It’s one thing to be a witness to some single digit E/T passes, but it’s a totally different thing to take control of it all from the driver’s seat. Of course, we know that isn’t possible for everyone, so we’ve gotten a hold of the next best thing – taking a look at a 9 second pass from the driver’s perspective. In this case, Bill “Bam” Jones supplied us with the killer helmet-cam video from his most recent testing bout, running out an all-motor 9.60 pass despite fighting some converter issues within the powerglide.
It wasn’t quite the performance, like his personal best 9.44 back in May, but Jones’ video of this 9.60 pass was crucial in helping FTI diagnose what was amiss in the converter. It was later diagnosed to be a few broken fins, and Jones will soon have a fresh and functional converter in his Fox. On top of that, Jones traced down the top-end misfire to an adjustable ignition rotor coming loose and jumping spark, which luckily didn’t cause any serious engine damage.
Father and co-car owner Bill “Pops” Jones and Bam are shooting for the 9.20-9.30 zone with the car’s current setup, and as we know, once you get there, you want a little more. The Jones’ current setup is a 454″ CHI-headed Clevor with top of the line go fast goodies including a World block, CSR water pump, Camshaft Innovations custom camshaft and 2″ primary open headers. You won’t ever see a drop of pump gas anywhere near this ‘Stang, as it’s running nearly 15:1 compression. While it’s not the most radical setup out there, 450″+ small blocks aren’t exactly common, and Jones’ car definitely is impressive in the world of naturally aspirated fury. Me personally, any ‘Stang that can knock off 9-second passes round after round is admirable.