Cleetus McFarland‘s $30,000 Facebook Marketplace sand car has officially undergone a massive transformation. After killing the original LS3 that came in the car, Cleetus sent the chassis to Cordes Performance in Arizona for a serious power upgrade. He recently got his first look at the finished product, and the results are staggering: a 3.0-liter Whipple supercharger now sits on top of a 427 LSX V8, and it’s a whole new off-road beast.
The 840HP Whipple-Powered Sand Car
The new engine is actually a piece of Cleetus history. He said, “This is a Texas Speed 427. It’s actually the old engine out of the Dale truck when we were running nines in the quarter mile with nitrous.” That engine, now boosted by the 3.0-liter Whipple, put down 840 horsepower on the dyno at Cordes. Cleetus noted the huge jump: “It made 620 with the old setup. So we have 200 more horsepower.” This immediately raised concerns about the Mendeola S4 four-speed transaxle, which is only rated for about 700 horsepower. Cleetus’s immediate reaction was blunt: “That transmission is done for. There’s no chance it’s surviving this.”
More Than Just a Blower
Cordes Performance didn’t just bolt on a blower; they redid the whole setup. Cleetus explained, “Cordes not only put the engine and the Whipple in the car, but they completely rewired it with a Holley Dominator ECU.” The car also received a new Holley digital dash and a ten-rib Wegner drive to handle the boost. In a tricky bit of fabrication, Cordes even modified the old exhaust that Cleetus loved. Because it didn’t fit, they actually extended it an inch right here and on each primary, saving the sound he didn’t want to lose.
Taming the 840HP Beast
The car’s first test runs were unbelievable. It easily beat Greg Biffle’s Dark Angel in a roll race and pulled massive wheelies. The new power was almost uncontrollable. Cleetus exclaimed, “Partial throttle third gear. We only ever wheelied in second. Ever.” While the car survived the day, they found two issues: the oil cooler was removed during the build and needs to be reinstalled to manage hot oil temps, and the balancer is hitting a chassis plate during wheelies. Despite the minor bugs, the Whipple-powered 427 has completely transformed the $30,000 Facebook find into an absolute monster.
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