Josh from MitsuTimes: What's going on, guys? Welcome to another episode of the Mitsu Times podcast.

Jeff: I was in the word screen should be.

Josh from MitsuTimes: My guest today is Mr. Jeff Monet. He has been getting PB after PB after PB, it seems like here recently in his two G. How are you today, Jeff?

Jeff: I'm doing great. Thanks for having me.

Josh from MitsuTimes: Of course, man. Thank you for coming on. I you know, obviously two G guy myself. I love to see two G's out there kicking smash. So and you know, you've it seems like you jumped what, over half of a second from your was it from earlier this year, was it from last year at the shootout?

Jeff: it was from the shootout this year. I well actually I jumped a half a second from last year at the shootout and then half a second this year at the shootout and then I took it out took it out again after the shootout, jumped another another half a second roughly. Just car's been running good.

Josh from MitsuTimes: Definitely chipping away at it.

Jeff: Yes, sir.

Josh from MitsuTimes: Well, that's awesome. I, you know, obviously love to see that and and you know, we talked a little bit before we started recording that, you know, you've been trying to get out to more of the the smaller events and stuff like that. And I I feel like that's so cool to me because I love to see people going out and and kind of representing the community outside of obviously the shootout.

Jeff: Yeah, you know, I I built the car, I might as well use it. I try to hit up the local track whenever time allows and you know, I'm not really a big big racing guy to go to big events and all that. I'm still learning, still learning the ropes.

Josh from MitsuTimes: Yeah. Well, Jeff, tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got into cars in the first place.

Jeff: I assume it all started with a few, you know, Hot Wheels cars and some remote control remote control cars as a as a kid that graduated into, you know, some dirt bikes and four wheelers and go karts. I love go karts growing up. That's probably was one of my favorite things to do. So that's probably what what really got me into the love of cars and just motors in general.

Josh from MitsuTimes: Love that. you know, for I feel like for most of the us, at least two G guys, it's it's usually the answer is fast and furious. So it's cool to see, you know, kinda coming from a a different angle.

Jeff: yeah, I'm I mean, don't me wrong, Fast and Furious was a great movie that got me into it, but I was I mean, I was already nineteen, twenty when Fast and Furious come out, so I'd are I'd already already found my love for cars at that point.

Josh from MitsuTimes: Good deal. Okay. Well, how did we get from cars and carding and stuff like that to the DSM platform and mid species in general?

Jeff: Well, it's a stereotypical answer, but the the hump in the hood, the the rear spoiler, the body lines of the two G, that the moonroof when it's open, just I just love the love the look of the car a as a whole. there was there was a kid in my high school class that had one. Actually I think he was a grade above me and It just I just I just loved it. Just loved the body lines of it. I I don't even know if it was a GS or a GST. None of that mattered to me at the time. I just I just loved the look of the car. I once I once I started making adult money, I went out and bought a 99 GS odds edition silver black interior, you know. I feel a lot of us started off with that 428 platform, you know, made that mistake to To start out. I mean it was the it was a great looking car, but at the time I didn't care about going fast. I was in the stereos. I had a I had a loud stereo in that thing, you know, big in the big jail audio guy, two twelves in the trunk, all that.

Josh from MitsuTimes: I mean, at the time when I had an RS, I thought it was fast. You know what I'm saying?

Jeff: I mean, you know, I did do I mean I put the put the exhaust on it and the cold air intake and I mean MSD coil packs and you know, rice the engine bay out. I had the neon underglows under it, you know, I I everything shived the body kits. And yeah, I drove around thinking it was fast. I'd I actually always w wished it was a five speed so I'd drive around letting off the gas and manually shifting that automatic transmission till till I destroyed it.

Josh from MitsuTimes: Same. Definitely. Yeah, my my kind of realization, you know, I live local to like Aaron Gregory and Jesse Obli you know the late Nick Obli, all those the C dub guys. And

Jeff: yeah.

Josh from MitsuTimes: I would go to our our local track, it was you know, it's only an eighth mile, but I would go see those guys race and then I would race my two G and be like, wow, my car's actually really slow

Jeff: yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, my realization of being slow was I raced a a stock Dodge Neon, same motor, but a lighter car. And after I did all though all that work to to my four twenty A and I I lost, I took it home and put it up for sale. Start star started looking for a real for a real DSM.

Josh from MitsuTimes: I'm to get the real one.

Jeff: Yes, sir.

Josh from MitsuTimes: But I'm sure you're like me. I wish I didn't all those years later I wish I had never sold that four twenty A. I just hold on to it forever.

Jeff: Yeah, I I had a lot I had a lot of good times in that car. It was super clean. Black I wish I still had the black leather interior out of it, I'll tell you that much.

Josh from MitsuTimes: Yeah. Those those O Z editions, man, they it was like the the best model you could get, even though it had the worst engine.

Jeff: Yes, yes, sir.

Josh from MitsuTimes: Well, Jeff, I want to talk about your current the Black Two G. How long have you owned that and and what was it like when you first picked it up?

Jeff: the current shell the current car that I have started off as a shell. I I bought it around nine, maybe two thousand ten. it's actually Paul Gamble. he still makes some parts for our car. that's his old car. He ended up parting it out and it's even back then it was hard to find rust free shells here in the the Midwest, you know, the rust belt of America. So I bought Bought that shell from him, still had some coilovers on it. had the Evo seats, the Evo 8 seats that I still have in the car. you know, some gauges, fuel pressure regulator. He left a a few goodies on it. And I had an old I had an older talent or not old talent, I had a a ri my original shell was a talon that I had a 16G build in and swapped everything over to finally got my clean shell with clean paint. You know, got rid of the rusted shock towers and the the faded black paint of the old shell.

