When it comes to cool street-legal Fords, Tim Flanders’  drag and drive ’86 Mustang GT checks all the boxes. It has the stance, the look, and performance that matches or exceeds almost anything on the road.

Loaded up between tracks with his tag-along support trailer, Tim Flanders can drive his 1986 Mustang GT just about anywhere. (Photo by Evan J. Smith)

Flanders is a Drag and Drive Mustang specialist, with the perfect tool for the job. “I love the 1985-86 Foxbody style, I’m a big four-eyed guy,” said Flanders. “I love the four eyed front end and I’m way more into Drag and Drive than conventional drag racing because I truly  love using the car on the street.”

Flanders, a Drag and Drive veteran, has competed in Hot Rod Drag Week, Sick Week, Sick Summer, Mid-West Drags, True Street, and tons of 8.50 and 8.60 index classes.

“If you can go for a week and race your car, I’m doing it,” he stated. “I’ve had this GT since 2000. We to build it to be a power adder car. And right now, there’s better choice than a Coyote,” he said. “It started dark gray, but we stripped it and refinished the whole car. The only thing left over are the wheels. I’ve had these for 16 years. I got them about two weeks before my daughter was born so I’ll keep them.”

He continued, “It’s a whole new car compared to when I first raced it. I went with modern paint, a modern color on it. It’s Avalanche Gray; the 2016 Shelby GT350 color, which looks so good with the black accents. I finished it off with a ’84 rear spoiler, which is the
best looking one in my opinion.”

Home-Built

Other than paint, which was done at his work, the Mustang was completely prepared in Flanders’ home shop. The engine is a 5.0L Coyote built by Fonzie Novelo. It has forged internals and gets boost from a Forced Inductions, single S491 91mm turbocharger. For simplicity’s sake, it’s not intercooled but runs on E85 fuel with water/meth injection. It can run 7s but is limited in competition by the 8.50 roll cage and Flanders’ love for index racing. Flanders is pretty good at hitting the 8.50 target. He’s won quite a few events
with a variety of sanctioning bodies.

So, what’s the secret to Flanders’ consistency?

“Testing, testing, and more testing,” he says. “I go out as often as I can to get as much data as possible. I typically make 50-70 test passes at U.S. 131 Dragway a season, which is my home track. I generally don’t swing for the fences with tuning; it’s more of an uneducated guess based on years of data. I’ve also been running the same car since 2001 and even though I’ve had a bunch of different combinations, at Sick Summer a few seasons ago I put a tune-up in it that I’d never run before and ran 8.50. Sure, some of that is luck, but I have a good idea what the car will do on any given day.”

When it comes to reaction times, and the .400 Pro Tree, Flanders admits that it’s a work in progress, but he’s slowly getting a handle on it. “I’m always moving a little weight around and I dial in the boost for the conditions. I can get it to leave harder or softer
based on the weather, the track, and what performance I’m trying to reach. But it’s a constant learning curve,” said Flanders. “I might go for Strange brakes, but that’s down the road a bit. The car works well so I don’t need to make big changes,” he explained.
“I did get a practice tree so I’m working on my lights, too,” he laughs. “My car is set up to go down just about any track, but when you do that, your reaction time suffers. I’m working on fixing that now. I’ll be ready.”

The Powertrain

The Coyote engine uses ported Gen-2 heads by Frankenstein, and surprisingly it has stock cams.

“It’s a 3-2-1 swap, so it’s got a Gen-3 block, Gen-2 heads, and other Gen-1 components. It’s controlled by Holley EFI and is deadly
reliable,” he stated. “We hardly do anything to it. Just change the oil and put fuel in it. For fueling, we have a 2003 SVT Cobra tank that’s got a Fore triple-pump setup. It runs one pump going down the street, and all three under boost. You can run this thing down
t0 two or three gallons, which helps during long-distance drives, and it doesn’t have issues.”

He added that it gets roughly 13 mph on the road pulling his small trailer at 75-80 mph.

Behind the Coyote powerplant is a Turbo 400 and a Gear Vendor’s overdrive. “The overdrive is electronic, so I hit a button, and it goes into overdrive. I hit the button again and it comes out. It’s awesome. I use it instead of going into high gear on track now. I
leave the car in second gear and hit the overdrive. The gear splits are better for the rear
gear in the 9-inch,” Flanders said.

From a fan’s perspective, one of the most appealing factors is the look, which hangs on to the original graphics. The Mustang has a small cowl hood, but most people think it’s an 11.50 car.

“You wouldn’t know the difference, save for the parachute,” Flanders said. “I get told that often. But I have a parachute on the back. It’s a little bit of a giveaway.”

As for his winning performance, he explained. “I’ve been at this almost 20 years ago, so I know what works and what doesn’t. You always have to be looking ahead, though if you want to remain successful. I mean, there are some fast cars, like [Tom] Bailey’s car
in Drag and Drive, but we stick to what we know. The cool thing is anyone can get involved. I mean, you can do this at home. I did this whole car at home other than paint. I work at a body shop, so we did the paint work there, and then the rest of the car was
built by me and my friends at home in my shop.”

Drag and Drive Challenges

Keeping things cool is a big part of the Drag and Drive challenge. His Mustang rarely runs over 180-degrees, and it has OE-like drivability. This is due to the fuel, large radiator and twin cooling fans. Your humble scribe had the chance to drive Flanders’
Mustang on the street, and it was just awesome. We experienced 7-8 psi, which Tim said equates to about 750 HP at the wheels. Squeezing the throttle planted us firmly in the Kirkey seat and my smile was as wide as the sky. On track, he ramps it up to 30 psi., which equals over 1,100 rwhp.

The Mustang rides smoothly on the road and hooks at the track thanks to front coilovers and a Team Z rear suspension.

“I mean, it’s nothing trick, just off the shelf stuff. And you know, the suspension stays the same, whether I’m driving it or racing it.”

And while Flanders mostly sticks in the 8.50-8.60 zone, he’s turned up the GT and has stopped the quarter-mile clocks in 7.90 at 173 mph. That was at the typical race weight of 3,285 lbs. with driver.

That’s flying, but for now he’ll continue to add to his mid-8-second adventures. In fact, he took a recent win at US 131 Dragway in the Import vs. Domestic event and he also scored at the Mid Michigan Motorplex in 8.50 competition. As Flanders said, “If it isn’t
broke, don’t fix it. I like going faster, but at 8.50 it’s reliable and fun.”

When it comes to this drag and drive Mustang, we couldn’t agree more.