A Look Inside: An Icon, A Legend, The Man...Nick Agostino goes big with small cubes
/There are Legends, there are Icons, and then there are those that are The Guy, well I think most will agree that Nick Agostino is The Guy. Nick would never call himself a legend, an icon, or any other silly name that you can come up with because that is just not the guy he is. I on the other hand, have no problem calling him an amazing racer, a fierce competitor, a great friend, and one of the nicest people you will have the opportunity to meet.
As most of our readers know by now, Ellen and I were down in Florida last week for a M/T Tire test session and then we headed over to Bradenton for the U.S. Street Nationals. Nick was all set to debut his car there as well. We knew that he was going to be at Menscer Motorsports early in the week to get everything set up before heading to Florida. I met up with Nick on Thursday and snapped a few photos, along with doing the same on Friday. This has been a labor of love that has taken some time to come together after an epic crash at the YellowBullet Nationals a couple years ago in his old car.
So let’s talk about this hotrod. The car you see here is a 1969 Camaro. The original chassis was built by Rick Jones and then further updated at a place called The Chassis Shop in Toronto. The body features some awesome details that you wouldn’t notice without looking closely. For starters the car has factory GM quarters on it, along with factory door jams and frame rails, all in an effort to comply with Outlaw 10.5 rules. The body panels were made and installed by Joe Van O and Kelly Cooper. That included the factory GM firewall, quarters, and carbon parts like the turbo inlets and dash. The gorgeous black paint was handled by Joe Silve at 727 Autobody out of Toronto as well.
The heart of this beast is a 480 cubic inch, 4.60 bore space, small block Chevy, done up by VED. Nick handled the full assembly of the engine, which features a Visner block, heads, pan, and intake. You really have to see this engine in person to appreciate the craftsmanship of every little component though. A pair of Precision Turbo 98mm turbos are bolted on to the beast in an attempt to become the first small block in the 3.60’s in RvW trim. The one-off machine parts and fittings were all handled by Alex Tedic of Too Precise. The valve covers feature the Cunningham Machine pieces that are become standard fare on any quality build nowadays as well. If you are going to transfer power out to the rear end and make this bad boy go, you are going to need a top of the line transmission, and that is why Nick went with an M&M Transmission and shifter. Out back features a set of Menscer Motorsports 4 Way Adjustable shocks, which as anyone knows, has absolutely dominated the small tire industry for years.
All of that smallblock power is managed by a Haltech ECU with a coil on plug setup and an AMS 2000 Boost Controller. The tuning duties are handled by Patrick Barnhill of PTP, while the electrical is handled by Mike Jarmine, and the fuel system by Mike Yedegarian. Nick wanted to give a big shout out to his crew as well, because without them, the car wouldn’t move a foot. So, Ralph Mario, Ricky Carlos, and Brian Sannino a huge thanks goes out to you guys.
Nick told me that he plans on competing in not only RvW, but plans on continuing to compete in Outlaw 10.5, which he has been a staple of for many years. Based on the baby step performances we saw out of Nick in Florida, he is sure to be a force in both RvW as well as Outlaw 10.5 in 2019. At least they are on the right track in that camp. Within five passes on the car, and I am not talking five full pulls, but five passes on the car, Nick has already laid down a stout 3.85 at 202 mph which was actually the first full pull at the track and a soft hit. Look for Nick and crew to be in the 70’s early in testing at SGMP for Lights Out X, which is coming up in just two weeks.
We at E3xtreme want to thank Nick for keeping in the loop over the last year or so and giving us the opportunity to shoot the car in Bradenton. Both Ellen and I look forward to seeing Nick in Georgia and spending some more time with this beautiful machine.