Josh from MitsuTimes: Love that. A and you're right. I mean it it feels like there was a point in time where you could hardly find any that didn't have the the tower rush. You had to go to Florida or Texas or something like that to find.

Jeff: yeah. Yeah, around here they're they're few and far between. But I actually I just took the control or the the rear toe arms out of my car the other day and re bef before the shootouts and replaced them with some Volk Bellcraft toe arms and bolts came out no problem, the eccentric bolts. You know, I I could re I could sell to someone and reuse them. They're in great shape still.

Josh from MitsuTimes: really cool. I I I I'm also live in Indiana just on the o opposite end and you know I I my two G I don't even let outside most of the time.

Jeff: yeah, yeah. My mine's a garage queen for sure.

Josh from MitsuTimes: I Yeah. So Jeff, when you, you know, started building this car, was drag racing always the goal in mind or did you want to do something different at first?

Jeff: no, honestly when I started building this car, drag racing was not even on my mind. I just I guess I just loved the platform in general. I wanted a quick streetcar to to cruise the rounds. I think originally originally with the the first show, the Talon show, there there was talk of a road course being built, so I kinda had that in mind that I was gonna have some type of a road car, you know, all around car I could, you know, drive there, do some laps, go do a little bit of maybe street racing or something. But no, drag racing is drag racing's come about because the car's kinda gotten out of control as far as, you know, just continuing to mod it. Gotta use it for something.

Josh from MitsuTimes: Yep, definitely. There was a point in time where I I think myself, maybe a a lot of us, you know, we thought about, well, maybe I could auto cross it or something like that and then it's just like, I don't know. Too scared.

Jeff: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, you know, I mean it it takes it takes some skill to to turn corners in it, that's for sure.

Josh from MitsuTimes: No doubt. So Jeff, like I said in the beginning, you've been keeping us busy here at Mitsu Times. It it's like every time you go out, you get a new update. By the time I post your last update, you've already got another one in the inbox. So what what's been going on to make you, you know, get personal best after personal best every time you go out? Because, you I I I think to myself how, you know, I kind of get into those bunks where I would imagine a lot of people can relate where it just seems like I I can't improve. I you know, I'm going out, I can't even get my own personal best sometimes. So what what has been your key to success here lately?

Jeff: Well getting more seat time. the car's always been capable of more than I've driven it's. a lot of the and a lot of the times when I take it out to the shootout, I'm aiming for an index class. So I'm I'm shooting for a ten five, cars car's not really turned up, you know, we're turning it down. and you know, putting some putting a real tire on it instead of the street tire, switching to Quick Time Pros, you know, that that helps. So just just overall just learning to drive the thing, yeah.

Josh from MitsuTimes: Okay. And and you know, I I don't even remember now if we said this off air or we said it when we first started. You've you've gone from a a ten two to a nine eight eight now you know at 143 almost in parachute territory in it and it feels like such a short amount of time. So it has it just been the seat time that that's gotten you here so quickly, or do you, you know, like you said, the car's always been capable, you just kind of or growing into the car as the build is already there.

Jeff: Well, funny enough, that ten two pass, I was I was aiming for I was aiming for a ten five. That was my first pass off the trailer at the shootouts. The year before that same that same tune up, I got a ten five seven and qualified number one for the class. So

Josh from MitsuTimes: wow.

Jeff: I just yeah, I just loaded that tune back in and off the trailer it it they it got me a ten two and that was actually with the turbo dying in fourth gear. The only the only thing that I changed was the year before I had I actually messed up the dog box, I left the catch pan the catch can open and oiled down the right side of my tires and I think that's what overworked my center diff and kinda welded the center diff together, turned the four spider into a welded center diff. And broke an axle, messed up the rear ends. so I think swit I switched to I switched to a spool when I had it rebuilt. And it's just that spool's been a lot more consistent for launching the car. You know, my sixties have it seems to seems to wanna cut a one five sixty every time I launch it now. So but that nine nine pass, that was that was me actually turning the car up. You know, actually I think you know, Kenny Klein's my tuner, you know, he helps me out a tremendous amount. I keep I keep telling him, More boosts, please, more boosts, give me it all, give me it all. Well, that nine nine pass, my waistgate duty table was a hundred percent in second gear and third gear, so that was that was what the turbo would give me.

Josh from MitsuTimes: And so that nine nine, that was your first nine second pass after making, you know, some of those tune adjustments?

Jeff: Yeah, that was that was the first time I ran a nine second pass. super happy about that. I I knew the car had it in it, just had the just had to put it down on the track.

Josh from MitsuTimes: I let's be honest, the the ten two is something to be proud of for sure. I mean

Jeff: I was I was psyched for that, even though it was a fluke, you know. yeah, that was that's why I sent the time in. You know, I was like, I gotta get this on the board.

Josh from MitsuTimes: And and you know, Jeff, I think one of the biggest things that kind of shows your like you said, that that you're getting the seat time and getting better as a driver, the sixty foot has gone from a one five, almost a one six, down to a a one four three. I mean, that that's amazing right there.

