Street Stang: Russell James’ Twin Turbo 8-Second 2018 Mustang

A friendly rivalry within a family isn’t anything new, but Russell James is taking it to a whole different level. James just wanted to beat his dad with his Mustang but that has spiraled out of control thanks to the team at Limitless Performance and Fabrication (LPF). Now, James is knocking on the door of the 7-second zone with his street-driven 2018 Ford Mustang.

Before James was even in kindergarten he was handing his father tools, and by the time he was just nine years old he pulled the engine out of his dad’s 928 Porsche. Playing with tools was just the beginning for James — when he was a teenager his family went to the NHRA SpringNationals in Baytown, Texas and that got him completely hooked on drag racing.

James’ desire to go quicker than his father spilled over into the build of his 2018 Mustang. Not being one to take things slowly, James went right for the kill by adding a twin-turbo kit from LPF to the car, and he hasn’t looked back.

“On the very first pass with the stock driveline and an LPF twin-turbo kit I went 6.20 in the 1/8-mile — dad’s car is only running in the 6.60s. That was all I needed and I was hooked on trying to go even faster. I ended up going 8.95 at 156 mph with the stock motor in the quarter-mile and that still wasn’t enough. I dropped the car off at LPF and told them to build me a badass engine — three months later the car was done,” James says.

The Mustang’s engine still sports the stock block, but it has been upgraded with Darton sleeves to handle all of the boost James throws at it. Inside the engine, the stock crankshaft rotates a set of Boostline connecting rods from Wiseco that have a set of Diamond 2K pistons attached. LPF also added a billet oil pump gear set and crank sprocket to provide more strength. The cylinder heads are factory units with factory valves inside; the only thing LPF added was a set of MMR valve springs. ARP mains and head studs hold everything together.

A pair of Comp turbos are what provide the boosted air that flows through the LPF twin-turbo system that’s controlled by an Eboost2 boost controller. To give the car some extra kick in the first 60 feet of the track, James added a Nitrous Express plate kit that’s used in conjunction with a Nitrous Express Maximizer 5 nitrous controller. Applying the power to the tires is an LPF Stage 2 10r80 transmission and Circle D Specialties torque converter.

As soon as the Mustang was ready after the engine upgrade, James had it at the track making laps and setting records.

“I had this car built to be one of the baddest modern street cars on the road and still get 22-24 mpg on my one-hour commute to work when I take it. The car was finished two nights before Mod Nationals so we headed out with no testing. At the Mod Nationals, I entered the car into the 6r80 versus 10r80 class. On my fourth pass with the built motor in the car I was the first 10r80 to go of 170 mph in the 1/4-mile,” James says.

The Mustang recently ran an 8.01 at over 170 mph and it has even more left in it. James plans on taking the car to Street Car Takeover events where it will be entered into the Nitrous Outlet Boost and Juice class. The Mustang will also make an appearance at TX2K20, where James will compete in the Street Car class.

“I’m going to keep pushing the car further and further. The end goal for this car is to show exactly what LPF can do in the Coyote world. They do 95-percent of the work in-house and don’t need to outsource that much at all when it comes to builds. I still plan on being faster than my dad for the foreseeable future, too,” James says.

Russell James and the team at LPF have created a Mustang that could embarrass most supercars at a stoplight. This car is capable of pushing deep into the sevens while still being driven to a local car show. Don’t be surprised to see James and his Mustang in the winner’s circle at a few events in 2020…after beating his dad on race day of course.

About the author

Brian Wagner

Spending his childhood at different race tracks around Ohio with his family’s 1967 Nova, Brian developed a true love for drag racing. Brian enjoys anything loud, fast, and fun.
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