Jason Fields of Sharpsburg, Georgia, had three goals in mind when he began the racing season. Not in any particular order, he wanted to finish in the top three in Fun Ford's Pro 5.0 class, have a seven-second timeslip in his pocket, and see his coupe featured in a magazine. As of this writing he's in a battle for Second in points with good friend Brit Floyd, and obviously, what you're reading here is called a color feature. You know what they say-two out of three ain't bad!
However, it's probably that seven-second timeslip Jason desires most. That's not to say he hasn't been trying. Beginning with an abandoned '85 four-cylinder coupe, Jason put in two years of after-hours work, with plenty of help from Dusty Collins, Cory Myers, Billy Vickory, Barry Peppers, and many others, to get the coupe into its current trim. Jason actually started out building an Outlaw car until his good buddies Brit Floyd and Chris Collins began building their own Pro 5.0 cars. Jason decided he wanted to jump into the Pro 5.0 ranks with both feet as well. Realizing the need for a well-built chassis, Jason summoned the services of A-Chassis [(770) 304-4581] to ensure the car was ready for Pro 5.0 competition.
A-Chassis added a custom K-member, control arms, a 12-point cage, Chassis Engineering ladder bars, and a Chris Alston Chassisworks [(800) 722-2269] Fab9 rearend, among other pieces. The Fab9 housing was narrowed to accept Mickey Thompson 31x10.5W slicks. All the hard work on the suspension has paid off. Jasons coupe has clocked 60-foot times in the 1.20-second range.
Of course, its going to be difficult to get a car to 60-foot that well without a wicked engine in it, and as owner of RJ Performance [(770) 304-0407], Jason took sole responsibility for getting the coupe down the track. To begin the year, he was utilizing an FRPP "W" cast-iron 351 block, but he has since stepped up to an RDI aluminum block. Rotating assembly components include a Scat billet crank, Bill Miller rods, Venolia pistons, and Childs & Albert rings.
The 400-inch Windsor boasts a stout 15.9:1 compression ratio. A pair of Yates heads received a JDS Induction [(770) 460-6102] port job and 2.10/1.60 titanium valves and T&D shaft rockers. JDS also ported the Yates intake that mounts a Holley 1,250-cfm single four-barrel carb. A custom Reed cam makes the most of the combination.
Even with all these components on board, Jason's coupe still needed a power adder to make a run at the seven-second zone. To that end, he chose the tried-and-true NOS Pro Fogger setup. He credits Steve Johnson of NOS and Steve Petty for tuning the nitrous for maximum horsepower. Although a single-stage hit is on call right now, Jason has experimented with a two-stage system, although he has yet to work the second stage in without hurting engine components. One thing that seems to be holding up its end of the bargain is the car's Performance Automatic Powerglide transmission. Jason would like to thank Harvey Baker at PA for all his help this year. A custom aluminum driveshaft delivers power from the 'Glide back to the Fab9 rear.
Leaving the car solid white for a year didn't garner the kind of attention that Jason had hoped. In fact, the car earned the nickname "The refrigerator-white Mustang." "We even thought about putting 'Sponsored by Fridgidaire' on the side of the car," Jason says. To make the car stand out in a crowd, Jason talked to his friend Bill Odom of Kustom Kreations [(770) 477-2909] about adding some wild graphics to it. "I'm gonna get ya somethin' that'll get you in the magazines," Bill told him.
Mission accomplished. Now about that 7-second timeslip! So far an 8.12 at 171.6 is Jason's best effort, but he has only one goal left for next season.