Car Craft - May 2008 - Vintage Wheel Works

his '88 Camaro was Mike Bighley's
first car. Unlike those of us
T who spend our lives in pursuit of
our true love-our first car-he kept his,
building it up to the wolf-in-sheep'sclothing
twin-turbo monster you see here.
Mike bought it in 1997, just around the
time he tumed 16. It was a base coupe
model equipped with the optional L03 TBI
305. Churning out 170 hp, it was an OK
car for a 16-year-old. At 17, he got wise
and began working on it, mostly adding
bolt-ons. He did the typical cam/heads/
exhaust stuff for several years, enjoying
the building and driving experience. When
he reached the limits of the 305 block, he
upgraded to a TPI setup on top of a GM
ZZ4 crate engine. That might be where
many of us would have left it alone. But
the motor oil really hit the fan when Mike,
at age 23, decided he wanted turbos.
Mark foul1d a deal on a strong reciprocating
assembly and got to work. He did
a lot of research on the Internet and
some experimenting with different
combinations in his own car before
coming up with the iteration we came
across at last year's Summer Nationals in
St. Paul. Here's the condensed version: a
pair of Master Power T70 turbochargers,
two intercoolers, custom headers, an
Edelbrock Victor-E intake, Fast Burn
heads, 150-pound injectors, and four
fuel pumps.
He dialed everything in using a FAST
XFI engine-management system. How
much power, you ask Running on E85
fuel with 20 psi of boost, how does 854