Gram Lights Wheels 57NR

Josh Baker has a thing for yellow. Fair enough. His first car was a Yellow New Edge GT back in the day. Then a Yellow ’05 after that. Then, back in the Fall of 2014, Josh Baker was looking at upgrading to a yellow Boss S197… all the way up in Maine. The new S550 generation was juuuuust starting to come out. He was interested in the S550 & the IRS, but he wasn’t necessarily ‘sold’ on it yet. One night his wife said something along the lines of, “Honey I don’t know why you wouldn’t just buy the brand new one… I mean you could totally start form scratch & do your own thing?”

…That was all the ‘green light’ Josh needed. 

Plus… yellow was back as a factory color. The new S550 cars were just barely beginning to trickle into the market, and Corsa Performance was looking for a S500 for R&D. So Josh, from North Carolina, found this yellow car with all the right options up in New York. He flew to Buffalo, signed the paperwork, and then drove it straight to Corsa Performance in Ohio. Corsa had the car for a few weeks, and then returned it to Josh with a shiny new exhaust. Now Josh is no Youtube guru, but he felt compelled to record an review/detail video of the Corsa exhaust on the brand new-generation Stang. Turns out – the timing + interest level was perfect, because the vid got picked up & shared by a bunch of the Mustang forums/pages, hitting over 30,000 views in the first week. Right place… right time. 

And things kind of spiraled from there. A few other aftermarket companies looking for an R&D car reached out. And Josh all the sudden had a little surge of momentum on his brand new build. 

bagged Mustang

Today, everything on the car more-or-less accents or supports the Armageddon twin turbo kit. The Armageddon kit is using 2 Garrett GTX3576R turbos. Prior to the turbos, this car was supercharged – and definitely rowdy. But after riding in a friend’s twin-turbo Mustang, the thrill was too real… and Josh was a changed man. 

Coyote 5.0 Mustang twin turbo

Aesthetically – the car is running a full Cervini kit. And he’s got two sets of wheel/tire setups, depending on the mood. 

The drivetrain is almost fully aftermarket. The transmission is a Ben Calimer Stage-1 TR6060, with McLeod clutch & lightweight steel flywheel. It’s got Driveshaft Shop upgraded axles, and carbon driveshaft. And 4.11 gearing 

In a weird little twist, the car is running Air Lift air suspension. Drag racers say you can’t run air on a real drag car. Josh kinda says, “Watch me try.” He claims that air, gives you the ability to tweak settings on the fly, helping to dial-in weight transfer & ultimately gain traction. And I feel like, dang if you can make a functioning drag car look this good, I’ll live my life a quarter mile at a time. No problem. 

S550 Mustang wide body Cervini

ENGINE

Armageddon twin turbo kit, using Garrett GTX3576R Gen-2 turbos

NLR Systems AMS 2000 Pro boost controller

N2MB 2-step

Injector Dynamics ID 1300 fuel injectors

Fore Innovations L3 return-style fuel system – triple

UPR Products – Armageddon kit-specific catch can

MMR billet oil pump gears & crank sprocket

MMR CMCV lockouts

GT350 intake manifold

Blowfish Racing throttle body adapter

ARP head studs

EXHAUST

Corsa Performance Xtreme axle-back exhaust with black anodized tips

Kook’s forward-facing headers (standard with Armageddon turbo kit)

TUNING

Lund Racing Tune – E85/boost

N-Gauge device

Boost+ box

DRIVETRAIN

Ben Calimer Stage-1 TR6060

American Powertrain reverse lockout

Dakota Digital speedo box

Driveshaft Shop 1400hp halfshaft axles

Drivershaft Shop 1-piece carbon fiber driveshaft

MGW TR6060 swap shifter/knob

McLeod Racing RXT 1200 clutch

McLeod Racing lightened steel flywheel – 8 bolt

McLeod Racing stainless braided clutch line

ARP flywheel bolts

US Gear 4.11 gears – Lightning Series ISF treated (lightened by Strange)

BRAKES

Baer Deep Stage SS4+ drag brakes (front & rear)

Dorman brake hose banjo bolts (PN 13912) x4

Goodridge stainless steel lines (PN 12366)

S550 Mustang body kit

WHEELS

HRE FlowForm FF04s – 20×10 front & 20×11 rear (STREET SETUP)

-Mickey Thompson Street Comps 275/35/20 front

-Mickey Thompson ET Street SS 305/25/20 rear

Weld Racing Alumistars – 15×3.5 (front) (DRAG SETUP)

-Mickey Thompson ET 27.5×4.00

Weld Racing single deadlock RTS S71Bs – 15×9 (rear) (DRAG SETUP) 

-Mickey Thompson ET Drag Bias Ply 28×10.50 stiff walled slicks

ARP 1/2-20 2.5” wheel studs (Steeda) 

SUSPENSION

Air Lift performance coilover – digital

Viking double-adjustable ‘Crusader’ shocks x2 

Steeda S550 IRS subframe bushing support system (PN 555-4437)

Steeda S550 Rear IRS support braces (PN 555-5754)

UPR billet aluminum vertical links

Steeda S550 IRS subframe alignment kit (PN 555-4438)

S550 Bagged drag tires

EXTERIOR

Cervini’s Auto Designs stalker hood

Cervini’s stalker wing

Cervini’s stalker side scoop

Cervini’s stalker front splitter

Cervini’s stalker side skirts

Cervini’s stalker rear bumper

Cervini’s hood struts

Bullseye Retros / Diode Dynamics RGBW/demon eyes

INTERIOR

FRPP GT350R steering wheel

FRPP GT350R rear seat delete

35% tint

Text by Wooley   Photos by Jaron Cole

the Simpsons car

Gram Lights Wheels 57NR