Whipple SuperChargers - For Mustang - Any Comments?

[mbutchers]

Have been looking around at various S/Charger option for the V8 - looked into Roush, and Vortech.
Spoke to Iain Litchfield a few days ago, and he reckons 'Whipple' are the best. Apparently it's the same as used on the Ford GT, and they're part of, or affiliated with Ford Racing. Iain reckons somewhere in the region of 500ish HP is easily achievable.
My question is, does anyone have experience of these installations, and how good (or not!) they are....?

[mrkipling]

Info on all the blower options here, an amazing amount infact!

www.modularfords.com/forums/2005-mustang/2005-table-of-contents-67246.html

[benny.c]

I've been speaking to Iain about this (they look after my car) and am thinking of the Whipple/Ford Racing blower too.

If you're going to order let me know, we may be able to combine shipping and get a few quid off?

Ben

[mbutchers]

OK Benny - when are you looking to get yours done....?

[stig]

mbutchers said:

OK Benny - when are you looking to get yours done....?

Could be 3 for the Whipple! (But am still keen oh the Saleen)

[benny.c]

mbutchers said:

OK Benny - when are you looking to get yours done....?

Whenever really. Was waiting for a house sale to go through but if we could save a few quid then it would make sense to order together.

Having it for my trip to Le Mans would be nice

[mbutchers]

Stig & Benny - I'm fairly easy. There's no rush, but obviously before Spring/Summer.
Probably a good time would be early May-ish..... Let me know, and I'll let you know if I start getting itchy feet before then.....

[benny.c]

I've got a MOCGB meet that I want to attend on about May 5th and then I'm going to Le Mans on June 14th so in between those dates would be ideal.

I suppose earlier in May would be best as this would give me some time with the car before doing the long journey to France. I would imagine Litchfield would want the car at least 3 days and I'm also not sure if the ECU has to be sent away? Could obviously take a while.

Can I ask you to approach Iain about possible dates, costs etc. I'll PM you my e-mail address.

Cheers
Ben

Edited by benny.c on Monday 26th February 11:47

[[OcUK]Gibbo]

Hi there

See this thread here:-
www.modularfords.com/forums/2005-mustang/s-c-installs-list-45232.html

There is a reason the Saleen is so popular because its easy to fit, very popular and gets great results whilst not been to harsh on your engine.

The Whipple should be good but its new and some guys in the US are having issues with it and still don't have a cure.

So if guys in the USA have problems with Whipple and struggle to sort it out then I would not want to be someone in the UK with problems.

My advice go with whats been tried and tested which is the Saleen blower and then go with the best tuners in the USA for the Saleen blower who are www.teamjdm.com as then you will have a reliable kit and loads of powah!!!

[mbutchers]

Gibbo said:

Hi there

See this thread here:-
www.modularfords.com/forums/2005-mustang/s-c-installs-list-45232.html

There is a reason the Saleen is so popular because its easy to fit, very popular and gets great results whilst not been to harsh on your engine.

The Whipple should be good but its new and some guys in the US are having issues with it and still don't have a cure.

So if guys in the USA have problems with Whipple and struggle to sort it out then I would not want to be someone in the UK with problems.

Hi Gibbo - I'd looked at that thread also - it seems that one guy was having trouble with the map, because he was running without Cats. The whipple uses new Ford racing injectors aswell as alot of other kit - I guess there is more set-up to do. Air/Fuel ratios looked to be one of the problems, but so long as injectors, fuel pumps etc are working properly (and/or uprated), then the results were very good.
Litchfield (along with Powerstation I believe) have a great deal of experience in setting up modified cars, and as such I think I would trust them.
Out of interest, did you buy your car with the Blower installed, or did you get it done yourself - If so, what were the costs involved, and how do the results compare.
To be honest, I think 420RWHP is going to be a bit weak for what I want......

just joshin' incase you didn't know

[steve.c]

the standard engine is only good for approx 450rwhp mind

[mbutchers]

steve.c said:

the standard engine is only good for approx 450rwhp mind

Mmmm - well I think 470 is pretty much 'approx 450'.....
Seriously tho' - are you saying that the standard internals can't take much more in terms of loads/stress etc....?

[steve.c]

mbutchers said:

steve.c said:

the standard engine is only good for approx 450rwhp mind

Mmmm - well I think 470 is pretty much 'approx 450'.....
Seriously tho' - are you saying that the standard internals can't take much more in terms of loads/stress etc....?

yes,the american mustang forum im registered on the main point they all raise is that the stock internals are safe up to approx 450rwhp, anything over that and your on borrowed time

[shmustang]

here is another suggestion for you to have a look at www.kennebell.net/index.htm
i have been looking into a charger for my stang as well and my money is on the kenne bell as it is specifically designed for the 05 4.6L V8.
the kit i have been told comes with everthing needed to install the charger and as it is made for the 05 there shouldnt be any problems.
you can also get different size pulleys to increace the bhp.
it is worth a look let us know how you get on.
regards mike

[LuS1fer]

There are a fair amount of losses through the transmission. A Procharger equipped car rated at 500hp dynoed 427 at the back wheels, a loss of 73hp and a safe tune for the 462hp Vortech is about 390 at the back wheels, another loss of 72hp. Both these are centrifugal chargers.

What is apparent from these figures is how American manufacturers have under-rated their cars. For example, a 325hp Camaro SS was tested against a 395hp Mustang Cobra in 2002 and on the dyno, the SS produced 317 at the backl wheels and the Mustang just under 390 from memory.

