Tuff Mounts frontman Jason Waye’s turbo Barra-powered FOXSAKE Mustang was already a bit of a weapon before he pulled it apart. Powered by an internally stock Barra, it had run a best of 9.4@146mph on 235 radials, podiumed in its class at Drag Challenge on multiple occasions, and scored a feature in the September 2022 issue of Street Machine. Most people would be plenty happy with such a car, but Jason isn’t most people.

First published in the February 2026 issue of Street Machine

“We’d done well with the car and had some success with it at Drag Challenge, and I felt the need to go just that little bit faster,” he says. “But the biggest instigator for this latest rebuild was the opportunity to purchase the built Barra out of the Carnage MX-5. Coupled with the fact that as we reach a certain age, we’re perhaps not as sharp as we once were, I wanted to take the opportunity to build a properly fast car now. We thought we’d do shit once and do it right – the Tuff Mounts motto.”

After it laid down some decent numbers on the dyno back at Street Machine Summernats 36 in 2024, Jason dragged the Fox-body ’Stang back to his Adelaide workshop and relieved it of its stock-bottom-end Barra, then shipped the rolling shell across to Adam Rogash at MPW Performance in Keysborough, Victoria. With the added grunt that the newly acquired built Barra would provide, it was clear that the Mustang would require more tyre under it. But after Adam got in Jason’s ear and politely reminded him of the ‘do it once, do it right’ mantra, a simple tub job for 275 radials quickly turned into a three-quarter rear chassis and provisions for even bigger tyres should they be required later on.

“I like my cars to have the right stance, and it became clear that we wouldn’t be able to get it low enough with the 275s and factory rear rails,” says Jason. “So, we went to a custom rear clip with an MPW four-link, AFCO Big Gun shocks, and a Mood Motorsports full-floating nine-inch and anti-roll bar. We’re only running 275s on 12-inch wheels at the moment, but there’s room to step up to 15x15s and 325s down the track, so there’s some future-proofing in place.”

The philosophy of future-proofing is central to the build. The car isn’t yet quick enough to require a fire system or a twin parachute, but the fire system is already in place, and provisions for CO2-actuated twin ’chutes are there. It doesn’t yet rely on laser ride height or wheel speed sensors, but it will likely need all of the above down the track, so the wiring is already in place. Should Jason (or even a subsequent owner) decide to switch the Barra out for a twin-turbo V8, sufficient real estate has been made available up front. It’s a particularly well-thought-out car, and as a result, there’s so much scope to further develop it without having to re-engineer anything. Do it once, do it right indeed.

Of course, this kind of outcome requires a lot of careful forethought. “Adam and I spent a lot of time planning the build,” says Jason. “The first nine months were spent talking through options, 3D scanning and designing how the chassis would all work. Once we agreed, the chassis was built on the MPW bench, then fitted into the car inside of four to six weeks. The Fox was then dropped on its new wheels, and progress rolled on weekly from there until finished.”

Meanwhile, the crew at Dandy Engines took the Barra that had already powered our Carnage MX-5 to PBs of 8.221 and 174.7mph, and treated it to a bit of a birthday. The existing rotating assembly, consisting of a factory crank with Precision rods and JE pistons, was inspected and treated to fresh rings and bearings. The head was ported and fitted with custom-grind Crow cams in search of more grunt. Externally, the engine now benefits from a custom Pro Mod-style MPW turbo manifold, anchored to a Pulsar 8894G whirly-boi. On the intake side, a Plazmaman inlet manifold is fitted with an FG Falcon throttlebody and a Nitrous Express nitrous system to help the car onto the three-step on the line, while a FuelTech FT600 provides the brains. The combo has proved handy for 1327hp on 34psi on the hub dyno thus far, and suffice to say there’s still plenty left on the table.

The transmission is the same Hughes Turbo 400 from the Mustang’s previous guise, paired with a billet bolt-together 4500rpm converter.

Given that the car had completely changed from the A-pillars back, a new interior was in order, which meant Jason was forced to bid farewell to the Fox-body’s très cool OEM red velour cabin. Fortunately, Claude Carafano knocked the new interior out of the park, with classy caramel-coloured leather adorning the Velo seats, lower dash and console. The front half of the rollcage remains unchanged, but the rear half was remade to tie into the new rear chassis, with extra barwork added for good measure. The quick-release MPI steering wheel and Motion Raceworks CO2 shifter are nice, race-ready additions, with Motion cup-holders proving beyond reasonable doubt that this thing’s a ridgey-didge street car!

The colour treatment in the interior ties in beautifully not only with the gold-anodised billet rocker cover, but also the striking Keizer Beurt rolling stock, measuring in at 17x4in up front, and 15x12in on the rear wearing 275/60R15 Mickey Thompson radials. As mentioned, there’s sufficient real estate to upsize the rear wheel and tyre package, but the 275s are doing the job for now, and the stance really is on the money – a good thing, really, given that’s the whole reason the kitchen sink got tossed at the car in the first place!

On just its second full pass, the car promptly went 8.7@169mph – straight down Broadway and blisteringly quick, given there’s so much more horsepower still to be had. Jason had grand plans to gradually wind up the wick on Street Machine Drag Challenge 2025; however, the dreaded curse of the departing Barra flexplate struck, and he had to bow out. The simple fix is to dowel the crankshaft, and FOXSAKE will be back in action in no time flat.

But how is it to drive after such a comprehensive rebuild?

“Well, a bit of time has passed between racing it with the old and new set-ups,” says Jason. “It’s always been a lovely car to drive and relatively simple to race, but running a 9.20 in the car like it was before felt really, really fast. My second pass on the new set-up was 8.7@169mph, and comparatively it felt really easy. As nervous as I was, the car was really composed and went straight, and I felt quite comfortable, though I’d never pulled a parachute before and that was a bit of an eye-opener! It’s testament to Adam and the MPW boys that they can set a car up that well straight out of the box.”

From here, the plan is to repair the flexplate issue and get the car back across to MPW to stick it on the dyno and start to get after the tune-up. “We’re probably only 60 per cent there in terms of the tuning side of things, and we still need to set up the bump function and things like that. Then it would be cool to get along to a private test day in Sydney or at The Bend and start pushing for better ETs – ideally somewhere in the sevens,” Jason says. “Then we’ll start to do some events like Jambo or Grudge Kings or Kenda – just get out there and have some fun with it!”

Given Jason has been a Drag Challenge sponsor and entrant since the event’s very early days, we’d be very surprised if we didn’t see it entered again this year. Quite possibly in the Radial Blown class this time around!

JASON WAYE
1989 FORD MUSTANG

THANKS
MPW for the build; Turbosmart; Pulsar Turbos; Claude Carafano for the interior; Speed Pro for
the parts and laughs; Mark for the trans rebuild; PRP for the billet rocker cover; Cam at Rosebud Panels; Ryan at Revive Paint & Panel for the touch-ups; ‘Daddy’ Dave Carnell; the real boss, Amanda Waye; Abe, Dave, Joey and Austin (the MPW crew); Adam Rogash for the confidence and advice, and for understanding my wants and goals with this build.