10/12/2025
📍Celebrating our client Sean McDonald joining the 10 second club!
🎯 10.95 @ 129 MPH
🎯 *Est 642 AWHP/653 TQ on 30 psi at 5651 RPM
1991 Mitsubishi 3000GT VR-4 on AEM v2
📚 Tuner: Morgan E. Dunn of RacerX Performance Tuning
🛠️ Engine Work: Owner, Don Kakascik for the machine work/assembly of the short block
🛠️ Owner/Driver: Sean McDonald
Build List Highlights:
✅ EMS/ECU: AEM v2
✅ Bottom End: Ross 3.1 pistons, Ninja rods, Forged 3G crank, Stage 3 IPS heads (ported/polished)
✅ Top End: 3SX adjustable cam gears, Rvenge CoP kit, Gates racing belt with solid tensioner CX Racing dual core FMIC and intake pipes
✅ Turbos: Billet Arashi 20T HL
✅ Fuel Delivery: Walbro 525 hotwired fuel pump, FIC 1450cc injectors, Flex Fuel E85
✅ Trans: RPS Twin Disc clutch, 300m output shaft, Billet input shaft bearing, Bellhousing and transfer case brace, carbon synchros, 3SX short throw shifter
✅ Exhaust: Custom catback
🔔The Story:
Dyno numbers are nice and fun but nothing is more rewarding than results on the track! I originally started with Sean in October 2024 though, as is often the case, these 30 year old cars can be quite the journey as we were running into some apparent fuel pressure and delivery issues. Fast forward to 2025 and Sean got the car in good running order. The guy he had working on the car offered to tune it as well so he was off to a good start. However, he noted that he wasn't feeling the power he expected out of his setup at the drag strip. So we reconnected and the baton was passed.
The car was making a solid 30 psi of boost but after some review it became evident that a lot of power was being left on the table as the MBT timing tuning had not yet been done. Working through the MBT round after round we were able to take the car from 571/579 to 642 awhp with 653 foot pounds of torque.
With an eye on making his first ever 10 second run in the quarter mile we worked on a few more things to make the car both fast and safe. Established the knock floor and as he is running on CoP we were able to leverage cylinder trims in AEM v2 to work around a little noisiness in #5 without slowing down the others. Added the closed loop on the boost tuning and a few safety features and we were just about ready.
Finally we tuned in the anti-lag so he could make about 10 psi of boost while standing on the line. This proved crucial at the track!
So, last Saturday he brought it to Keystone Raceway. They didn't have any sticky-stuff at the track and he was actually spinning the tires. He got an 11.4 at 128 despite all this and I jokingly said, "Knock off a tenth at a time". Then he put down 11.3 at 127 followed by 11.1 at 127. Closer and closer he hit an 11.04 at 128 and for the final run of the day 11.01 at 128!!! So close!
Fast forward one week and waiting out two oil spills on the track he got it at 10.95 at 129 MPH!
It was truly an honor and a privilege to be a part of Sean's journey!
