When most of us buy a car, it’s not long until we start to make what we feel are the necessary improvements or updates to get it where we want it. But before we can start, we always want a solid foundation to build from, and that’s what Chris Bishir had with this 1982 S10. “I bought the truck from a friend about 11 years ago, and it had a worked over small-block in it,” Chris says. The S10 ran high 12’s at the time, which for a truck, is quick. It was quick enough to hook Chris on drag racing, and the rest is 1/4-mile history.

The new 6.0-liter combination should provide the missing piece to the 7-second puzzle. With an 8.19 out of the previous 5.3-liter engine, Chris feels the 6.0-liter is capable of getting him there.

“It’s been a slow progression over the years,” he says. He’s changed engines, transmissions, and everything in between, to make the truck quicker and faster. For the last four years, Chris had a 5.3-liter LS under the hood with twin 66mm BorgWarner turbochargers. His best time to date is an 8.19 at 168 mph.

For the 2016 racing season, Chris is stepping up to a 6.0-liter LS, with a short block assembled by Dustin Portmess and Luke Liechty. The heads were a team effort, done by Dustin Portmess, Andy Claughlin, and Logan Holtrey. The twin 66mm turbochargers will remain a part of the new program, as will the Holley Dominator EFI engine management system. Behind the new 6.0-liter, Chris built a Powerglide transmission using a Reid case with an ATI Performance Products 1.80 gear set, and a Mike Ridings torque converter.

The S10’s leaf spring rear suspension is still in place, and Chris relies on Mickey Thompson Drag Radial Pro 275 radials to get him from Point A to Point B. To aid the Mickeys, the S10 boasts Calvert Racing split mono-leaf springs, homebuilt CalTrac-style traction bars, Strange Engineering double-adjustable shocks, and a TRZ Motorsports anti-roll bar. Up front, Chris also built his own lower control arms, using them in conjunction with Speedway upper control arms. That suspension setup has been as quick as 1.19 seconds to the 60 foot mark on the Mickey radials.

“It’s important to me to keep it streetable so I can drive it anywhere,” Chris says. That explains the truck’s trick fuel system. “I did the fuel system in a way that I could have a system large enough to support big power on E85 or Methanol, while still being able to drive on any fuel for long drives,” he adds.

Chris did all the wiring, design and fab work on the truck. “It’s important to me to keep it streetable, so I drive it anywhere,” he says. Speaking of driving it anywhere, the truck primarily runs on E85, but Chris employs two different fuel systems to bridge the gap between cruising down the road, and lettin’ it all hang out. “It has a staged 16-injector setup,” he says. This allows him allows him to run on one kind of fuel, and switch to another kind while on the fly.

The primary injectors are 42 lb/hr, and they’re fed by a Bosch 255 lph pump. The secondary injectors are Billet Atomizer 225s, and fed via an Aeromotive belt-driven pump. “What’s really trick is that the belt driven pump has an electromagnetic clutch in it and can turn on/off, as needed,” Chris tells us. He also says the electromagnetic clutch arrangement is a one-off system he employed so he could run a fuel system big enough to support big power on E85, while still being able to use any fuel when on long drives. Chris likes to compete in Hot Rod magazine’s Drag Week, and that is when the dual fuel system really comes in handy.

With the 5.3-liter combination, Chris was knocking on the 7-second door, but with the new 6.0-liter combo, he hopes to bust down that door in 2016.