Jeff: Yep, again I credit the I credit the spool that's in there now as opposed to the four spider. I I put some up until this year I was driving around on those same coilovers that came came on that shell when I bought it back in two thousand nine and all four of them were blown. So

Josh from MitsuTimes: wow.

Jeff: I actu yeah I actually just put some some feels on there before the shootout and sent it up to Ben at Hawkman Fab and Speed, And had him corner balance it for me. And yeah, it's just it's it's shown in the track, you know.

Josh from MitsuTimes: Yeah. And and I I think that's you know a huge key to success that a lot of people overlook is you know, you got Kennedy you got Kenny in your, you know, corner helping you out, you got Hawkman helping you out. Obviously those guys know how to go fast, so that that definitely helps on top of, you know, you getting the seat time and all that stuff.

Jeff: yeah, those guys are those guys are a wealth of knowledge, you know. Ben's been a good friend. Kenny's been a I I wanna consider him my friend, you know, he's my tuner. I think he's more than just my tuner at this point, you know. I've been dealing with him for four or five years now. Always super helpful. Always you know, whether it's diag in the car or tuning the car or or whatever.

Josh from MitsuTimes: Yep. Same here. I mean, tunes my car, puts up with all my stupid questions, everything like that. I definitely I I couldn't do it without him.

Jeff: Absolutely.

Josh from MitsuTimes: So Jeff, one of the things that makes your car so unique is the engine turbo setup. You know, you're running something a little bit different than everybody else. So why don't you kinda talk us through it and and what kind of made you go in this direction?

Jeff: yeah, I'm I'm running a two four instead of the two it's it's actually a boost in what they would call a stage three long block. I had them build it valve covered oil pan. normally I'd like to do a little bit of that work myself, but sometimes I find myself with more money than spare time, so you know, had them put it together so I can just drop it in and go. it's the block is Wisco HDs, 10 to 1 compression, turbo tough rods. I got the billet turbo tough crank in it. the head is it's got the dual valve springs, I think faro oversized valves, it's got all their porting that they do to their heads. Just pretty much just built me a a moat and the on the best two four that you could possibly put together. I wanted to be able to actually to rev it out, you know, not worry about the issues of over reving that they have with the stock cranks braking. it's got some it's got the six twenty six twenty five head studs in it to to keep the head gaskin in it's I'm I'm waiting to run into some of the problems and I'm sure I will the the common problems of the two four but Until then I'm just gonna just gonna keep pressing, keep going. I mean what got what made me decide with the two four is it was actually pure chance. I the first build that I put together spent spent a year building my my first put my first car my first DSM together in my in the basement of my house, stripped everything down to the short block, got a got a new head 'cause it had bent valves and Turbo, all that. You know, I I just I did a full build on my first one, you know, 16G build. Dropped it off at AMS performance to B tunes, made 300 and 330 horsepower, something like that. I was I was happy as can be. Brought it home two days later, take or three days later, I was taking my buddy for a ride in it, did a pull, the vacuum line popped off the waistgate, over boosted it, and windowed the block. So I called up Slowboy Racing at the time 'cause that's that was the place to go back then. I I got everything from them and asked them what they had as far as engines and they had a two four sitting on the shelf. So I said, I'll take it. I've I've always been impatient, you know. I I I want instant gratification. So we got the got the two four and I like the I like the street manners of it and you know, how torque it felt and just just been running with it ever since.

Josh from MitsuTimes: And I just kind of assumed that this was a a Kenny thing as well, 'cause I know he's a big advocate of the the strokers.

Jeff: he's never he's never encouraged me or discouraged me from the stroker. I I I know he liked the I know he liked the boost ramp up 'cause at the time when he first tuned my car I had sixty sixty two on it, you know, Morrison, small runner, divided T four manifold, and I was I know the first first session first log I sent him, I think I was hitting twenty five pounds of boost when he, you know, wasn't even leaning into anything. I was hitting twenty five pounds of boost at like forty two hundred RPMs and he's like, This thing is gonna be a monster. I'm like, Yep, torque mo torque monster for sure.

Josh from MitsuTimes: And and now that we're on the sixty two sixty two Jeff, how's that working with the two four and and all and you know, all that torque obviously?

Jeff: I mean it's it doesn't it doesn't hit quite as hard as the sixty sixty two. That that turbo definitely hit a little harder, spooled a little faster. But other than that, it's it's pretty pretty similar as far as you know how the power feels. You know, I I haven't had this I haven't had this on the dyno. I had the sixty sixty two on Bushers Dino. It made seven hundred and forty horsepower and six hundred and fifty foot pounds of torque off of a remote tune. That was the first first pull of the dyno when Kenny was there. So the 6062 is it's pretty similar, just doesn't hit quite as hard.

Josh from MitsuTimes: And, you know, so far, other than window and that block going, you know, taking your friend on that test pole, have you had any mechanical setbacks and mechanical challenges with the the new setup?

Jeff: let's see. Not with well my first year at the shootout I had I lost an oil pump in in qualifying, so that ended I didn't actually make it to the eliminations. I've I have destroyed the transmission. That was that was on the street. That was when Kenny finally finalized my tune. I had a nice Evo three gear set first through fifth. I had Coffee, Quaf, I already say it, front LSD, had the boost and billet bearing plate, you know, all the tricks that you could have to strengthen these transmissions. And that survived all the third gear tuning pull tuning pulls that I threw at it with Kenny. The minute you said the the tune was done, I went out and hit the highway and s you know went first through fourth and the second that that second that that power hit fourth gear, it just exploded and took everything with it. So that's that's my biggest failure that I've that I've had with it was the transmission probably. You know, the engines, surprisingly, like I said, haven't found haven't found those common issues or limits with the two four that I've always heard about yet, but I'm sure they're coming if I keep pushing.

