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Upgrading Exhaust and Drag Racing Debut

9:39
28:00
24.5K views

At 9:39 in

WHY I Built an Escalade ESV Into a Drag Truck! (LSXcalade Was Originally My Dads)

What happens here

Fueled by the performance gains, the creator decided to install headers on the Escalade. To avoid his father's detection, he coordinated with an exhaust shop to have the headers installed overnight. The strategy was to attribute the increased engine noise to the new exhaust system rather than the headers themselves. This further enhanced performance. Next, he started taking the Escalade to a drag strip, initially running a 14.80-second quarter-mile at 96 mph. To improve times, he began stripping weight, removing all seats, installing lighter 17-inch junkyard wheels with drag tires (sourced from dumpsters), and running E85 fuel. These modifications helped him achieve a 13.68-second quarter-mile pass at 99.67 mph, just shy of the 100 mph club sticker he desired.

Goal: Install performance headers and improve drag strip times by reducing weight and optimizing fuel.

Tools and materials

  • Basic Hand Tools — Removing interior components and general assembly
  • Cadillac Escalade Cadillac — The vehicle being modified and raced
  • Drag Tires Hoosier — To provide maximum traction at the drag strip
  • Exhaust System — To provide a performance-oriented exhaust note
  • Junkyard 17-inch Wheels — Lighter wheels for drag racing
  • Long-tube Headers — To improve exhaust flow and engine performance
  • Tire Changing Equipment — Swapping wheels and tires at the shop
  • E85 Fuel Various — Higher octane fuel for increased performance

What they say

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to continue on the timeline here so okay we're in like November December of 2014 I now put headers on it because I wanted headers sounded cooler but what I did is I scheduled it with the exhaust guy to work out so that I could put the headers on this the night before then bring it over there and have the exhaust made for it before my dad ever heard it with open headers because I had talked to him before and he okayed me to take it to have some dual exhaust made for it because it looked cooler and so I slid the headers in with that so that he would just attribute the extra noise to the exhaust I put on he wouldn't know that it had headers on it even if he looked at it he just doesn't wasn't that mechanically inclined to know the difference nor would he ever open the hood anyway so I did that and he got even faster at that point I was like roll racing Artie challengers and like tuned to Durham axes and stuff and I was like beating them and this thing is still 22s on it and it was just so much fun because I didn't think it was gonna be that fast and it was and then some of my friends were like dude I think bet that thing 100 mile-an-hour Club sticker at Keystone you should bring it out and I was like what you mean he's like well if you trap 100 miles an hour they give you this cool sticker it says 100 mile an hour Club I was like holiday hang I'd be freaking sick so this is like April 2015 I went out there with my friend Bill and he's not in the passenger seat with me when I made my first pass in this thing he kind of like told me what to do all the beams and stuff keep my this five years ago the first time I ever went down a drag strip and it was in this vehicle this Escalade and we ran like a 1480 and it was pretty bad and it went like 96 or something and I've bought her because it didn't get the hundred so once again that was another hook that was set I wanted that sticker so damn bad that throughout that entire summer I secretly went to the drag strip with this thing because hey my dad still thought it was stock beat he vehemently opposed me going to the drag strip because if you crash it's not covered under warranty oh my sister tried to rat me out once he freaked out once again me being me I was like okay I won't I won't pray so I'll just go help my friend bill with his car and I lied I went and I raced again I kept doing that the whole year and it got to the point where I went and got I like took all the seats out I got some junkyard 17-inch wheels and…

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