When Ford Motor Company announced the seventh-generation Mustang at the Stampede, excitement in our office escalated — from our usual banter with the bow-tie fans to an eager anticipation to get one in the shop and showcase the power of the Coyote and Mustang combination. With a strong Ford fan base here (some even holding accolades as NMRA members since its inception), it was only a matter of time before a 2024 Mustang GT Performance Pack would be sitting in our shop, ready to hit the drag strip and a plot was hatched with our long-time friends at ProCharger.

Thirty years ago ProCharger launched its first product for the 1993 Fox body, and after three decades of countless championships and product awards we couldn’t think of a better partner to work with to go after the brass ring. That’s right, we’ve got our sights set on single digits – looking to play where only a few others in the market have gone because of the lack of open tuning support. Thankfully ProCharger has been hard at work getting “development-level access” to the ECU software. It’s been a long process of reading code line by line (no copy and pasting using your favorite tuning software of choice), but the time is almost here. And we’ve got the first privately-owned ProCharger system for the 2024 Mustang GT – debuted at the 2024 SEMA Show. But before we can turn tires in anger, we’ve got to get the right tires and other supporting components underneath our S650. Enter Project SC650.

The Initial Gateway

After our initial drive in the seventh-generation ‘Stang, it quickly became clear that before we even thought about hitting the 1320, we needed a tire upgrade. While the Performance Pack came with 275-series tires and an extra half-inch of wheel width, it still couldn’t fully harness the power of the Gen-4 Coyote. But what started as a simple tire swap soon turned into a case of analysis paralysis. 

We quickly ran into a few issues, starting with the fact that our Performance Pack came equipped with 19-inch wheels and the factory ABS sensors were highly sensitive to tire height. While we planned to eventually upgrade to a drag-strip-friendly wheel set, the idea of fitting a set of used 18-inch wheels under the rear wasn’t part of the plan — though getting the tire height just right was.

Our options within the Mickey Thompson lineup led us to the ET Street S/S, the perfect tire for our street/strip car to show the Chevy fans what the 2024 Mustang could do on just tires. We chose the 305/35-19, keeping us just shy of the maximum allowable delta of 2,201mm. After a few test passes at Irwindale Speedway in Irwindale, California, we posted an 8.177 at 90.26 mph in the 1/8th — without the track prep that much of the Southeast enjoys. At that point, the hook was set, and we knew it was time to turn the S650 up a notch.

New Shoes

With our baseline established, we decided to push the build even further. This time, our focus was on reducing rotational weight from our hefty 3,962-pound pony and avoiding any unfortunate setbacks — like a broken half shaft — but more on that later. We turned our attention to the tire situation. The 19-inch wheels were holding us back from getting a solid launch and were a bit too small to compete in big wheel (aka “donk”) racing. After a quick browse through the Weld Racing wheels site, we discovered a variety of impressive wheels that not only looked great but also offered a variety of size, offset, and most importantly, the option to run beadlocks on the rear.

No guesswork is needed with the Weld Performance RF series, as there are predetermined fitments for late models like the S650. The Solana beadlock wheels are available in 18-inch rear diameter to fit stock Performance Pack brakes, as well as 17-inch like ours, and run about $800 a piece. The fronts are about half the cost.

We settled on the new Solana model from Weld Wheels, which offered a narrow 18×5 front runner setup to reduce weight up front, paired with a 17×10 beadlock rear wheel to optimize launching at the track. The total wheel and tire weight of the new drag pack hovered just above 60-pounds for the rear and 41 pounds for the front, a stark contrast to the original Performance Pack’s front and rear wheel/tire combo, which weighed 59 pounds each for the front and 71 pounds each for the rear – not bad considering these are flow-formed wheels, and not even Weld’s high-dollar forged wheels. And we’ve found that single beadlocks were essential with single-digit radial setups. Duals are nice, but often interfere with brake clearance and not needed unless you are going a bit faster.

Not only did the new wheels and tires lighten each corner, but the tire options for 17- and 18-inch wheels greatly outnumbered those available for 19-inch setups—especially for drag racing. Given our success with Mickey Thompson tires, we stuck with the ‘sticky Mickeys,’ opting for a pair of ET Street front tires in size 28/6.00-18 and Pro Bracket Radials in 28/10.5-17. The bracket radials are full slicks with a radial construction that is known as the best of both worlds, sometimes more forgiving on mediocre surfaces than a regular drag radial but faster on a good track prep than bias plys. The Pro Bracket Radials use an X5 compound, similar to ET Drag slicks, but with the stiffness of a radial. On a marginal surface, though, bias plys are still the go-to, which may be what we switch to later.

While torquing down a large set of beadlock bolts might not be everyone’s idea of fun, we’re excited to see how our 60-foot times improve! The beadlocks prevent the tire from spinning on the rim, which is known to happy with good track prep and a radial tire.

However, as with all good plans, we hit a challenge: finding a solution for fitting the rear hubs and brake calipers. The oversized Performance Pack setup posed an issue once again.