Josh from MitsuTimes: You're knocking on wood.

Jeff: Yeah, yeah. Hey, it's only money, right? You can always make more. We gotta keep going.

Josh from MitsuTimes: No. But Jeff, is there anything about the car that would surprise people if they, you know, sat in it or looked at it and and you know you told them it was a nine second car?

Jeff: you know, I get I I do have a lot of people at that don't know much about DSMs. Like at the track when I when I ran my nine, they were coming up like you would never suspect it, you know. It looks like a looks like a stock car, you know. I got all my interior in there, you know, it nothing flashy on it. it but what DSM people would be surprised, to know about my car is that I don't have a bigger turbo on it. It's It's extremely overbuilt. That's always been my philosophy. Overbuild everything and undersize the turbo. You know? Try to build it for a thousand horsepower, I'm only making seven hundred horsepower. In my mind, that makes it reliable.

Josh from MitsuTimes: Math checks out.

Jeff: Yeah.

Josh from MitsuTimes: And Jeff, if you could start over and and, you know, rebuild this shelf back from the starting point, was there is there anything that you might change along the way?

Jeff: you know, not not really. I've I've loved this journey. I've I've loved the car, you know. I I still will take it on a hour cruise just to take a cruise even the way it sits. You know, I I used to take it on three hour cruises, you know. I I've driven it to the shootout many times. I mean, as far as the build, I'm I'm sure I've wasted money on stuff in the past that I've, you know, replaced over time that I should have just, you know, went the bigger route to start with or the, you know, faster route to start with. But no, overall it's it's been a great time with this car.

Josh from MitsuTimes: Deal. That's the kind of stories we like to hear. Not I wish I could just throw this whole thing away and start over.

Jeff: No, never. This I I've I've looked into being buried in this car, actually.

Josh from MitsuTimes: Well Jeff, one thing that I can certainly appreciate in in what I think t you know from an insider perspective is that that we're kind of in the the renaissance of the auto transmission when it comes to DSMs and you're sticking to the the H-pattern manual. What what made you kind of stick with it after, you know, kind of seeing what everybody else was doing?

Jeff: I mean stubbornness, stupidity, just the love of shifting the gears. I mean, take your pick. I I do enjoy I do enjoy rowing the gears. every time you every time you shift you hear that blow off valve. You don't hear that with the automatics, you know? Like I just I just I can't imagine myself ever going to auto. I've when when I exploded my transmission, Kenny told me, You know, time for an auto change 'cause I know he's you know, time to swap to an auto 'cause I I know he's kind of on the auto train now and I think I told him something along the lines of I'll I'll figure out how to make a computer shift my manual before I switch to an automatic.

Josh from MitsuTimes: Ha ha ha. Well, I mean, while we're on the topic, Jeff, let's talk about your your clutch setup and and what you're doing for the transfer case and axles, all that good stuff.

Jeff: Okay, yeah, the the clutch setup is a Quartermaster eight leg that I put in the car when I had a sixteen G probably fifteen years ago. It

Josh from MitsuTimes: wow.

Jeff: yeah, I've been like I said that that clutch itself probably got I mean thirty to fifty thousand miles on it. And when I pulled it out or when I put the dog box in it to when I you have to change the change the discs themselves to a one inch hub instead of the seven eighths hub of the the that the DSMs use. I measured I measured the plates and they're still within spec. I mean granted, I wasn't, you know, pushing the clutch hard enough for, you know, what it was designed for, but it endured a lot of street driving miles. And it's still going strong. the tr you know, the transfer case itself is a it's Built by team R.I.P., you know, John, you know, does great work. Got the boost in billet mid housing, three hundred upgrade. I actually just had a spare of those built because I you know, my philosophy is if you have two of you won't break it. So I got the rear end. I had him do two rear ends for me while while that transfer case was there. And That's just basically stock rebuild with whatever tricks he does to the L S D rear end. I think it's got H D side cover on and got the billet I got the billet cover on the back. got that the old school Boston hatcher four mounts, the the the fourth mounts put on it to keep it from twisting. yeah, I mean it's I've got the Stage five DSS rear axles, stage stage two front axles that I've had for years. I think they're good for 600 horsepower, so I'm waiting for them to go. transmission itself is dog box that's got you know again that boosting bearing plates, it's got Center the center spool, it's got the a front LSD, just pretty much just whenever I do it, I just go all in, you know, like all the options given to me.

Josh from MitsuTimes: Yeah. I mean buy once, cry once, right? You gotta you gotta do it while you got it out.

Jeff: Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. spare no expense on

Josh from MitsuTimes: I like that fluff. So, you know, h how challenging is it, you know, for people who may not be aware of, you know, driving a nine second two G that's manually shifted, getting it off the line and making these quick sixty foot and you know, not using all the you know, the kind of stuff that's available to the Evo guys, you know, a slipper and and all this other stuff. Well so how hard is it to be consistent?

