Cutting Up a 7-Second Street Car, To Build a 6-Second Version
This year’s Sick Week Presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive saw the return of Eric Yost and his ’68 Chevrolet Camaro, and the car’s first drag-and-drive event for nearly eight years resulted in a win in the hotly-contested Super Street class.
Rolling the distance with Yost for the week was Ry Klemp, who also has some experience in the drag-and-drive game. Klemp’s last drag-and-drive event as a driver would be the 2018 edition of Hot Rod Drag Week behind the wheel of a Ford Mustang, but we need to rewind a bit here.
Klemp, who is a third of the group that heads up the Clapd Out YouTube channel, owns a 1994 Ford Mustang that has seen a great share of street and strip time. “I bought the Mustang as a bone stock ride when I joined the Marines in 2000,” said Klemp. Modifying it with a 331 cubic inch stroker small block Ford engine with some nitrous in the mix, and a stick shift behind the powerplant, it ran some 10.80s in 2005.
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Then Klemp decided to jump in with the LS-swap group in 2009. Making the switch to a LS-based engine, plus using a carburetor and an automatic transmission didn’t work well at first. “It popped trying to run half-mile air strip stuff,” said Klemp, who admitted he parked it for a few years. “In 2013 I jumped in feet first to the turbo LS route,” Klemp said of his next move.
The turbocharged LS-swap is a popular one, and Klemp found his groove, getting the car into the 8-second range. He even participated in Hot Rod Drag Week, with his last appearance in 2018 being a memorable one.
Running the Street Race Small Block Power Adder class, Klemp clocked a best pass of 8.63 at 159 mph on day three, but torched a cylinder head along the way. “Drove it to the last track on 6 cylinders,” said Klemp, limping to a 16-second pass, but officially completing Drag Week.
The 2000 Mustang as it last saw action in 2021 as a small tire 7-second car.
After that, the Mustang known as “Killface” saw small tire and no prep action, with some success. “We started to really turn the car up, and ended up going 7.98 at 174 mph in 2021,” said Klemp.
Those times exceeding the 8.50 roll cage certification, so Klemp was at a crossroads. “Rather than slow it down or relegate to eighth-mile only, I did what any sane person would,” he said. “I tore apart a perfectly function 7 second street car to make a 6 second street car.”
With Klemp retired from the Marines by now, he had a little more time to dedicate to the car’s transformation. The car was gutted like a fish, and a 25.2/3-SFI spec chassis from Moore Race Chassis, plus a bunch of Tin Soldier parts were installed by Klemp or Yost and Yost’s business, Customs by Bigun.
Klemp also made a big change with the powerplant, with a 632 cubic inch big block Chevrolet between the shock towers. “It’s a retired IHRA pro mod motor from the early 2000s,” said Klemp, but instead of natural aspiration or nitrous, Klemp will feed the hungry engine with a pair of Forced Performance turbochargers.
Obviously, the car has a way to go before it hits the track and street again, but Klemp has some stout goals in mind. “We’re shooting for six-second runs on small tires and drag and drive capabilities,” Klemp admitted. “We might even do no prep!”
Clapd Out’s latest video on the build is below:
Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of Ry Klemp.