Fit And Function

Our excitement quickly faded when we saw just how far we were from fitting the wheels over the enlarged brake calipers and clearing the rear knuckle. Once again, we found ourselves questioning whether starting with the Performance Pack was the best choice for drag racing — especially given how many of its defining features we’re now changing. Time to break out the grinder and ear protection…just kidding! Kind of…

The only solution was to order the OEM rear knuckle from a base model GT (PN FR3C-5A970-BB) along with the necessary components to complete the rear conversion properly. Ford Performance sells this exact setup for those doing an FR3 handling pack upgrade as well as kit cars and custom builds. We didn’t stop there; to ensure the Weld wheels would fit up front, we reduced the caliper size and rotor and matched it in the rear. No shade towards the Performance Pack calipers, which are substantially larger and provide fantastic heat dissipation on the road course compared to those on EcoBoost or GT models — but our build was all about heating up the tires, not the brakes, as we push for single-digit quarter-mile times.

Our solution to the oversized brake caliper challenge was a complete set of four new calipers, rotors, and brake pads from TBM Brakes that would also help shed weight – like the wheels – in the aforementioned hefty pony. While lightweight drag brakes have been around for years, and are designed to handle high-speed stops, they often lack the durability needed for street use. Our goal with the 2024 Mustang is to run single-digit quarter-mile times while maintaining street-friendly drivability — delivering stock-like cruising capability with significantly more punch than when it rolled off the Flat Rock assembly line.

The base rear knuckles are essential for using the TBM kit, and (frankly) if you are swapping to these brakes from the Brembos then clearly, you will also want the clearance they afford for 17s anyway. Unfortunately, TBM says these knuckles still will not clear 15-inch wheels (though the brakes will).

The quest for a streetable brake upgrade that reduces weight, delivers reliable stopping power on and off the track, and accommodates a 17-inch rear wheel — or even a 15-inch, if things get serious — led us to the brand-new TBM XS3 Series Extreme Street caliper setup (front PN 012-0255, rear PN 012-0297). This system features new calipers and 12.19-inch vented rotors paired with Hawk Performance HPS Ferro-Carbon compound pads for exceptional performance and versatility.

To gain deeper insight into the TBM Brakes XS3 kit, we spoke with Jim Braun, TBM’s Business Development Manager. He shared, “The XS3 Extreme Street caliper bridges the gap between lightweight steel racing brakes and large-diameter street performance brakes. Its billet 6061 aluminum construction, innovative crossflow fluid design, and race-derived engineering deliver exceptional stopping power, smoother operation, and compatibility with some 15-inch factory and drag wheels—all while maintaining durability and performance on and off the track.”

But talk is cheap, so we put both the OE and TBM setups on the scale for a real-world comparison. The factory rear brake caliper, rotor, and pads weighed just over 32 pounds — and with the e-brake caliper factored in, the total climbed to 39 pounds, 9 ounces. The TBM kit with brake pads? A mere 15 pounds, 1 ounce — a staggering weight reduction! 

While some have simply tried to throw on a set of S550 brakes to their 2024 Mustang in a hasty thrash for single digit e.t.’s, a number have challenges have arisen from these pioneers. Mechanically, the two platforms are very similar, but electronically not so much. Things like the speed sensors and brake line pressure play a different role on the S650. As such, that was something that TBM had to address with the kit design and why others have been slower to market. In terms of the installation, the procedure was similar to most brake setups when downsizing significantly.

Axle Of My Eye

Sitting in the shop, proud of shedding both rotational and static weight from the 2024 Mustang, we couldn’t help but admire how the corner carver was quickly transforming into the muscle car we had envisioned. With the weight reduction and increased traction from the Mickey Thompson tires, one question lingered — what’s the next weak link? It didn’t take long to find the answer: we’d created a half-shaft disaster waiting to happen. Several Ford engineers had already cautioned us about this when pushing the limits at the strip, and now it was time to tackle the issue head-on. 

In the past, we’ve relied on G-Force Outlaw axles with our typical goal hovering around the 900-horsepower mark. This time, however, we had a strong feeling we’d be pushing this car well past 1,000 horsepower, so we wanted to eliminate any axle-related issues from the equation. To ensure the driveline could handle the increased power, we opted to upgrade to the Ford Performance Parts endorsed G-Force axles once again. The axles spec out to 34-spline on the differential side and 32-spline on the hubs just like the cheaper Renegade axles, but with a unique surface treatment and beefier CVs.

This time, however, we also added the exotic outer stubs to the kit. Not only does this upgrade provide a safer margin for our power goals, but it’s also more cost-effective in the long run. Replacing standard outer stubs after a failure would be significantly more expensive than the upfront investment in the exotic stubs. Plus, our mechanic threatened us with flying wrenches if we broke anything and he had to redo his work!

Prepping Continues

As much as we wanted to hit the track that night and see what our new setup could produce, we’re going to hold off until we hear that glorious sound of blower whine. After all, bragging about a stock micro record isn’t really our style. So, stay tuned as we continue to build our 2024 Mustang and show you exactly what you can do to your own S650 Mustang to achieve similar results.