Jeff: You know, surprisingly, I've always been pretty consistent with my setups. Back when I had the sixteen G, my my car ran eleven seven, eleven eight pretty consistently. My sixty foot were in the one seven, one eight range. I stepped up to to this or I stepped up to an HX thirty five very briefly. Wasn't very happy with that setup. cut I went to the track, made three passes, two eleven twos and eleven three. you know, sixty foot's consistence. I've I've always managed to, you know, shift and launch pretty good, but I've always I've always paid to play, you know. I've I've always had a great shifting transmission in the car. I I have all the I have all the bushings replaced, you know, I it they're either aluminum or poly, you know, there's no f no stock bushings left in the car. You know, I I Just try to get it just try to get it set up right and it it makes your life a lot easier when you're trying to row those gears and get it down the track.

Josh from MitsuTimes: And get it down in one piece. I mean, you I feel like the reason that a lot of people switch auto is you hear that the you know, the manuals are so hard on the setups that people just end up destroying, you know, this, that and the other. But when you're doing your way and you're you're overbuilding all the corners and, you know, g along the way, you're not gonna have as many breakages and stuff like that that people complain about.

Jeff: Yeah, you know, a lot of people say the break just come with you know, it starts starts hopping, you know, start having issues with that. I've I've never never witnessed that with or had that happen with my car. It's always planted, you know, launches nice and smooth. So you know, I'm like I said, I'm sure I'll get there one day, but yeah. Until then I'm gonna enjoy it. Keep keep driving it hard.

Josh from MitsuTimes: Like you said, it's only money.

Jeff: Yeah. Always make more.

Josh from MitsuTimes: Well, Jeff, walk us through a a typical track day. How much preparation goes into getting the car ready to make the pass before you even leave the house?

Jeff: I mean, honestly, not much. I mean the car is pretty much ready to go. I just make sure it's got make sure it's got fluids in it, you know. make sure you know, I'll give it a give it a quick quick once over looking at make sure it doesn't look like no bolts are backing out or anything like that before I even put it on the trailer. it's It's generally ready to go at all times. I I drive it a lot, so I I generally hear if something's something's off, something's clicking, something's you know, something doesn't feel right. getting the load on the trailer is kind of a you know, kind of a pain, you know. These cars don't go up on trailers all that great. Kind

Josh from MitsuTimes: No, not at all.

Jeff: of low to the ground. But

Josh from MitsuTimes: Not at all.

Jeff: mo mostly it's mostly it's fighting my own nerves when I'm getting ready to go down the you know, getting ready to go to the track, you know. I always get that I always get that nervous feeling, either I'm gonna mess up, you know, embarrass myself in front of people or you know, not that that's a big deal, but or I'm gonna break the car. But it's gotta get over those feelings.

Josh from MitsuTimes: Absolutely. Yeah, i and if that's you and you're listening and you know, you're just you only go out to the track to you know, maybe make a fool of yourself or whatever, no trust me, no one is there to you know, put you down. I I feel like my

Jeff: No.

Josh from MitsuTimes: first time out, maybe my second time out, I read lit and I was just kinda so embarrassed I wanted to pack up and leave right away. I had have you know, a guy I was with kinda talk me out of it. you know, they came there to help me and I you know A at the time you think that's the end of the world. Everybody just saw that. But it it's it's really not like that.

Jeff: No, not at all. Everyone's always every time I've been to a track, everyone's been extremely supportive. Maybe at my local track, you know, they're they're I get some fast and furious comments, you know, they they're not a big fan of these cars, but I mean definitely at the shootout. Everyone's very supportive and you know, even on my local track, ninety percent of them are there to help you out, cheer you on. Happy to see you out there enjoying what they enjoy.

Josh from MitsuTimes: That that's the kind of attitude I feel like you'll find everywhere.

Jeff: Yes.

Josh from MitsuTimes: So once you're at the track, how how much are we doing between passes? I mean, I I've been there with you know, Rafe and the guys and watch them, you know, change an entire engine like a top fuel crew between rounds and and sometimes you see guys just kinda check the oil, maybe take spark plugs out, that's it.

Jeff: Yeah, that that's me with checking the oil, not even the spark plugs. I put a fresh set in before the shootouts or before any race and I don't I don't bother looking at them. pretty much just draining my draining my catch my catch can. checking the oil afterwards. I I'll go over the lug. I don't make any adjustments myself, but you know, just just to make sure that something doesn't seem out of whack, you know, before I take the car out there, make sure the the fueling's right and most of the most of for me in between rounds or in between qualifying is me just just relaxing, trying to keep my nerves. You know, like I don't know why, I still get it, but you know, I'm just you'll e at the shootout you'll catch me kicked back by the camper, just with my feet kicked up, with my hat over my eyes, just just trying to trying to relax.

Josh from MitsuTimes: Now, are you looking at logs between passes or or sending stuff to Kenny or are you just kinda waiting until the end to or waiting to see if you need to turn it up or down?

Jeff: when we're I've sent them some logs in between when we were trying to dial it in at the shootout for the ten five class. But you know, last year when I blew the turbo we had the, you know, get the new turbo dialed in. So I went out and did couple couple street pulls and then you know, he think he got the got the new turbo dialed in, you know, like two or three back and forth logs. I said I I just I just look at the log to make sure nothing looks completely out of whack. I'll never I'll never make a change to it myself. I feel I probably could. I've watched him do it enough and see what he does. I understand what needs to be done. I think I just lack the confidence to actually do it. So you know, I I put my full faith and trust in him when it comes to to actually getting it dialed.

