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Riding the footbrake to rein in the 3,800-plus-pound ride until the bulb glows, the driver drops the hammer and the billet turbos spool, thrusting this sleek, blue stallion forward. The 60-foot clocks read just over 1.3 seconds as the S550 streaks down the drag strip. At first glimpse, you might assume it was just another street ’Stang — until the clocks reveal an 8.54-second quarter-mile pass at more than 163 miles per hour.
I wanted to have a true 8-second daily driver. Justin Jordan, Jordan Performance & Racing
The car in question is Justin and Melissa Jordan’s 2020 S550 Mustang GT, and you might assume that the car sacrificed much of its streetability to run that kind of elapsed time. However, that was never part of the plan for the car that serves as a rolling business card for the family shop, Jordan Performance and Racing.
Lurking below this lightly fortified Gen 3 Coyote engine is a Hellion Sleeper twin-turbo system fitted with billet 64mm turbos. It delivers enough boost for four-digit output at the wheels and 8-second passes at the drag strip. (Photo Credit: Justin Jordan)
“My goal when I bought the car was to run 8.99 in true daily driver trim on the stock engine — no gutted interior, no missing exhaust, and no aluminum driver’s seat. I wanted to have a true 8-second daily driver. Sure there are faster cars out there but few can consistently and reliably run an 8-second quarter mile while retaining 100 percent of the ‘as-delivered’ factory equipment,” Jordan explained.
To achieve that lofty target he bolstered the factory Gen-3 Coyote engine with PAC valve springs, upgraded secondary timing chains, and billet oil pump and timing gears. Those mods readied the engine for plenty of boost from a Hellion Sleeper twin-turbo kit wearing upgraded, billet 64mm snails.
Not only does this S550 Mustang have a full interior, but it gets the job done with a Chicco child seat strapped to the back seat!
“I also wanted to showcase the shop’s talents with regard to spec’ing out a purposeful build; executing the build with precision and quality, and ultimately, tuning it in-house to also showcase our tuning ability and just how nicely a 1,000-plus-wheel-horsepower car can run and drive when properly calibrated,” Jordan says. “I wanted to have a 1,000-wheel-horsepower car that I could give the keys to anyone whether it be a car enthusiast or someone who doesn’t even know who Henry Ford was, and they could hop in and drive the car safely and reliably from Florida to Maine, with no issues. And we have accomplished just that and I’m very proud of it.”
Supporting the turbocharged 5.0-liter is Fore Innovations fuel system with ID1050x injectors that feeding plenty of E85 fuel sourced from the local Thornton’s gas station. The result is 1,043 horsepower at the rear wheels in sixth gear. That prodigious power is harnessed by a fully prepped Ford 10R80 10-speed automatic fitted with a Circle D torque converter.
The interplay between the transmission hardware and the calibration is key to ensuring the longevity of the combination. To achieve that synergy, Jordan learned as much as he could about calibrating combinations that utilize the factory 10-speed auto so that he could tune them himself, and he spend countless hours refining those skills.
Four-digit power travels from the built 10R80 automatic through a QA1 carbon fiber driveshaft to a factory Super 8.8 rearend upgraded with GForce Performance Engineering halfshafts that withstand the hook provided by Mickey Thompson drag radials. The latter are planted by a suspension controlled by Kelltrac front coilovers and rear shocks; a Kelltrac cradle lock kit; BMR toe rods; and BMR spherical lower control arm bearings.
“The secret is in the calibration and transmission build! To put it bluntly, if the car isn’t tuned and calibrated correctly with everything being accurate, the transmission won’t shift and it will ultimately burn up very quickly whether it’s fully built or bone stock. There is no margin for error. Everything has to be correct,” he said. “We partnered up with Scott Richardson of Richardson Performance in West Virginia to do our transmission builds for the shop. I saw him having success with his transmission builds and I reached out to him to collaborate on what I was trying to do with my blue S550.”
The results of the collaboration speak for themselves, as Jordan exceeded his initial goals. That only encouraged him to keep pushing the combination forward, much like this storied 2014 Mustang GT.
“My 6-second S197 was an animal and adrenaline rush every time I strapped into the driver’s seat. The prep before racing it was on the more extreme side though with all of the necessary precautions to safely run a car that made roughly 2,000 horsepower,” Jordan describes. “With the S550, there is no drama, no fuss, and no b.s. It’s the easiest car to drive. You fire it up, drive it to the track, and it clicks off repeatable, mid-8-second passes with nothing more than a push of the start/stop button.”
He hopes to maintain that aesthetic while planning to push the combination into the 7-second range. With an MPR Racing Engines sleeved engine at the ready and further transmission tweaks in the offing, he thinks it is a possibility. In the meantime, low-8-second passes could happen with the current combo when boost weather finally makes its way down to Florida.
