As you know, all that power isn't worth a thing if you can't hook up. Check those numbers in the opening paragraph again, and you'll note that Daren has little trouble in this regard. Up front, about the only stock pieces left are spindles: the front subframe was replaced with a tubular ARE K-frame and A-arms, and front springs are Qa1/HAL pieces. Solid motor mounts bolt that hairy LT1 to the special K, and HAL shocks (set at 1, the softest setting) and a removed front stabilizer bar help transfer weight on launch. A Hotchkis strut tower brace aids the cage in preventing chassis flex. The Moser-built nodular-case Ford 9-inch rear, fortified with a Detroit locker, 35-spline axles, and 3.70 gears, is located with HAL shocks (set for 3 or 4, depending on track conditions), Hotchkis panhard rod, Edelbrock tubular lower control arms, an LG Motorsports trans-mounted torque-arm, twin remote-actuated Airlift airbags (filled to 30 psi at the track), and custom Moog rear coils.
Rolling stock is the expected big-n-little Weld DragLite rims (15 x 3.5 inch front, 15 x 10 out at the business end) rolling 26 x 4.5 x 15 Moroso DS2s ahead and sticky 28 x 10.5 x 15 M/T ET Drags out back for traction. Brakes, and with all this talk of power it's easy to forget about them, are mostly stock but are augmented with drilled rotors, a Hurst line-loc and a Wilwood proportioning valve and pads.
Inside is not the gutted, ratty pig you might expect. Well, of course there's the custom 10-point ARE chrome-moly 7.5-second-certified cage, which has been welded in, and AutoMeter Sport Comp Ultra Lite gauges (trans temp, nitrous pressure and vacuum where the center vents used to be; digital fuel pressure gauge in the vent nearest the driver's door, and a tach with shift light mounted on the column), and the dual RCI five-point camlock racing harnesses ... but there's nothing race-ratty going on here. It looks factory-fresh, in fact. (Since these photos were taken, these factory chairs have been swapped out for a pair of Corbeau Forza butt-snuggers.) And, should it interest you, the tonneau cover is a DG Motorsports carbon-fiber Speedster unit, and the stereo consists of a stock head unit fronting a pair of XMax 12 carbon-fiber speakers, plus two Phoenix Gold ZX500 amps, all powered by its own Optima battery.
Other new additions since photos are a pair of Be-Cool 11-inch electric fans, an ATI dampener to reduce crank vibrations, an SFI JW bellhousing for the Turbo-400, and new Super Pro Shot nitrous solenoids and jets-from .032s (a 300-horse shot) to .040s.
And that's how he does it. Simple, eh?