Josh from MitsuTimes: I relate to that a lot. I mean it looks like I could do it but I don't I I'm too scared.

Jeff: Like Yeah, got too much too much invested in the car for me to change some parameter and have it go south, you know.

Josh from MitsuTimes: Right. have the fuel pump shut off mid pass and cost me a lot of money.

Jeff: Yeah.

Josh from MitsuTimes: So wha what's been your most memorable moment, Jeff, in in in this car? Has it been, you know, a a great pass, even maybe you know, window in the block? What what sticks out the most to you?

Jeff: my first pat my first or no my most memorable moment would honestly be racing at the shootout for the first time. You know, I I did a dyno session the the day before at Bushers, you know, the car put down the the seven hundred horsepower. I went out there and my very first pass, I mean my first pass was terrible. It was eleven one or eleven two with terrible sixty. I think I you know that was my the worst sixty I had in the car. I think it was like a two second sixty, but I trapped 144 mile an hour. So, you know, I mean the car was the car was definitely moving on the you know, the top end of the track. I actually got back to the pits that after that pass and my wife was standing there in the pits with her arms crossed looking at me. I'm like, I'm like, what I do and first thing she said was like you're getting a cage for that. Well well four years later the car still doesn't have a cage. I f I found out life insurance is cheaper than a cage, so you know, I went wh I went with that for now.

Josh from MitsuTimes: Yep. Yep. So true. So true. What you know it the I feel like a lot of people don't realize it's like buying a whole nother car.

Jeff: yeah, you know, and I'm a I'm a big guy, so you know, I'm I'm six three and I'm I'm up I'm upwards of three hundred pounds right now, you know, just getting older in life and my career, you know, I I sit a lot at work so I don't get a lot of activity and it's getting challenging to fit in a car, so putting a cage in there with me, that's gonna be that's gonna be a challenge for whoever does it and it's probably gonna be Ben, so Yeah, I know he he bends all his tubes himself, you know, and it's a completely custom cage that's gonna be tailored to me, so he's probably one of the only ones that's gonna be able to make it happen.

Josh from MitsuTimes: Yeah. And you you want to know something like that's in good hands and i I don't think it could be in any better hands.

Jeff: No, no. He he does he does great work. I got I got his exhaust on my car and a few other of his product you know, products, so can't say enough good things about the guy.

Josh from MitsuTimes: Jeff, I know we talked a lot about Kenny and and we talked about, you know, been doing some parts. Well how how much of the car do you do yourself and and you know, have you had any you know, friends or whatever kind of help you out or you know, throughout the years?

Jeff: Well, as far as building the car, I've primarily done it myself. my I like I said the the first time I put it together in my basement, you know, I carried the block upstairs, you know, myself. Just cradled it, you know, head and everything and carried it upstairs and slid it into the engine stand and put it together in my, you know, my gravel driveway, you know, no shop, no nothing like that. But in in years past, Being is I I work so much now. My my best man, Tony Rossi, you he's got a Evo and a DSM himself. best mechanic that I know, hands down. He he's pulled the engine out, or no, sorry, he's pulled the transmission out, he's pulled the rear end out. He's he's pretty much what's been the one that's been keeping it going for me when it comes to these these big issues that I've had, you know, as far as having to get the transmission fixed or the rear end fixed and all that. And I just luckily for me he works for works for car parts. So I'm I I'm essentially building a pretty pretty good Evo for him right now. It's probably gonna be a nine hundred horsepower monster by the time it's done.

Josh from MitsuTimes: Hey, at least an another fast one will be out.

Jeff: yeah, yeah.

Josh from MitsuTimes: Well, besides Tony, is there anybody else in the DSM community who's, you know, maybe influenced you or helped you out along the way, either, you know, you know, just emotionally or you know, physically with the car?

Jeff: I mean my earliest memories was Devin. You know, I'm I'm semi local to him. He used to come down to my neck of the woods. We had had a shop down here called Speed Unlimited. He'd come down here and try to hustle the you know, the V eight guys. he's raced down a forty one drag strip, you know, before the demon was the demon back when he was on a sixteen G and I think think he was on a like a thirty five R, you know, like I s I've seen the car run tens, I've seen the car run nines, you know. So being that being that he's a manual and a two G, you know, nah not gonna lie, I'm not a big fan of red, but you know, his car's still beautiful. But you know, he's he's probably been been a big influence to me just watching him do what he what he does.

Josh from MitsuTimes: I relate to that a lot. You know, the the first time that I ever got to talk to him and I I'm sure you probably relate to this too, it it it's crazy to me when you look up to somebody like that for so long that, you know, Devon's just a normal guy. And and, you know, for me it was like I was kinda fangirling, you like it was Tom Cruise, but it you know, he he just talks to you like you're a normal person.

Jeff: Yeah, no, Devin, I you know, I know I know I know Devin and Ben have had fallen out, but you know, I've I've spent some time in the the pits with both Devin and Ben and they're you know, they're both great people to talk to, hang out with. just watching their race programs, you know, that that opened a whole new world to me, seeing those seeing what those two do in between rounds to get those cars down the track, man, that's You know, I d I haven't had my hands on the cars, but just you know, just being there with them, you know, kinda being a part of it, that was that was something else.

