During these happy days when exciting specialty Mustangs sprout on showroom floors like so many spring mushrooms, the Mach 1 has proven a favorite of ours. With a willing engine, an easy-to-work-with chassis, and a price that's obtainable by at least a few of us, the Mach is a mighty temptress of our car-buying budget.
Then along comes Vortech, doing what it does, which is to hang centrifugal superchargers off everything save tree limbs, which now includes Mach 1 Mustangs. Talk about temptation.
Developments such as these lead to ruminations around the 5.0&SF water cooler, and it was thus decreed that closely examining Vortech's enhanced Mach would be a good thing. There were, after all, a few questions, such as how does Vortech plumb its blower into the ram-air air path? How much power does it make? Is it fun to drive? And perhaps as something of a clich now that we've tested one seven ways to Sunday, how does it compare to that modern benchmark, the '03 Mustang Cobra?
Aside from sitting in the never-ending Los Angeles-area gridlock while shuttling test cars around, getting the answers proved relatively easy. A call to Ford produced the same yellow Cobra we'd previously tested ("Snake Prize," Jan. '04, p. 40), and the rest was done at or near Vortech's facility northwest of Los Angeles. A quick session on Vortech's Mustang chassis dyno revealed the power and torque curves of these two different supercharged Four-Valves, followed by a trip across the local truck scales and then an enjoyable session of side-by-side, rolling-start blasts to see how the power curves came out in the real world.
Great Straight From FordAs a point of departure for this test, let's recall how enjoyable the Mach 1 is stock. With a naturally aspirated, free-revving, 305hp Four-Valve V-8, a five-speed transmission, and a live rear axle, the Mach is a powerful combination of GT practicality and high-dollar Cobra-esque power and sophistication. Priced in the $28,000 neighborhood, Machs were actually selling for around $21,000 after incentives at our deadline-not chicken feed, but obtainable, especially when compared to the $35,000 Cobra.
Ford gives the Mach 1 a soft spring and shock tune for an easy ride and rapid weight transfer at the dragstrip, yet the strut front and live rear axle suspension is easily modified with any number of aftermarket options, if desired. The interior has difficult-to-read, retro-faced instruments, but the seats are comfy, and a bit of muted bright tones around the instrument cluster and center console relieve what could otherwise be black boredom. The Shaker hoodscoop is unique, and the power is quick and easy.
Mach 1s nominally breathe through a standard, inner-fender inlet, conical air filter enclosed in a box, along with the standard air meter, throttle body, and associated air tubing-the typical Mustang air path, in other words.
To this, Ford has added a Shaker hoodscoop. Because the standard snorkel inlet to the air-filter box is never closed, if pressure were to exceed ambient in the airbox, it would back-track out the snorkel inlet. A slight pressure rise could be detected with sensitive laboratory instruments, but nothing practical would come of it. But, hey, the hoodscoop is fun and no one gets hurt.
As for our subject Mach, to the already impressive stock mechanicals, owner Trevor Kaplan, once Vortech's marketing manager for sport-compact cars but now on to other jobs (and faster cars), has added a beguiling mix of aftermarket improvements. The supple-but-occasionally-imprecise stock suspension was completely replaced by the more-supple-yet-definitely-precise Griggs Racing GR-40 kit, including coilover shocks. Trevor opted for a stock-style- ride spring and shock tune to preserve daily driver comfort.