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Freshly Squeezed: Nitro Dave’s 2000 Camaro SS “Orange Juice”
By
Rob Krider June 07, 2019
How many people can say they purchased an 8-second car over the phone, sight unseen? Well, Dave Vasser, commonly known as “Nitro Dave,” is one who did. In 2009, Vasser, owner of
Nitrous Outlet, bought a 2000 Camaro SS with a 10-point cage. It was supposed to be a “turn-key” 8-second car. Dave quickly regretted the purchase.
“When the car arrived, it had signs of kissing a guard rail on the passenger side,” Dave explains. “The converter came apart on the first pass and took out the transmission and the intake manifold had been ported so thin that I accidentally pushed my thumb through the runner.”
photos by: Devin Duckworth
David “Nitro Dave” Vasser’s 2000 Chevy Camaro SS
Orange Juice has been a 10-year long love/hate passion project designed to highlight Nitro Dave’s company Nitrous Outlet.
Dave casually worked on the car when time and finances allowed. In 2011, Matt King loaned Dave a LS2 402 cubic inch engine. John Goebel built a Powerglide transmission with a stall converter. They rewired the car and Sykora Truck painted the car Hugger Orange. “Orange Juice” was beginning to come together.
The intake manifold had been ported so thin that I accidentally pushed my thumb through the runner. -Dave Vasser
The problems didn’t end there. The engine had mix and match internals. The cylinder walls were egg-shaped, and the pistons were slapping the heads. “The wiring was an absolute nightmare,” remarked Dave. He also noticed that due to the poor quality cage install, the car was extremely unsafe. His new toy got parked for two years.
The first few track outings on radials were unsuccessful due to a lack of traction. Nitro Dave reached out to Brian at
Madman & Co. Brian, known as “Madman,” provided a list of suspension and chassis setup changes to perform. With the changes Madman suggested, Dave’s car pulled a 1.21 60-foot and ran a best of a 5.48 at 125.44 mph in the ⅛-mile and an 8.65 at 145.42 in the quarter. The Camaro was an 8-second car!
Orange Juice gets its name from being “juiced” with nitrous from Nitrous Outlet and for the eye-popping Hugger Orange paint.