C6 Corvette Dubbed ‘Ruby’ Receives Ridiculous New 88mm Turbo

Cleetus McFarland’s auction Corvette gets a brand new, massive turbo and promptly resets its own personal best e.t.

Those who spent way too much time on YouTube (read: us) are likely very familiar with the antics of Cleetus McFarland. The mulleted Floridian madman is a lifelong Corvette guy and fan of doing all sorts of crazy things, after all. But our favorite build to come out of McFarland’s shop is a C6 Corvette affectionately known as Ruby. Quite some time ago, McFarland and his crew saved this poor ‘Vette at auction, and it’s slowly progressed into a turbocharged animal ever since.

As Ruby the Corvette has gotten faster and faster, it’s gone from a budget build to an all-out effort for drag strip dominance. Aside from a Powerglide transmission upgrade and trans brake, that also means a shiny new 88mm turbo. Which is making plenty of boost, as McFarland found out prior to hitting the strip at Bradenton Motorsports Park recently. “That’s gonna be a little too much, 22 pounds,” he said after testing in the parking lot. “Better dial that back to about 16 pounds.”

His mechanic co-part, James, doesn’t agree. “There’s no point in taking power out, we’re trying to go faster,” he says. And who can argue with that kind of logic? And he backs that up on the first pass by hooking easily and ripping off a 9.1-second quarter-mile at 116 mph. Even after letting off at the top end. The second pass goes much better, with the once cast aside Corvette recording an 8.5 at 167. “It felt strong, but it needs more limiter,” James said post pass.

Turns out, Ruby is riding the converter too long. That’s obviously not something the crew can solve at the track, but they do swap out the ATF with some tractor fluid to up the viscosity. That’s enough to hit a new personal best for Ruby, an 8.3. This proves to be the last pass of the day, however, as the crew detects a problem. “We aren’t sure if Ruby pushed water out because she had air in the system or because the head gasket is starting to go,” McFarland said. “But we’re not gonna risk it.”

Still, we’d call this outing a major success. And you can bet that Ruby the Corvette isn’t done setting new personal best e.t.s by a long shot.

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