event and have it hang together,” Nathan says.
“I wanted it to be out there consistently. Troy
knows the ins and outs of what works and
doesn’t for burnout motors, as he’s proven with
the LS world, so I went to him for reliability.”
Warspeed modified a Moroso sump for the
combo to keep the liquid gold in the right
places, while three Bosch 044 pumps supply
E85 to eight 2000cc injectors, with MSD coil-
packs lighting the fire.
Cooling-wise, an SCR radiator lives up
front with custom thermo fans, while Windsor
Exhaust custom-made the headers and shorty
pipes in just six hours!
Dave Forrester from Wired By Dave took
care of getting the sparks to the right parts of
the engine, before THELMA had a date with
the dyno. Tuned by Dale Heiler of Castle Hill
Performance, THELMA has turned the rollers
to 550rwhp, which is plenty for such a light,
little car.
The Dellow Conversions bellhousing, ATS-
built two-speed Powerglide and TCE burnout-
spec 4500 converter sit behind the stout
six-point-oh, pushing the grunt down a custom
tailshaft to a shortened nine-inch diff with a
Strange centre and 3.5:1 gears.
“We took the diff and Powerglide out of the
LOWLUX ute, as we just didn’t have time to
get something built,” Nathan explains.
One of THELMA’s big talking points has
been the rollers: massive 22x7 and 22x10
Simmons FRs, which Nathan also pinched
from his other Elite-level car.
Given all the challenges faced building a car
in such a short time, including the Christmas/
New Year business holidays, it is a stunning
result to have such a high-quality car that
worked so well. And Nathan is understandably
stoked with how it was received.
“For us to make Top 60 and have the car in the
Elite Hall, plus be a skid car, is just amazing,” he
says. “I put it on the trailer Wednesday night
and the first drive of the car was the City Cruise
on Thursday. Its first skid was at Summernats
with Cleetus [McFarland of 1320Video], and
I was thinking: ‘Please do a skid and perform.’
“I was proud to get the tyres off and drive it
off the pad, although it did have a few issues.
During the first skid we didn’t have any gauges
as we didn’t have time to install the Haltech
dash, so we didn’t know how high it turned or
how hot it got. We checked it after the skid and
I think we turned it to about 7800rpm, but it
should last all day at 7200rpm.”
The good news for Street Machine readers
is that many will get to see THELMA, as
Nathan plans to take the car to many events
around our wide brown land, and has even
been invited to chuck a skid at SEMA in Las
Vegas! Hopefully someone sends the video to
Thelma, the car’s original owner! sTHELMA HAS TURNED THE ROLLERS
TO 550RWHP, WHICH IS PLENTY
FOR SUCH A LIGHT, LITTLE CAR
NATHAN PATTERSON
1978 TOYOTA KE30 COROLLA
Paint: Custom Bright WhiteENGINE
Brand: GM 6.0L L98 Gen IV
Induction: Holley Hi-Ram, Aeroflow
throttlebodies
ECU: Haltech Elite 2500
Heads: Factory, stainless valves
Camshaft: Comp Cam 235/243°
Conrods: Callies
Pistons: SRP
Oil pump: Melling
Fuel system: 2000cc injectors, three Bosch
044 pumps
Cooling: SCR radiator, custom fans
Exhaust: Custom headers and system
Ignition: MSD coilsTRANSMISSION
Gearbox: GM two-speed Powerglide
Converter: TCE 4500
Diff: 9in, Strange centre, 3.5:1 gearsSUSPENSION & BRAKES
Front suspension: BC coil-overs
Rear suspension: Pedders coil-overs
Brakes: S15 Nissan Silvia discs (f)
Master cylinder: S15 Nissan SilviaWHEELS & TYRES
Rims: Simmons FR; 22x7 (f), 22x10 (r)
Rubber: Pirelli; 225/30 (f), 285/30 (r)THANKS
Trev, Sam & family at Dapto Smash Repairs;
Shawn at Karnge Kreations; Sean at Dapto
Mechanical; Troy at Warspeed Industries, Frank
at Frankie’s Auto Electrics, Darren & Moey at
Queen Street Customs; Russell & Ash at Windsor
Exhaust; Saf at MONSTR Garage; Jason at TCE
Converters; Rohan & Scott at Rocket Industries;
Rick at South Coast Radiators; Chris & Mel at
Dr Meth Racing Fuels; Adam at ATS Automatics;
Shane at Pedders Wollongong; Skyline Spares;
Arthur at Tuners Edge; the Tyre Mulisha crew;
Dom Luci; my fiancée Mel & the kids (Quinlan,
Adelyn & Arabella); my mum Mary; the
extended burnout family; Andy, Adrian, Owen &
the Summernats teamOH, WHAT A FAMILY!
NATHAN is quick to point out that THELMA was
only able to be built in such an amazingly short
timeframe thanks to the help and assistance of
those around him.
“I would like to thank my family; they were
simply amazing,” Nathan says. “I am the
luckiest man to have such an understanding
partner, especially having twin girls in the
middle of the build, plus we have a three-year-
old son as well!
“It was a crazy time, that’s for sure. So many
of my mates and family put their hand up to
help. It is not just a car build, but a test of who
you are as a person mentally and physically.
“Everyone involved are not just mates or
businesses that worked on the car, I truly
can call them family. I can’t wait for us all to
build another in the future, but maybe with a
turnaround a little longer than eight weeks – I
reckon I would get told where to go if I tried
that again!”