...  At the time of purchase, the Arctic White Camaro was a gutted 6-speed that weighed only 3,100 pounds with the stock wheels. After adding a Stenod Performance 6-point rollbar, TH400, and 9-inch, those figures didn't climb much-though with a driver it's more like 3,300 pounds. With the removed HVAC and radio controls, A/C, and passenger seat, not to mention the B&M Pro Ratchet and Auto Meter monster tach, there's no doubt this is a race car. |