Powertrain
Troy believes in building his own bullets under the "Cooter Racing Engines" subterfuge, a place that exists only in his mind. His all-alloy 632s are Brodix-based, and machine work is performed by Amtex Machine (Tampa). Top-drawer products festoon the block, and if a little compression is good, then a whole bag of it is even better, especially for a nitrous application. Troy lays the foundation with a Crower crankshaft and Oliver steel connecting rods. He partners Diamond Racing pistons with 12-degree Brodix PB 1200 CNC cylinder heads to make a mountainous 15.0:1 ratio. The 0.975-inch lift Comp cam works equally mammoth 2.45- and 1.90-inch titanium valves and is hooked to the crank via a Jesel beltdrive. T&D shaft rockers (1.8:1) are urged by Smith Brothers pushrods and PSI valve springs. Ignition is tried and true MSD stuff set at 28 degrees total. Dan Neuman Race Cars (Ocala, Florida) built the 2 1/4- to 2 1/2-inch step headers that sweep past a humungous Stef's Fabrication aluminum sump. A Carburetor Solutions Unlimited-prepped 1,150-cfm Holley is on the Brodix intake manifold as matched to the cylinder heads. These items provide the basis for the platform for the three-stage nitrous system (200, 250, and 250 hits) built by Steve Johnson at Induction Solutions (Spring Hill, Florida). The engine has never been on a dyno, but Cooter estimates 1,900-2,000 hp with the juice at full tilt. He pulls the engine and transmission down every 50 runs. Once in a while he hurts a piston, but otherwise the car is a sweetheart on parts. He's completely sold on his Performance Torque Converters-built (Muscle Shoals, Alabama) Powerglide and torque converter. "We've never hurt either of them. The converter's been in there four years now." The 10-inch converter has a 4,000-stall speed and passes twist through a Mike's Driveline (Tampa, Florida) prop shaft to the Moser Engineering 9-inch that carries a 3.70:1 ring-and-pinion. Best performance to date is a 7.53/186 quarter-mile and a 4.80/152 eighth.
Brakes & Wheels
Troy's biggest concern is not being able to stop, especially on the long track. He feels that the rules have too much weight tied to them to be running so fast and so quick. A parachute is required by rules, and the brakes are four-piston Wilwood 11-inchers all around. Since the Cootermobile is only legal on a race track, the point wheel combo is 28.0/4.5 Mickey Thompson ET Streets on 15x4 Weld AlumaStar 2.0 forged hoops. In back, Pirez uses the largest street radial tire available: 30-inch-tall 315/60 Mickey Thompsons on 10-inch-wide Holeshot Engineering wheels (Cocoa Beach, Florida).