Some of the guys switched power-adders, some dropped in bigger engines, and one guy even built an entirely new car! Check out what's changed under the hoods of the cars from Street Outlaws.

"Daddy" Dave Comstock

1963 Chevrolet Nova

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With this combination easily making more than 2,000 hp, a Davis Technologies Profiler traction-control system is installed. It takes input from wheel-speed sensors and adjusts ignition timing to ensure that all that power is getting to the road, not being turned into tire smoke. Dave told us he built this car to prove a point—that a nitrous car can still dominate the field. His plans are to march his way to the top of the list on the show, then detune the car, switch to a twin-turbo setup and drive the car on the street.

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James "Doc" Love

1970 Chevrolet Monte Carlo

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Jerry Johnston

1972 Camaro

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Jerry's Sinister Split Bumper Camaro was one of the nicest-looking cars of the bunch when we first met the guys from the show two years ago. We're happy to report it's still just as good looking and even more powerful. Jerry went bigger in the engine room as well, and his 632 big-block Chevy has the grunt to back up its flashy looks. It was built with a Brodix block and heads by CNC Performance in Duncan, Oklahoma, and gets to work with 13.5:1 compression and three stages of nitrous. Like Doc, he's still using carburetors to mix the fuel, but will be switching to Haltech EFI later this year. Davis Technologies' Profiler traction control system keeps all that torque in check as it gets to the ground via a PTC torque converter and a Powerglide built by BTE Racing.

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Second-gen Camaros are heavier than they look, but even packing a big-block and all the requisite hardware, his Camaro tips the scales at just 3,000 pounds thanks to Optic Armor windows and VFN fiberglass doors. He was chasing down additional weight savings and will be switching to an all-aluminum Brodix big-block and a carbon-fiber front clip very soon.

Sean Whitley and Jeff "AZN" Bonnett

1970 Chevrolet C10

1966 Volkswagen Beetle

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Farmtruck and AZN have become the show-within-the-show, as they are often filmed off on their own doing goofy stuff and suckering unsuspecting dudes into races. Sean's C10 has changed quite a bit since we first met. Gone is the 502 big-block, replaced with a 632 (notice the theme here?) built by Advanced Engine Machine in Salina, Kansas, with Brodix heads and valvetrain from Comp. The transmission is a 4L80E, an interesting choice, but one that makes sense when you hear there's a 5.00:1 ring-and-pinion in the Ford 9-inch rear axle mounted on stock C10 trailing arms. The truck is tubbed, but you'd have to peer through the camper shell to notice the wheelhousings in the bed are wider than stock, and we love the slicks mounted on the stock-looking steel wheels. Jeff Lutz built the headers and made the brackets to mount QA1 coilovers up front. On the day we shot these pictures, Sean was just getting ready to take the truck to Don Dial's Race Shop in Seminole, Oklahoma, for some more front suspension work.

Jeff AZN Bonnett's Dung Beetle is just as much a sleeper as the Farmtruck is. "We started with a really nice-looking car," he told us. "It was set up for drag racing and had a 1,915cc dune-buggy engine in it." Now, it's got a 2,332cc engine built by Eddie's Imports of Oklahoma City. It's still an air-cooled flat four mounted behind the rear wheels, but it sounds nothing like the Bugs we see cruising the beach communities in SoCal. It sports CB Performance Comp Eliminator cylinder heads and camshaft combination, 8.5:1 compression, and a Precision 62mm turbocharger that delivers 20 psi of boost. Haltech EFI controls the show and the engine runs on E85 fuel, which makes this air-cooled throwback very streetable, even running a bunch of boost. The latent heat of vaporization of alcohol is greater than gasoline, which means the intake charge is much colder than it would be on gas. The rear-mounted engine offers another advantage: "The car just hooks!" Jeff said. "I don't need to do anything but drop the tire pressure to 12 psi and it hangs the hoops." Cool, huh? No traction compound or long, smoky burnouts needed. That's definitely one upside to the car's 35/65 percent weight distribution (front/rear). Power gets to the ground through a Ron Lumens dual-disc clutch and a Rancho four-speed transmission, and the Dung Beetle is making 366 hp to the wheels, which is about 300 more than the original engine would have made.

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The car's patina is almost as interesting as the drivetrain; it was painted to look that way. "The car was too pretty," Jeff explained. Painter Tony Westland did the treatment, which he termed a "de-storation," rather than a restoration. No surface was spared—not even the wheels, which are actually custom-made aluminum hoops that were treated to look like weathered steel wheels.