[[OcUK]Gibbo]

mbutchers said:

Gibbo said:

Hi there

See this thread here:-
www.modularfords.com/forums/2005-mustang/s-c-installs-list-45232.html

There is a reason the Saleen is so popular because its easy to fit, very popular and gets great results whilst not been to harsh on your engine.

The Whipple should be good but its new and some guys in the US are having issues with it and still don't have a cure.

So if guys in the USA have problems with Whipple and struggle to sort it out then I would not want to be someone in the UK with problems.

Hi Gibbo - I'd looked at that thread also - it seems that one guy was having trouble with the map, because he was running without Cats. The whipple uses new Ford racing injectors aswell as alot of other kit - I guess there is more set-up to do. Air/Fuel ratios looked to be one of the problems, but so long as injectors, fuel pumps etc are working properly (and/or uprated), then the results were very good.
Litchfield (along with Powerstation I believe) have a great deal of experience in setting up modified cars, and as such I think I would trust them.
Out of interest, did you buy your car with the Blower installed, or did you get it done yourself - If so, what were the costs involved, and how do the results compare.
To be honest, I think 420RWHP is going to be a bit weak for what I want......

just joshin' incase you didn't know

My car was originally a Saleen N/A so only produced 325BHP which was circa 260RWHP.
I investigated the many supercharger options and Saleen came out on top. So went to Saleen to find out the options but was then shown the light by many chaps in the USA regarding JDM. As they offer the entire package and their package is night and day better over what you get from Saleen in their 475HP kit.
I got the complete kit myself and I fitted it myself with hand tools which took approx 15 hours. If I had been fitting this kit on a car that did not have lightweight UDP's it would have only take 13 hours to do as the crank pulley was incredibly hard to remove with hand tools.
The entire kit cost me £3600 landed in the UK with no cost for fitting due to doing it myself.

Also I am making 460RWHP and 440RWTQ. My A/F is perfect right upto 6800rpm unlike Saleen tuned cars which tend to run dangerously lean past 5500rpm due to the MAF Saleen use. Also I am running a conservative tune for the UK's colder weather to better safety. I also opted for the larger 3.60 (8psi) pulley as well to help with traction. Wheras the actual JDM package ships with a 3.40 pulley (10.5psi) which is perfectly safe but with UK roads been crap and our weather poor I opted for the larger pulley for better traction.

The actual JDM kit with 3.40 pulley and more aggressive race tune makes 475RWHP and approx 480-490RWHP with LT headers. However this size pulley put yours fuel pump at maximum duty cycle past 5000rpm so most of the guys go with the GT500 twin pumps and then normally push around upto 500RWHP, again all on stock engine internals.

[[OcUK]Gibbo]

steve.c said:

the standard engine is only good for approx 450rwhp mind

You might want to speak to JDM m8.

Approx 500 happy customers all running around 460-510RWHP on stock engine internals with no engine failures and most of these guys now have several hundred passes at the strip and upto 60,000 miles on the clock.

Engines have been lost with the Saleen blower, but mainly ones tuned by Saleen themselves or other tuners, but never JDM.

Problem is with Saleen cars is the MAF and they tend to melt themselves due to running too lean, wheras JDM kit keeps the A/F perfect as they use a MAF from an F150.

The JDM guys own car is running something daft like 600RWHP on stock engine internals so the engine can certainly take it the problem is the tuners or other parts not been upgraded such as the MAF or fuel pump which cause engine loss.


Do a search on www.modularfords.com for "JDM Stage 2" and you will find lots of guys who are all running 440-500RWHP on stock engine internals with lots of track time who use them as daily drivers with no issues reported. JDM know how to tune these cars and have taken the Saleen blower and improved it night and day for safetly and more reliable power.

Edited by [OcUK]Gibbo on Tuesday 27th February 10:40

[steve.c]

60k miles on a 2 year old car? even if those owners did have that amount of miles on their new mustangs im guessing very few of the approx 500 hundred will have clocked many of the said 60k miles with more than 450rwhp if any! im not denying the stock internals will take more all i'm saying is anything over that and your on borrowed time irrelevant of what tune is being used

[[OcUK]Gibbo]

Hi m8

A couple of the guys I speak too in the US got the superchargers fitted literally within the first 2000 miles of motoring and now ones is past 40,000 and the other approaching 60,000.

One is running 489RWHP and the other 506RWHP, plus they both have over 150 runs down at the track so needless to say I think its fair to say JDM know how to tune these cars and offers good kits that work and are safe.

If you were tuning a Saleen car using only Saleen parts and tuning then yes I definetely agree, don't go over 450RWHP and don't rev it too often past 5500rpm as you are definetely on borrowed time.
I spent 6 months researching the supercharger options and chatting to many tuners and end users in the US, needless to say I learnt quite a lot. If my engine lets go then it would be saddening but I have faith in JDM and considering I am using a larger pulley and conservative tune I don't see my engine having any issues within its first 100,000 miles. Afterall the guys in the US are running smaller pullies, tunes with more timing and use poorer quality fuel and their cars are running fine.

Edited by [OcUK]Gibbo on Tuesday 27th February 15:12

[steve.c]

but have these guys mentioned how often they change the oil etc or how often they have taken the engine apart to check everything over?
yes the saleen tune runs lean about 5k but in the real world how often is anyone no matter what tune they have going to be sat above 5k rpm constantly in any gear?
end of the day it's all down to personal choice how much power one wants to push through the wheels and how much money they have on standby in case the engine gives way.