Easy 10s For Your Street Car, And Keep It Reliable, Too

Street/strip enthusiasts worldwide dream of horsepower, traction, and a single-digit time slip. And while there’s big hype surrounding 7-, 8- and even 9-second-capable street cars, the reality is that going that quick takes the investment of time, mechanical skill, and deep pockets. This supercharged Coyote-powered Mustang goes easy 10s with a stock long-block, and by following this blueprint, you can make any muscle car a reliable dual-purpose machine.

With that in mind, Kevin McKenna, a senior editor for NHRA’s National Dragster and all-around performance car enthusiast, wondered how much fun it would be to build a solid 10-second modern car using mainly bolt-on parts. McKenna has 30-plus years of experience covering drag racing, and he’s owned legit muscle cars, including a 1970 Plymouth Road Runner, a 327 4-speed Chevy II, and a 1966 SS396 4-speed Chevelle. And while you can make a classic run hard, he wanted to try his hand with a modern performance machine. In addition to running 10s, which he’d never done, McKenna wanted his car to maintain excellent drivability and reliability, as no truck or trailer was involved in this project.

The jump from 12s to 10s came after the installation of the VMP Supercharger kit.

Everyone knows a running performance car is more fun than a broken one, so realistic goals were set. McKenna wanted to run consistently in the 10s in any weather conditions and be able to drive to any track in North America, race, and make it home, which in his case is Indianapolis, Indiana.

His quest began a few years ago when Kevin purchased a stone-stock 2014 5.0 Mustang GT with the 6R80 6-speed automatic transmission. This is a proven platform that responds quite well to mods, especially for street performance and drag racing. And while Mustangs are common, that doesn’t mean they aren’t fun.

McKenna has driven the Mustang roughly 41,000 miles and he’s made about 450 quarter-mile passes. Amazingly, the engine still retains the stock exhaust headers and mufflers, but an X-pipe was added for efficiency.

Enthusiasts also understand that elapsed time often correlates with budget, so while 10s aren’t blindingly quick, a 10.99-elapsed time means your car/truck is quicker than 99 percent of anything on the road. Owning a car that runs 10s puts you in the league with Hellcats, new GT500s, and many exotics that cost well over six figures. We used the Hellcat and GT500 as a benchmark for performance.

Out of the gate, the 20,000-mile (at the time) S197 Ford ran 12.60s at 114 mph with nothing more than Mickey Thompson drag radials. Next came the first real mod—which was the biggest—an Eaton TVS-style supercharger from VMP Performance in New Smyrna Beach, Florida. The blower, along with a proper VMP tune, gave him just over 600 RWHP (stock 2014 Mustangs make about 360 RWHP) and a massive jump in torque.

Other than an oil pump gear upgrade, the 5.0-liter Coyote is stock inside.

Within days of the supercharger install, the car ran 10.79 with a trap speed of 126 mph. This was at Bradenton Motorsports Park in Florida in cool conditions using the same MT drag radials on JMS wheels. And while the mission was essentially complete in a week, the fun was just beginning.

“In addition to the blower, we added parts designed for both safety and performance,” said McKenna. “Those mods include a billet oil pump gear, QA1 carbon fiber driveshaft, Strange axles and double-adjustable rear shocks from QA1, an FTI torque converter, BMR rear suspension components, a JMS Pedal Max, Ice Chiller from Lethal Performance, and Stiffler’s driveshaft loop. Every season, it gets a new set of sticky drag radial tires from Mickey Thompson.”

As a side note, the Mustang still uses factory exhaust headers and mufflers, which makes it fairly quiet for those long drives to the races. And the only weight that’s been permanently removed is the front anti-roll bar.

“The aftermarket torque converter was a big step, as it allowed me to power brake from about 1,800 to about 3,000 rpm when launching, thus improving our 60-foot times,” McKenna added.

More recently, a larger VMP fuel pump allowed him to easily switch from pump gas to E85 fuel.