John Andrade Jr.

1982 Oldsmobile Cutlass

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John "Baron" Gentry

1984 Oldsmobile Cutlass

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Waiting for a shot on the list, we ran into Baron a couple years ago when his car was in Plasti-Dip blue. Now it's got a real paint job (thanks to his wife) and a serious 572 big-block built by Henson Racing Engines. Squeezing 13.5:1 compression, this plant is comprised of a Dart block and heads, Eagle crank, Callies rods, Wiseco pistons, and an Edelbrock intake manifold. Baron's power-adder is a fogger system built by Nitrous Express, fuel is by a 1,250 Dominator prepped by Midwest Street Cars, and the headers were built by Furo using Stainless Works components. The trans is a Rossler TH400 and there's a 9-inch out back built by Don Dial's Race Shop. Don Dial also set up the ladder-bar rear suspension, and TRZ components are up front.

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"Big" Rob Chapman

1999 Chevrolet Camaro

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You may have noticed the Big Rob Entertainment stickers on several of the cars on the show. Rob is the local video guy and the person who helped draw the attention of Hollywood producers to the guys from the 405. Rob's been working on this Camaro for a while, turning it into a serious street machine. It's got a 402 built out of a stock 6.0L block and AFR 230 cylinder heads with a Comp hydraulic roller cam and stock rocker arms with a trunnion upgrade. Of course, the Procharger F1A is the big star under the hood. The transmission is a TH400 built by RC Boggs of Chocktaw, Oklahoma, and a 9-inch is out back with 4.11:1 gears on a spool.

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Shawn Ellington

1969 Chevrolet Nova

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The very definition of badass, Shawn Ellington's 1969 Nova is one of the most well-known cars in the country. When we first met Shawn two years ago, his Pro Linebuilt big-block Chevy was carbureted and supercharged. Since then, he's switched to electronic fuel injection and a pair of turbos—specifically a pair of 88mm Pro Mod turbochargers from Precision. The engine itself is pretty basic, considering it makes about 3,400 hp. It's a 572 built with a Lunati crank, Oliver connecting rods, Diamond pistons, and 380cc Dart Pro 2 cylinder heads. At the heart of the engine is a Comp solid roller cam, and Comp lifters and pushrods. The camshaft is geardriven off the crank.

FuelTech's FT500 sequential-port fuel-injection system runs the show, and it incorporates Billet Atomizer fuel injectors built by Alan Johnson, which are fed by a beltdriven fuel pump. Jeff Lutz built the headers and turbo plumbing using tubing from Stainless Works, Precision wastegates, and a Precision air-to-water intercooler. Shawn says they placed the turbochargers in the rear of the engine compartment near the firewall for better weight balance and transfer. The engine is cooled by the same water that runs through the intercooler. It gets pumped from a Chiseled Performance aluminum tank mounted in the trunk, to the intercooler mounted under the dash on the passenger side of the car, then through the engine before returning to the tank in the trunk.

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The transmission is a TH400 built by Rossler with a 2.10:1 First gear. A carbon-fiber driveshaft from Precision Shaft Technologies connects to a Strange 9-inch housing with a Strange spool and axles. Strange disc brakes are on all four corners.

Don Dial's Race Shop fabbed the rear four-link and built a stock-style front suspension with TRZ control arms. Chris Bell from Kinetic Engineering built the Penske double-adjustable shocks, front and rear, and helped Shawn set up the suspension.

Electronics are a part of any car making this much power at this level of competition, and Shawn's car is no stranger to technology. He's got a Davis Technologies bump box, MSD's Power Grid ignition system, a boost controller from Hyperaktive Performance Solutions, and a Racepack dash and datalogger. Though he's got plenty of onboard electronics that can function as traction control devices, Shawn says he's tried them, but feels more comfortable and runs faster without them.

With a 9.3:1 compression ratio and spooling 42 pounds of boost (though he can turn it up more than that), the Murder Nova runs on 116-octane Q16 oxygenated gasoline from VP Racing Fuels, and Shawn recently ran 4.42 at 178 mph in the eighth-mile on 275 drag radials in this configuration. He expects to see very low-4s on a set of 315 radials at Lights Out 6 later this year in Valdosta, Georgia, if the show's shooting schedule permits.