Josh from MitsuTimes: And I think for a lot of us, a lot of grassroots people, w we you you have to witness those guys in action or or a team like that in action at some point in time in your life just to be able to appreciate what they actually do behind the scenes.

Jeff: yeah, absolutely.

Josh from MitsuTimes: So Jeff, let's say that I'm listening to this, I I'm you know, a sixteen, nineteen year old kid, I'm thinking about getting a DSM, getting into DSMs. What advice would you give me from someone starting out if I wanted to build a a car, you know, a high nine second car that that's been reliable like yours?

Jeff: have a lot of money. Have a lot of money, have a lot of patience. set realistic goals. You know, don't don't expect to build a thousand horsepower, you know, DSM for your your first go-arounds. You know, baby stuffs. Learn to learn to crawl before you walk.

Josh from MitsuTimes: And how many times, Jeff, over the years have you seen someone, you know, they they went straight from selling their G S R S to, Hey, I'm gonna take down the demon with this build and then it gets parted out?

Jeff: yeah, absolutely. And most of those guys that say that, their car never sees the light of day and then you just look forward to the cheap parts and the part outs.

Josh from MitsuTimes: Hundred percent. And and I wish that people would, you know, I hate saying back in our day, but w you know, when you went from your T twenty five on your six on your four G six three, two G to a sixteen G or a a R X thirty five that had the bullseye bolt on turbo, something like that, kind of work your way up to those great big turbos because you you you don't appreciate what the car can do with with smaller turbos.

Jeff: Well yeah, well a lot of those people they they think that you just slap the turbo on too. There's there's so much so much more to it than just slapping a turbo on, you know. Every every level of turbo requires a different level of supporting mods. And I've always I've always gotten a lot out of my my smaller turbos. I I like to max the turbo out before I step up to the next level. I think my s yeah, no, my sixteen G back in the day with the two four made four hundred and twenty two horsepower and five hundred and two foot pounds of torque on that was actually Devin tuned on his Mustang Dino. So I mean that thing that thing was an absolute blast to drive on the streets.

Josh from MitsuTimes: Yeah, builds like that they they just don't get enough appreciation. And I I wish that people were spilled doing stuff like that instead of, you know, putting sixty eight seventies on your very first Stu G.

Jeff: Yeah, not every not everything's gotta be a monster, you know. Like I I actually wanna get a I wanna get another spider. I I my wife used to have a spider that I built for her many years ago. It's gone now, but you know, those some of my funnest times was just cruising, you know, top down, little T twenty five on that thing, you know, blow off valve, exhaust, just you know, just hearing it, you know. Hearing the turbo spool and the blow off valve go off, you know, me and the wife, dog in the back seat, you know, good times.

Josh from MitsuTimes: Absolutely. Absolutely. Spiders don't get enough love. I I stand by that.

Jeff: No. No.

Josh from MitsuTimes: Well Jeff, now that you've broken into the nines, what what's next?

Jeff: I mean, I've never really had a goal for this car. I just, you know, keep plugging along. I see something shiny that I like. I buy it, put it on the car, you know, I I break something, I replace it with something better. I mean, I guess the the next step would be, you know, eights, but I mean, what's it gonna take to to really get there? How can this two four is this gonna last to get the power to get to the eights? I think I'm about at the point where the you know, I start having head gasket issues or cracking the block 'cause the, you know, cylinder walls are thinner than the two O and I I know the way my mind works. That'll you know, if I crack this block, I'll be looking at billet blocks online, you know, be getting a billet two o'll have I'll have the only nine second car with a two point billet block in it. You know like I don't know, just just gonna drive it right now. You know, just gonna just gonna drive it. See make as many passes as I can, see how deep into the nines I can get. I just plugged in the the clutch switch so I can start to learn no lift to shift, you know. Maybe I can get mid nines with this turbo. but once once I run this turbo out, probably probably as far as I'll go is the sixty four sixty four, sixty six, you know, maybe compete in the The street eliminator street eliminator class. I'd like to do heads up racing as opposed to, you know, index class racing. I mean, that gets a lot of people the chance to race, but the real funds in the the heads up racing.

Josh from MitsuTimes: And Jeff, I wish that more people had that kind of attitude and you know, running Mitsu times, I should be an advocate for you to say, Hey, I want your you know, your goal should be to run a seven. But i if you kind of go at it with you just want to have fun, it takes so much of the pressure off of you when you're at the track and when you're building a car and and doing all that. I and I feel like it's so much more cars are stressful. I think everybody can agree to that. That takes a lot of the stress off if you just go out there for the only goal that you have is to have fun.

Jeff: Yeah, like if if I don't have a smile on my face, I'm gonna put the car in the trailer and take it back home. You know, that's that's just what it comes down to, you know. Just I don't wanna I don't wanna be out there, you know, constantly miserable because I'm, you know, having to rebuild this thing on the side of the track or, you know, I'm I'm not making not making the the passes that I think it should make, you know. Just you know, I got I got enough stresses in my life. I got enough I got enough other stuff to be miserable about.

Josh from MitsuTimes: Yeah. Life is tough at this point in time.

Jeff: Yes.

Josh from MitsuTimes: Tough enough without cars.

Jeff: Yes, sir.

Josh from MitsuTimes: So Jeff, would you say that there's there's one thing that's holding the car back? I know we talked a lot about, you know, the turbo kind of being undersized. Do you think just, you know, putting a new turbo on with the supporting mods you already have would would get you that much faster?

