It’s been a while since we’ve heard from John Kolivas, but in just one week we’ll all get to see firsthand just what he’s been doing all winter long. His record-setting, championship-winning ’95 Mustang Cobra has been under the knife all winter long in preparation for Lights Out IV, scheduled for South Georgia Motorsports Park next weekend.

Kolivas decided it was time to revamp the car, and as you can see from the spy photos he sent us, the work done to the car is nothing short of amazing. The car in its previous form was a top runner, but thanks to Pressurized Solutions and Kooks Custom Headers, the turbo kit has been redesigned and the front half of the chassis has been completely redone, including the removal of the stock upper and lower core supports to make the car easier to work on at the track.. 

Kolivas’ longtime engine builder, Jon Bennett of Bennett Racing, freshened up the Precision-turbocharged small-block Ford mill, installed a new camshaft, and added a few new top-secret upgrades that are designed to have Kolivas running right back at the top of the pack.

The car was repainted by the folks out at Brown Automotive in Bowling Green, Kentucky, and DMC Racing‘s Eric LaFerriere went through the car from front to back and completely re-wired it to work with the NLR Systems AMS2000 boost controller. Kolivas also enlisted the help of Mark Menscer of Menscer Motorsports, the “Shock Nerd”, to get the shocks tuned up for better chassis control.

A torque converter from Joe Rivera at ProTorque is on board, and John also enlisted the help of longtime sponsors Wade Hopkins of Southern Speed, Mickey Thompson, Racecraft Inc., and VP Racing Fuels in his quest to take home the big cheese at the big event. As always, Kolivas will be laying it all on the line in Outlaw Drag Radial, and from what we hear, testing results were very positive. 4.30’s, anyone?