“I’ve also had great success with HP Tuners, which is how the Mustang is tuned.”

Even at 4,000 lbs., the Mustang is capable of consistent 1.40 60-foot times, very low 10-second performances (best has been 10.07), and a best speed of over 137 mph. “And the 5.0L Ford still gets 22 mpg cruising the highway with air conditioning and XM Satellite radio cranking,” he added.

Despite being 10.0 capable, it’s important not to overlook its reliability. Since the installation of the supercharger, McKenna has driven more than 40,000 miles with the odometer now topping 61,000.

“There have been a few glitches along the way, but they’ve been minor and few and far between,” McKenna says. “The initial build included a Ford Performance Cobra Jet throttle body, which ultimately proved to be a bit finicky for street use, so it was replaced with a twin 65mm unit from Ford Performance that has since been trouble-free.”

More recently, the rearend required a rebuild as the stock Traction-Lok gave up during a drag-and-drive event. As it turns out, 400-plus quarter-mile runs with 60-foot times as low as 1.42-second were ultimately too much for a mostly stock unit. The addition of an Eaton Tru-Trac, stock ratio Richmond Gears (3.15:1), and Strange axles have helped provide peace of mind going forward.

A VMP fuel pump upgrade supplies the necessary 93-octane. A new pump will allow McKenna to run E85. Friend Abe Tang installed the Lethal Performance ice tank.

For those into stats, the Mustang now has completed 450 10-second passes, it’s been driven to events over the mid-west, south, and eastern United States. McKenna has run six drag-and-drive events and there are more on the schedule for 2025. He also won two NMRA World Championships, an incredible achievement for a car that could easily double as a daily driver. That says something about McKenna’s driving skills, for sure.

“We’d like to think most of the boxes have been checked, but I’m not done yet,” he added.

As noted, the car is driven to and from every event, and it’s only been towed once: after the rear broke. McKenna’s wife Jill even drove the Mustang to a win in NMRA All-Female True Street at Bowling Green, Kentucky.

What’s next?

“To date we’ve not run anything but the 3.4-inch blower drive pulley, so the E85 tune, combined with a smaller pulley should equal a mighty jump in horsepower and a 9-second time slip,” he said. “Using the smaller supercharger pulley and utilizing our trunk-mounted ice tank from Lethal Performance should get us a 9-second time slip, which will be our goal moving forward. Once the car is capable of 9-second time slips, it’s a straightforward process to secure an NHRA Category 7 license. If all goes according to plan, that should happen in spring.

“What we’ve proven is that just about anyone can own, drive, and race a 10-second car. With the proper attention to power and reliability, you can make endless passes and find your way into the winner’s circle, too. The parts are readily available and can often be found at a discount or even used.”

McKenna keeps the burnouts short and sweet. He often drives to the track with standard performance tires on stock wheels and swaps to drag radials at the track.

Better still, while costs, both monetary and time, are real and traceable, the amount of fun and satisfaction this project has produced cannot be measured. Far too many racers get lured into by the thrill of quick elapsed time, only to be out of the sport after they’ve exhausted too much time and money.

“Other than when the rear broke, we’ve never had to turn down a chance to race, be it locally or at an event as far away as Florida,” said McKenna.

Anyone can accomplish similar elapsed times with a modern LS-powered Camaro, Corvette, Dodge Challenger or Charger, or even one of the V8 light-series trucks. Project vehicles like this will keep you racing for many years to come, even if you’re not running 8s or 7s.

About the author

Evan Smith

Evan J. Smith is an automotive enthusiast and journalist with an unrivaled passion for high-performance and racing. He is the former editor of Muscle Mustangs & Fast Fords magazine/Mustang-360.com, competes regularly in NHRA drag racing, open track road racing, and serves as a factory test driver for Ford Motor Company. He recently purchased a 2016 Shelby GT350 Ford Mustang, and still owns his original 1987 5.0 Mustang.
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