We have brought you a few updates from Prestolite Performance’s “Operation Muscle,” where they have taken a 2010 Camaro and Mustang into R&D in order to produce different products from their five different manufacturers. Well, a lot has changed since the last update, and all of them are great if you ask us. They have switched up the name from “Operation Muscle” to “Modern Muscle,” and recently added a new muscle car to the lineup, the Challenger R/T. Other changes include different product designs and a new website strictly for the “Modern Muscle” program.

The New Name and Website
When we last did a quick update on “Operation Muscle” it seemed to be going strong, but the Prestolite team knew they could make it stronger. Starting with a new name, according to Paul Grawbowski of Prestolite Performance, “We simply thought the new name of Modern Muscle fit it better.”

The new website brings all three of the muscle cars under one roof, or on one page rather. Coming soon to the site are photos of the different stages of development of products. From now until December of 2010, when they plan on being done crafting new products for these cars, people will be able to follow along as they go to the track, or on the dyno, right in front of them.

The Cars
Many people are familiar with the 2010 Camaro and Mustang included on this project, but only recently has Prestolite added the new 2010 Challenger to the lineup. Since the Camaro and Mustang got a head start over the Challenger, they have a few more components and a bit more testing to do to bring the Mopar up to speed.

The Camaro been under the knife in the suspension department, and according to Scott Shutler of Prestolite Performance, “The Camaro suspension has proved to take out a 1/10th second improvement in 60-foot times and a 2/10ths improvement in ET. They have also reduced wheel hop.” He went on to say that the suspension components they’ve developed have not done the complete job in eliminating the wheel hop, but they hope that the chassis components that are in research will eliminate it all together. They have also developed a ceramic plug wire set from ACCEL that can withstand 1500+ degrees of constant heat.

The Modern Muscle team brought in a 2010 Mustang that was equipped with the 4.6-liter engine, and a 5-speed manual transmission. The Mustang has gotten a few new products added to it’s setup. Scott added, “The Mustang is getting a revised bushing design for the rear lower control arms, as we broke one during testing. Our preliminary results were positive, although we did not get data before the failure.” Since the Mustang is the first car on the “Modern Muscle” team, a lot more components have already been designed, thus putting the Mustang on the back burner for a little while.

Now the Challenger is the newest member to the “Modern Muscle” team and that is what has taken all of the attention away from the Mustang for the time being. The Prestolite team is slowly researching and developing different items for the Challenger; starting with the suspension and chassis. “The Challenger has extremely bad wheel hop, and we hope to eliminate that first,” added Scott. The first product designed was the strut tower brace that Scott told us should go into production shortly. They also plan on creating the upper and lower control arms, and have those on the car and tested by June. Some different components that are on the car were already ready to go, like the spark plugs and different gaskets, but for the big stuff, they have barely scratched the surface.

All three cars are built to match each other, or be in very close appearance. Each sports a red stripe-over-black appearance package that is unique to the respective car, but retains a familiar resemblance. The Prestolite team has also added Magnaflow exhaust systems on all three cars along with Rocket Booster Chrome 20” wheels, K&N intakes for the Camaro and Challenger, and an Air Raid intake for the Mustang.

The Sweepstakes

The last new thing that is going on with the “Modern Muscle” program is probably what really got our blood pumping. They plan to give away one of these machines in a random drawing in January 2011. The sweepstakes will open on June 1st and run all the way until December 31st. This gives everyone plenty of time to enter the contest, and it also gives “Modern Muscle” a chance to finish their R&D on the cars, and get them just near perfect. Best of all, instead of receiving the car they are giving away, the winner will be able to choose whether they want the Camaro, Challenger, or Mustang.

Prestolite, with their “Modern Muscle” program, is taking the very popular muscle cars of today and developing high end components for each one – what’s not to love? With the addition of the website where everything on the three cars is compiled into one location, interested fans can watch the progress right before their eyes. The sweepstakes opens up June 1st, so be sure to check out www.modernmusclex.com and get yourself entered.