This Corvette Gets Twin Turbos, A Bigger Engine and Some Drag-and-Drive Adjustments for a Return to Redwood Rally
After successfully completing his second drag-and-drive event at the Redwood Rally in 2023, Ryan Saiki plans to return in just over a week with some updates and ‘adjustments’ to a storied Chevrolet Corvette.
This C3 Corvette embarked on its first drag-and-drive last year, and Ryan plans to make the second one just as memorable.
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You might recognize the name Ryan Saiki, as he revamped Doug Cook’s epic Nova just over a year ago, as well as recently completing a rolling Monte Carlo chassis for Andy Cook.
The head of Free Form Motorsports had completed in a 1968 for his first dive into the drag-and-drive community, but made the jump to the family’s C3 Corvette acquired from his father.
The Corvette had a storied history of heads-up racing, but Ryan decided it needed a full freshen up for its next chapter, cutting the roll cage out of it, then building a new cage, lighter race seats, and a Holley dash, the remainder of the interior remains surprisingly stock.
Ryan chose the LS-swap for power in 2023, combining a single turbocharger with an aluminum LC9-based 328 cubic inch powerplant.
But after some reflection and reviewing the time slips, he wanted a little more power on tap for 2024. So the 328 engine was giving an eviction notice, and Ryan slid a healthy 427 cubic inch LS bullet onto the engine mounts.
The 427 is based on a Dart Machinery block, with Mast Motorsports 295 cc cathedral-port cylinder heads, and topped with a Tick Performance 1400 horsepower-rated billet intercooler/lid combination. For twice the boost capabilities this time, a pair of Forced inductions s376/75-millimeter units got the call.
Ryan gave the entire car an inspection, as that first drag-and-drive revealed some issues. “I redid front half of the car,” Ryan said. “It had a giant radiator now. My main thing I’m hoping for is no overheating or drivability issues like I fought last year. But ultimate goal is to bring home the win.”
“The drivability issues came from the camshaft being too big, and the wrong input shaft in the transmission causing the converter to act like it was locked up.”
Despite those issues, Ryan made a solid showing in the popular American Graffiti Single Power Adder class, based around a 28-inch x 10.5-inch tire and a single power adder. He hopes this year he is bringing enough to challenge for a class win.
“I think it will take a 5.20-ish average,” Ryan said. But regardless of the Redwood Rally results, Ryan is getting the Corvette to a better place he’s happy with. “I have 5 passes on the 427, but was using my 69-millimeter that I ran on a different LS for one test session earlier this year,” Ryan laughed. “It’s been nothing but changes, but I’m finally happy with the direction it’s headed.”
Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of Ryan Saiki.
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