Jeff: yeah, absolutely. I mean I I'm pretty sure based on my calculations, you know, the the car should be good to make a thousand horsepower. The but again I don't know if the two four will last at that power level. So pretty much the two four is probably holding me back, but I'm gonna find its limit. You know, I'm I'm not just gonna take it out and let it, you know, retire. It's one day it's it's gonna it's gonna retire itself. I gotta catch pan, so you know, hopefully when that happens, you know, it contains it all. but outside of that I'd say it's just me, my inexperience. I I've got I don't know, maybe thirty passes down the track in the you know, twenty years I've been into these cars. You know, I I don't do don't do a lot of racing. You know, I I live out in the there's a lot of nice, smooth, flat country roads where I live. That's primarily what I've done. I've cruised it. I I do stoplight to stop light pools, you know, find you know, find a nice country road, do a pull, look for some look for some scat packs to, you know, to pick on, you know, stuff like that. Yeah, you know what? I actually have a draggy. I asked for one for Christmas. The wife got it for me. I've never put it in my car. I need to I need to break that out and start using it.

Josh from MitsuTimes: Absolutely. Get on our no prep list on those back roads we'll say that they're closed roads.

Jeff: Yeah, well actually that's one of the one of the events I'm gonna be trying to close the season out with. there's streetcar brawl is coming up by me on the twenty fourth. I'm gonna I'm I'm gonna give that a go. I have I have raced it one year in the past when I had the HX 35 on there. I just went and did some test passes and on the the back side I mean our there's gaps in the asphalt that are like three inches and there's grass growing between the asphalt. Like I spun first, second, third, and fourth. You know, going down that going down that surface. But but since then they've switched it to the front side, so it's gonna be a front side no prep. So should sh should be a fun time.

Josh from MitsuTimes: Yeah, definitely. You know, I go out and watch the obelis all of them do some no prep stuff here at a a local quote unquote airport at i in southern Indiana. And they use that like for your own puddle stuff and and the the what they're able to do with those cars, I mean it's almost it it's amazing to see it launch just like it's at a fully prepped event.

Jeff: Yeah, I don't know. I don't know how some of those small tire guys do that. You know, it's just I mean, it's amazing how they make those cars work. I think

Josh from MitsuTimes: No doubt. I mean

Jeff: I just seen one of the Obly brothers, wasn't he at War Woods recently with rear wheel drive DSM?

Josh from MitsuTimes: yeah, definitely super cool and and you know, almost crazy to see that big giant wing on it like the the other small tower ribble drive guys.

Jeff: the the wings are you know, they made fun of us for those wings for years, you know, the the imports and now they're putting on the front, the back, you know. I mean, they're

Josh from MitsuTimes: Right. Now we're good.

Jeff: just yeah.

Josh from MitsuTimes: I mean hell watching Cletus's what was it? All will drive, ribble drive shootout, seeing those trucks with those big wings and stuff, like, my god.

Jeff: Yeah, there's there's some wild set ups nowadays to try to get that power planted to the grounds. I mean, everything's too fast for the surface nowadays. Technology's just gone crazy and you know, we just we can make more power than we could ever hope to get to the ground. So you gotta get, you know, creative.

Josh from MitsuTimes: Yep. Did we talk about what ECU you're running, Jeff?

Jeff: no, I am on a stock ECU with DSM link. you know, I assume that's what most of us are on, you know. I've you know, had good luck with it, you know. I mean it's very user friendly, you know, easy to send logs, easy to check logs. I've I've thought about switching to Hall Tech, but you know Just just for the extra user inputs and maybe to put a strain gauge in my car one day. But you know, it's a it's a big price point, you know. It's a jump for, you know, not not a whole lot of you know, upgrade, I guess.

Josh from MitsuTimes: But I I do have to be an advocate and say that it the cost of rebuilding your entire engine and transmission setup would be more. And those those spell safes are their th those are a godsend to to racers. Definitely. And and I mean, look what you're able to do with it. I think that that kinda speaks for itself right there. It does all the talking. Well, Jeff, you talked about, you know, your last event of the season coming up and obviously our our Indiana winner is just around the corner. Are are there any plans for the off season for upgrades or changes or anything like that? I like that I like that plan a lot. I would advocate for that. Do you wanna keep working in the gravel or or do you wanna have a case? Well, Jeff, I I like to you know, ask people where they can find and follow you on social media so they can keep track of these builds and and you know, you like I said, you keep getting these P B after P B. So right now it's exciting to watch your social media and what you're doing with this car. And keep in mind, people listening, it's a lot easier to search forums than it is Facebook. No doubt. Absolutely. Well Jeff, what's your username on DSM Tuner so people can find you there? Well, at least we'll still be able to find you. Jeff at the end of these, as you know, I like to give people a chance to give a thing so shout out to anybody who's helped get the car where it is, anybody who's helped get themselves where they are. Is there anybody that you wanna give a a thing so shout out to? Yeah, no doubt. Big shout out to those people. Crazy to think that people are still making parts for these scars going on forty years old now. Absolutely. Well Jeff, thank you so much for coming on here. this has definitely been one of the more enjoyable episodes. I I feel like you know we're it feels like we're we're doing this around a a a bar table somewhere. I love it. Absolutely. Well, Jeff, have a great night and I can't wait to see the next update from you.