That's blown it - supercharged 05 GT

[LuS1fer]

Just had the Mustang supercharged at NS Racing in Edgware and they did a lovely job (apart from the dirty driver's mat...LOL). The kit is the Vortech chargecooled kit which produces a claimed 462bhp. The car certainly has a similar avalanche momentum rate to my recently sold 405bhp Corvette Z06. The car remains absolutely docile around town although you can tell there is a lot more torque throughout the range. When you give it the gas, it just accelerates and keeps accelerating. Wheelspin in 3rd was noticed on one occasion and I'm not really pushing it at all. Highly recommended.

Noise wise, not much to tell. It's pretty much the same inside the car. You can hear the supercharger whine outside the car but it's minimal. Fuel consumption from Edgeware to Cardiff on the computer was a very reasonable 24 miles to the smaller US gallon which included the heavy traffic down to Chiswick. That's 3 Mustangs that have had these Vortechs fitted by them now.

[LuS1fer]

Looks better than stock I think:

[ZR1cliff]

LuS1fer said:

Looks better than stock I think:

Nice one ,although its supercharged it has the appearance of a giant turbo,what sort of price did the car and the kit cost if you dont mind me asking and why did you go from the Z06 to the Mustang,was it seat choice?

[LuS1fer]

Purely seat choice. I needed those two extra seats. Having said that, it's nice to have a gearbox you don't have to wrestle. LOL. I paid just under £20k for the car with 3000 on the clock and £4500 for the supercharger fully installed. The parts I have coming for the Mustang will take that cost to around £30k which is more than a Z06 but the idea was to get Z06 performance with 4 seats.

[jaytee368]

Nice one Wayne... Very Nice!
You'll have to post how it handles in anger when you get the chance.
Presumably the suspenders set up is stock at mo?
Are you planning modifications in that area, coilovers, rear axle?

[LuS1fer]

The Roush Mustang has done extremely well in EVO's PCOTY and they like the suspension mods. Having researched the point, I've found that even though Steeda do their own suspension kit, they fit Tokico D-Spec shocks to their Steeda Screaming Q cars which when tested get rave reviews even compared to other modded Stangs. Similarly, the Vortech test cars both wear Tokico D-Spec shocks and several at the SEMA show have them. So I've ordered a set and will try them with the stock springs to begin with as I'm not really keen on lowering the car and messing round with the geometry. I've also ordered some billet rear trailing arms like the Steeda Q and have a Steeda billet strut brace and lower suspension brace coming to square up the front end.

Annoyingly. I ordered some 20" thin 5 spoke wheels but have since discovered that none of the big brake kits will fit with these wheels installed as thy have a lip on the rims. Having said that, the Mustang's 60-0 is 125 feet and the M3 stops in 122 and the 911 in 120 feet. Several tests of these cars with aftermarket brakes have found longer stopping distances (Stop-Tech 4 piston and Baer Racing 6 piston calipers) so maybe the stock brakes are good enough for my purposes although I'm sure the posh brakes will fade less under hard use. Accordingly, I've ordered some Powerslot slotted rotors, some Hawk performance pads, a set of stainless steel lines and some Kenny Browne brake cooling racing ducts to redress the balance.

[jaytee368]

Wow dude, that's one heck of a lot of research you've done there!
Well done and loads of luck with it.

[zektor]

LuS1fer,
Very nice. Look fantastic. I own a GT myself and was thinking about a supercharger kit for it a few months back... but i wasn't sure if there was anyone in the country competent enough to fit it. Can you tell me what the install fit and finish is like. Any problems they had?

In your opinion, is the 4.6L 3V up to it?

Lastly, how did they go about tuning the car, and what fuel grade are you using?

I'm sure you will keep us all updated with your exploits as you begin to enjoy the cars increased performance!

Cheers
Dazza

[LuS1fer]

zektor said:

LuS1fer, Very nice. Look fantastic. I own a GT myself and was thinking about a supercharger kit for it a few months back... but i wasn't sure if there was anyone in the country competent enough to fit it. Can you tell me what the install fit and finish is like. Any problems they had? In your opinion, is the 4.6L 3V up to it? Lastly, how did they go about tuning the car, and what fuel grade are you using? I'm sure you will keep us all updated with your exploits as you begin to enjoy the cars increased performance! Cheers Dazza

As you can see from the pic, the install quality is excellent and was a key point in deciding to go with the Vortech. I believe the 4.6 is more than up to the task and have had no problems deploying full throttle and overtaking manouevres I would only attempt in my last Z06 are now eminently achievable in the Mustang. The Vortech kit is specifically designed for the 2005 Mustang so the kit comes with everything you need including a Diablosport Predator tuner which uploads a programme specifically for this application.

Muscle Mustangs and fast Fords tested this conversion and tried to increase the power but ran out of fuel at around 500bhp such that further tuning would require even bigger injectors and a bigger fuel pump (Vortech supply uprated injectors and fuel pump in the kit anyway). I would certainly recommend it and it's my view that Vortech aren't going to provide a warrranty on a kit that was going to grenade the engine. I use Optimax or BP ultimate not because it needs it (the kit is designed to run on 95 octane) but because it will probably eliminate any possibility of detonation.

If there is a weak link, it's probably going to be the stock clutch. Having had a spirited drive across the Brecon Beacons, I'd say the stock springs may want replacing (difficult to tell as it may just be the dampers). I'd say that it's a bit on the soft side as the nose rears in the air when you accelerate. The brakes seemed perfectly adequate for fast driving although you can never have too good brakes.

[jimbeaux]

Beautiful work my friend! For suspension mods, I hear that Eibach brand parts are tops; do you have a preference?

[LuS1fer]

jimbeaux said:

Beautiful work my friend! For suspension mods, I hear that Eibach brand parts are tops; do you have a preference?

I've got a shedload of stuff coming from the US shortly which amounts to 20" wheels, Powerslot rotors and Hawk Performance pads with steel braided lines, Metco rear lower control arms, Tokico D-Spec shocks, Corsa axle-backs and X-pipe, Steeda strut brace and BMR lower brace. I deliberately left the springs off as I wanted to keep the stock ride height and not mess round with the geometry.

However, Roush have now set up in the UK and their Mustang recently came equal 3rd in a Performance Car shootout done by Evo magazine and the only cars that beat it were the Clio trophy and BMW M3CS. These two cars went through to the next round to compete with the Ford GT (overall winner), Ferrari F430, Lambo Gallardo etc and it's a bit of a shame the Mustang didn't go through as it would have been interesting to see how it fared. The Clio did well.

Anyway, the point is that the Roush springs are available in the UK without all the extra shipping cost so they will probably be my choice if I do change the springs (and as I'm doing the work myself, I fear I'll probably cave in and buy the springs to avoid doing it twice...LOL).