Originally produced for the Australian market by GM as the Holden Commodore, the rear-wheel drive Pontiac G8 sedan came roaring out of the gate with LS power and a performance-tuned chassis in both GT and GXP trims when it hit the streets of America back in the late 2000s. The combination quickly caught the attention of enthusiasts who wanted a modern muscle car but needed something relatively pragmatic, but the timing of the G8’s debut was less than ideal. Introduced during the worst economic downturn in a generation, production of the G8 ended after just two model years (2008-2009), and as a result, the Pontiac’s last full-size sedan has developed something of a cult following in the time since.

“When I bought the car back in 2015, the plan was to keep it stock,” says Nick Zulim, a distribution process worker supervisor from Escalon, California. “It was just going to be the daily driver, the cruiser – I didn’t even think about taking it drag racing at the time.”

Now packing well over a thousand horsepower, this G8 has become no stranger to the staging lanes. But as Zulim explains, that transformation didn’t happen overnight. “I joined some Pontiac G8 forums and Facebook groups after I got the car, and I started reading up on it. I noticed that people kept talking about Displacement on Demand, and how the system was prone to lifter failure. I was thinking about doing a cam swap to address the issue, but since the car already had more than 90,000 miles on it, I figured we might as well just tear the engine down and give it a refresh. And that’s how it all started.”

The project included a port and polish for the 6.0-liter L76 V8’s cylinder heads to go along with a new Brian Tooley Racing camshaft, Wiseco pistons, and Molnar connecting rods, and Zulim topped it off with a Magnuson TVS2300 supercharger for good measure. Once everything was back together, he decided to take the Pontiac out to the drag strip to see how it would fare with all the new go-fast parts in the mix. “I was running low 10s, and that was fun for a while,” he says. “But after a couple of years, it wasn’t enough for me anymore.”

That sent Zulim down a hot-rodding rabbit hole that included swapping the factory six-speed automatic transmission for a strengthened TH400 as well as a brief stint with a Borg Warner turbo setup. By the summer of 2019 the factory LS was out and a LSX376-B15 crate motor from Chevrolet Performance had taken its place in the G8’s engine bay. Zulim immediately upgraded LSX with a set of Mahle pistons and Molnar rods to strengthen the bottom end.

“It was warrantied for 15 pounds of boost, and I knew was going to need more than that,” he tells us. “And meanwhile I had also learned some things while I was living with that turbo setup. Doing maintenance on the car was kind of a pain in the butt, and I wasn’t really a fan of the turbo lag. But my friend John had this ProCharger setup with a crank drive on his car, and I really dug it, so I decided to go that route as well.”

Outfitted with a ProCharger F-1X pushing 26 pounds of boost through a Holley Lo-Ram intake manifold base, Zulim estimates this combination was good for about 1100 horsepower. “That’s when I made the switch to a Holley Terminator X Max ECU as well,” he notes. “Over the years I’ve worked with a lot of tuners remotely, and the HP Tuners stuff was so complicated that it was tough to really understand what these guys were doing. But the Terminator X is really straight-forward to work with; I feel like I can make tweaks if I want to without wondering if I’m headed in the right direction or not.”

Matched up with AFCO coil-overs and Mickey Thompson rubber, the G8 has been as quick as 9.16 at 151 mph in the quarter mile, so it’s clear the power is being put to good use. But as potent as this Pontiac has become, Zulim says that he wanted to make sure he wouldn’t have to exclude his family from the fun as the build progressed. “It’s got an 8.50 cage in it now, but it’s still got a full interior. And I made sure that the design of the cage wouldn’t interfere with use of the back seats.”

The Ignition Orange-hued machine turned plenty of heads at LS Fest West earlier this year, an event which provides Zulim with the opportunity to connect with the friends he’s made through the forums and social media over the years in person. “It’s like a big family at LS Fest,” he says. “We park together in the pits, we BBQ and hang out, and it gives us a chance check out each other’s builds. Every year it seems like more and more G8s are showing up.”

And it should come as no surprise to learn that Zulim still isn’t finished with this build. “Well, I missed having air conditioning, so the ProCharger is off and I’ve gone back to a Magnuson – this time it’s a 'Hot Rod' TVS 2650. That went on a couple of months ago, along with the factory AC. We’re still dialing it in right now. It’s nice to not be sweating in the staging lanes.”

As he zeros in on the tune for the latest setup, Zulim has also set a new performance target for the G8, with the eight-second barrier as his next goal.