Vortech V-6 Mustang Supercharger

What could possibly be more humiliating than having your 5.0's doors blown off by a V-6 car? Short of a wheezing Honda, not much. In fact, there's not much danger in losing to a V-6 Mustang unless you're a terrible driver, or your 5.0 is terminally wounded from a previous "altercation." There is, however, an exception to this rule and it comes courtesy of Vortech.

A couple of years ago, Vortech prototyped a supercharger kit for the V-6 Mustang for an aftermarket manufacturer (Saleen, if you must know); but nothing was ever done with it, so the patterns sat on a shelf collecting dust. Someone within Vortech must have realized that the bulk of Mustangs sold are V-6 cars, and that maybe, just maybe, there was actually a market out there for blower kits. They blew the dust off the brackets, installed them on a donor car, fine-tuned it all, and then called 5.0 Mustang to see if we were interested.

The name of this magazine is 5.0 Mustang. In reality, we are about all things relating to the '79-and-later Mustang; the subject matter applies more to the car itself than the engine. So, although we don't have much information on four-cylinder and V-6 Mustangs, that doesn't mean we can't do it. Based on some of the letters we've gotten in the past year or so, it seems that some V-6 technology may be in order. So we told Vortech, "Sure, we'll check it out."

The kit uses a standard S-trim V1 supercharger with V-6-specific brackets, and it fits nicely, a by-product of having an engine with two fewer cylinders. Installation is similar to a 5.0 S-trim kit, although it's a bit easier because of the extra room afforded by the smaller engine. The boost level is eight pounds, which makes it pretty idiot-proof from a tuning perspective. Bolt it on, pour in some 92, and go hammer away.

We visited Vortech to check out some of the kit's details and test the car to see how fast it was. The car is a brand-new machine with a T5, 2.86:1 gears on an open differential, and less than 300 miles on the odometer. At Motor Trend's nearby secret site, we set up the Stalker radar gun and made a few runs. The best pass was a 15.30 at 93 mph, with a 0-to-60 time of 6.8 seconds. Not spectacular, but pretty close to a stock 4.6 GT. The open differential really hurt the times as it spun the right rear wheel all the way through first gear and part of second. A set of 3.73 gears and a Traction-Lok, and the car would easily be in the 14s. That's quick enough to beat the pants off an unsuspecting GT.

So next time you get baited by a Mustang with the little Horse & Tri-bar emblem, roll down the window and give a listen for the telltale blower gear noise. You don't want to get dusted by a V-6--now do you?