Words and photos by Jeff Burk
11/9/04

Zach Barklage is acknowledged as one of the premier young drivers in drag racing. He is also twenty years old, a bachelor and a guy who likes his daily ride to be as "rad" as the six-second, 200-mph, blown and injected '04 Pontiac Grand Am Pro Mod. So it shouldn't come as any surprise that Barklage's street car is a bitchin' red '97 C-5 Corvette. It also shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that Zach would want his 'Vette to perform on the street like his Grand Am does on the strip, but what is unusual is instead of picking a supercharger like he has on his Pro Modified, he instead went with nitrous oxide injection to supply a horsepower boost for the electronic fuel injected small block in the 'Vette.

Barklage consulted Wady "Pro Mod Wad" Hamam, the head nitrous tech for Mike Thermos' Nitrous Supply warehouse in Huntington Beach, CA. Hamam used to be the primary tech person and Thermos the owner of Nitrous Oxide Systems before that company was sold to Holley.

"Pro Mod Wad" recommended Barklage install the NOS 5177 nitrous kit on the already potent small block.  Barklage took the kit to a local speed shop by the name of Tydo Race Cars which is located near his home in Eldon, MO. According to Barklage the installation was easily done with a minimum of tools and took the guys in the Tydo shop just about four hours to complete. 

The 10-lb. Bottles were installed in order to have enough bottle pressure and nitrous volume to make the all aluminum EFI 350 LS-1 small block wake up. According to Nitrous Supply's Hamam, the kit should give the 345 horsepower mouse motor an additional 125 hp when the solenoid opens.

The first thing they did at Tydo Race Cars was to install and plumb two 10-lb bottles on the 'Vette's package tray. Note that they also installed vent tubes that would direct nitrous oxide out of the car if either of the bottles built up too much head pressure and the burst panel gave way. The kit uses a single nozzle mounted upstream of the EFI sensor, which is located in the "cold air" intake plenum for the 'Vette

The solenoids for the gasoline and nitrous are both mounted on the chassis at the front of the 'Vette, with a short braided hose going to the air filter plenum.