This 2001 Pontiac Firebird looks stock, but the boosted V8 makes 853 rear wheel horsepower and the car runs 9s.
Alex Palmeri from the Legit Street Cars YouTube channel has a 2001 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am WS6 with a boosted V8 that he built and tuned himself. In one of his videos, took the car to a dyno shop to see what kind of power it sends to the wheels and the results were mighty impressive. 850 rear wheel horsepower impressive.
Palmeri’s Dream Car
When this YouTuber was in high school, he dreamed of owning a 4th gen Firebird. When he entered technical school after high school, his motivating factor to do well, graduate and get a job was to be able to buy an LS1-powered Trans Am. So, naturally, upon getting his first job at a Mercedes-Benz dealership, he ran out and bought his 2001 Pontiac Firebird.
When the car still had temporary tags, Palmeri was out street racing his Firebird. As a result, over the years, it has been transformed from a run-of-the-mill 4th gen Trans Am to a boosted beast.
The host explains all of this to us as he is driving to a dyno shop to see what kind of power he is making. He explains that his Firebird ran 9.70s with a trap speed of 141 miles per hour, so we know that he is making some serious power. He guesses 865 and the dyno operator guesses 850.
Boosted ‘Bird on the Dyno
Before getting into the dyno runs, the YouTuber gives us a rundown of his builds. This Firebird is powered by an LS-based 370-cubic inch V8 with “stock” cylinder heads that have been ported and polished. The engine has an LS6 intake and throttle body, with a custom camshaft and a monster 88-millimeter turbocharger delivering 20 pounds of boost. This is all on a 93-octane pump gas tune running a whole lot of methanol.
On the first dyno blast, the Trans Am makes 780 rear wheel horsepower at 19 pounds of boost. On the second run, with the boost cranked up to 20 psi, the output rises to 810 rear wheel horsepower.
The crew tinkers with the tune a bit, adding some timing and making a third run and on this one, the dyno measures horsepower and torque. The mild-looking Firebird makes 831 horsepower and 889 lb-ft of torque at the rear wheels and after one more timing adjustment – the horsepower figure jumps to 853. Due to some wiring issues, the torque number was absent on most of the runs, but with 853 horsepower, this is one wicked Pontiac street machine.
"Before I was old enough to walk, my dad was taking me to various types of racing events, from local drag racing to the Daytona 500," says Patrick Rall, a lifetime automotive expert, diehard Dodge fan, and respected auto journalist for over 10 years. "He owned a repair shop and had a variety of performance cars when I was young, but by the time I was 16, he was ready to build me my first drag car – a 1983 Dodge Mirada that ran low 12s. I spent 10 years traveling around the country, racing with my dad by my side. While we live in different areas of the country, my dad still drag races at 80 years old in the car that he built when I was 16 while I race other vehicles, including my 2017 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat and my 1972 Dodge Demon 340.
"Although I went to college for accounting, my time in my dad’s shop growing up allowed me the knowledge to spend time working as a mechanic before getting my accounting degree, at which point I worked in the office of a dealership group. While I was working in the accounting world, I continued racing and taking pictures of cars at the track. Over time, I began showing off those pictures online and that led to my writing.
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"My experience drag racing for more than 20 years coupled with a newfound interest in road racing over the past decade allows me to push performance cars to their limit, while my role as a horse stable manager gives me vast experience towing and hauling with all of the newest trucks on the market today.
