DSPORT Issue #255
Text by APEworks// Photos by Kelly Myers
Your mind isn’t playing tricks on You; if it seems as though this particular Ford Mustang looks familiar, that’s because it is the same EcoBoost-powered Mustang featured in DSPORT just a few short years ago. What’s changed since then? Apparently, there are a host of changes both visible and lurking underneath the sheetmetal and glass, not the least of which is an authenticated timeslip that makes this 4-banger a world-record titleholder. Let’s once again dive further into what makes Jessie Ringley’s 4-cylinder Mustang the new king of the beasts.
Displacement Replaced
One can’t be a fan of DSPORT’s features and not understand that there are a million ways to make horsepower, and while starting with a 5.0-liter V8 under the hood is usually a good idea if the hood is adorned with a blue oval, Ringley has proven that he can accomplish similar feats with less than half of the displaced space. “I am a glutton for punishment,” Ringley explains. “I have always had love for rear-wheel drive 4-cylinder turbo cars, but there weren’t that many available in America for years. When Ford put out the S550 (Mustang), it opened the door for what I was looking for.”
This is all old hat to the devoted DSPORT enthusiast, so we turn the calendar to early 2022, when Ringley and his team at Engineered Motorsport Solutions decided to depart with the “barely street legal” ethic and go full “draggin’ slayer”. The Mustang was gutted and prepped for maximum effort quarter-mile timeslips and the 2,300cc EcoBoost was transformed into the EcoBeast.
To make reliable power out of the Ford engine, EMS first sleeved and welded the block to better handle the tremendous pressures they expected to produce on the road to four-digit horsepower output. A set of custom-specification high compression Mahle slugs mated with a quartet of Wiseco Boostline connecting rods which in turn are motivated by the factory crankshaft that EMS keyed to eliminate unwanted movement from the attached components. With the final static compression ratio considered to be in the 10-to-1, high compression range, EMS employed a set of Speed Perf6rmanc3-spec ARP Head and Main studs to keep the units together under the most extreme pressures.
Through research, trial and error, Ringley and his team learned that they were losing power to the car’s variable valve timing system. In fact, deactivating the exhaust portion of the variable timing system solved a problem that had haunted them for some time. “Once we figured out that the exhaust valve timing would have to be locked out, we picked up over 100 wheel horsepower,” Ringley explains. Valve events are still partially controlled electronically on the intake side, but the exhaust side relies solely on the custom profile Piper UK camshafts while high-speed insurance comes in the form of BC valvetrain components. The cylinder head itself received the EMS-spec BMF CNC port from Max CFM Motorsports.
Powerplant Supplanted
Although the EcoBoost engine comes from the factory with a snail attached, making real power meant that it would be among the first of the OE parts to find its way to the spares bin. Various turbochargers have made their way into the Mustang’s engine bay but the magic number that let EMS set its timelips records is 6785; the GT42-framed Precision Turbo and Engineering 6785 Generation 2 turbocharger now occupies the space at the end of the exhaust manifold. The spooling unit features a 67.7 mm compressor inducer and twin-scroll T4 turbine housing. A pair of Precision Turbo and Engine 46mm wastegates modulate boost pressures while a 50mm PTE blowoff valve bleeds excess pressures on o -throttle moments. A 3-port Mac valve has the final say in dialing in the right amount of boost pressure. In addition to the forced induction upgrade, Ringley added a Nitrous Outlet 50-shot serving of nitrous oxide for its obvious boosted-engine benefits.
The PTE turbocharger takes in air from the Vibrant velocity stack and then sends compressed air through the Rise Fab Shop water-to-air intercooler before it passes through the Bosch 82mm throttle body and ultimately combines with the Ignite Red fuel a er passing through the proprietary EMS configuration of a Magnus V5 intake manifold. The Ignite Red is fed through both port and direct injectors – FID 2,200 cc/min for the port injectors and a set of prototype Xtreme DI 2,450 cc/min injectors for the direct injection. The Aeromotive 5 Gpm variable speed low side and Xtreme DI (XDI) +60 high side fuel pumps draw their supply from the Speedway Motors 5-gallon fuel cell for the jaunts down the 1,320. The entire air-fuel corps get their marching orders from a MoTec M142 unit tuned by PD Tuning’s Ryan Martin, with supporting electronic duties provided by a Kaizen control module and high-speed relays. With low boost clocking in at 38 lb/in2 and high boost soaring to over 50 lb/in2, the EcoBeast’s current form turned a 940 whp at 8,000 rpm, with peak torque checking in at 696 lb/ at 6,500 rpm so quadruple digit horsepower numbers seem to be in the EcoBeast’s near future.
Business Class Amenities
While a fast race car is a sight to behold all on its own, there’s not much “show” left in this show pony. “Function as fashion” is the work ethic as the car’s aerodynamics were enhanced by either covering front-fascia areas or removing unnecessary parts. A serious drag machine wears serious drag-racing shoes, and the EcoBeast is no different – Weld Racing drag wheels wrapped in Mickey Thompson drag rubbers are the order of the day. Baer Brakes and the requisite parachute provide the stopping power at the end of the quarter-mile assault.
Inside the cockpit, a Rise Fab Shop 8.50 cage and Kirkey seat round out the interior amenities, with the rest of the cockpit adorned with electronic data control and display accoutrement. Underneath it all, a Wavetrac differential works in conjunction with Ford Performance and The Driveshaft Shop axles and driveshaft , respectively, to translate the power into forward motion.
Numbers Game
With the new pieces in place, the EcoBeast has already conquered the 8-second realm by capturing the title of Quickest EcoBoost quarter-mile time with its blistering 8.985-second run. The eighth-mile game is no joke either – rocking a 5.766-second timeslip in that 660-foot blast. So with lessons learned, Ringley’s perspective has changed from its once idyllic street legal power to full race-car change. “If I had to do it all over again, I would go straight to the big turbo with nitrous from the get-go,” Ringley relates. And with those numbers in tow or just over the virtual horizon, Ringley’s already knocking on the door to be let into the mid-8-second and ultimately 7-second clubs in the 4-banger Mustang That Could that they call The EcoBeast.
