Looking at the rear of the...
Looking at the rear of the left side of the blower we see the copper colored breather and the silver colored sight glass. The sight glass allows easily checking the blower's lubricant level and color. Barely visible under the blower is one of two drain plugs. These offer convenient oil drain, along with in and out bungs for fitting an oil cooler (useful in marine applications, and they boast AN threads and O-ring sealing). Techco recommends 25,000-mile oil change (but it'll go longer); the oil is a high-quality racing transmission lube. Used in the S7R racers, Billy quipped, "We figured if it was good enough for the 24 hours of Le Mans it was good enough for our blower." There is no oil filter or pressurization.
Thanks to our close relationship with the Techco staff we were able to write this story early, before final tuning or power ratings had been set. We were also not able to drive the test mule GT because it was either being worked on or strapped to the dyno during our three-day visit--which definitely leaves us something to look forward to.
That said, we did observe pulley testing on Techco's in-house, eddy-current Dynojet chassis dyno while the engine was in near final tune.
The torque and horsepower results are below, and clearly the Techco blower makes power on par with other screw blowers, and shows signs of superior output. Using the Shelby GT500 for comparison our experience shows the Four-Valve churns out 10 pounds of boost and 435 to 440 SAE-corrected rear-wheel horsepower given typical weather and engine temperature conditions (once the factory engines get hot the power falls off considerably).
We could have picked almost any number for the Techco blower as we saw numerous dyno runs using various pulley sizes and tunes, but we'll conservatively say it peaked at 420 rwhp using our regular SAE correction (or 435 rwhp uncorrected and 433 rwhp using Dynojet's Standard correction). This was from a later pull with production size pulleys and a fair work-in-progress electronic tune. This was with only 6 pounds of boost. Give the Techco another 4 pounds of boost and it would run away and hide from a stock GT500.
In fact, what Techco was zeroing in on was keeping the power to a gentle roar as the 3.0-liter blower is a bit large and efficient for a 281-cubic-inch engine. It was nothing to make 450 rwhp with just slightly different pulleys--call it one more pound of boost--plus there is likely another 5 rwhp in the final electronic tuning. We think Techco will call their blower at 430 rwhp (500-plus at the flywheel) when final specs are set.
Another highlight was the low temperature rise of the charge air while making boost. Each run started at just over 100 degrees and finished just over 120, so call it a mere 20-degree rise from cruise to max boost, which was, again, just 6 psi. The ambient air was cool and wet during the testing (a winter storm was pummeling SoCal with rain at the time) and Techco had three powerful fans running and the hood open, but still, that's a minimal rise in charge air temperature. Clearly the Techco blower wasn't even trying while making 420 rwhp; not much of a surprise as it has the capacity and apparent efficiency to blow 1,000 hp worth of air. That, and the Techco was repeatable as sunrise on the dyno. This indicates good thermal stability from the charge cooling system.
If the Techco supercharger has a downside it's generous 3.0-liter size is it. A boon for big power upgrades, the big displacement means the Techco 3.0-liter is operating at the lower edge of its efficiency envelope on stock displacement, stock rpm street engines with low boost (under 6 lbs.). If a polite power bump is all that's needed the Techco is certainly nice, but might be an expensive way to go.
Of course, having the blower loaf along is a comforting thought because it has so much potential waiting to be tapped. With that logic, buying the Techco for your daily driver S197 means never needing to buy another blower. Of course, if the goal is big power, the Techco looks like a good choice, and we're sure we'll see big Techco numbers soon.
Another Techco advantage is fit and finish. There's nothing out there with quite this level of power capacity and fine detailing, so if having the finer things in life matters the Techco is definitely worth a look.
And that's what we'll be doing, watching, and reporting, while the Techco develops its Mustang line.
 We're greener than you think,...  We're greener than you think, but we have our limits. This bit of paper on the inside of the S197 Mustang's air-filter box is a hydrocarbon trap. It's designed to catch whatever fumes may emit from the intake system once the engine is shut off, and it's the main reason CARB won't allow open element air filters; hence, the street-legal version of the Techco blower retains the stock air box. |  If anything, the Techco supercharger...  If anything, the Techco supercharger is lavished with nicely built parts. Here's an assembled bypass valve at upper right, with some of its components. Some of the small fasteners and fittings are available hardware, but the dual O-ringed piston (in hand), the body and lid are all Techco-made. |  A close-up of the installed...  A close-up of the installed bypass valve linkage shows what Tally is talking about when he mentions "jewelry." You'll note that the linkage is adjustable, allowing tailoring of how hard the boost comes in. And with springs on both sides of the bypass it could be made to function as a pop-off valve as well. |
 Every Techco supercharger...  Every Techco supercharger is tested on Techco's blower dyno. This incredibly noisy experience validates the blower's temperatures, pressures, and drive-power requirements before the customer puts it on a Mustang. A minimum 20-minute run-in is also performed. |  We're showing the highlights...  We're showing the highlights of the engine portion of the supercharger installation. Remember that the coolant tank, pump, radiator, and lines must also be accomplished. The engine portion begins by stripping off the intake down to the valley. Also, the serpentine belt and alternator should be undone. |  The Techco alternator bracket...  The Techco alternator bracket is installed next. |
 On the passenger side, the...  On the passenger side, the blower bracket is fitted. There are a few spacers and long bolts to accommodate the serpentine belt pulleys between it and the engine. |  Now the alternator can be...  Now the alternator can be remounted to the Techco bracket. Associated jobs are changing the alternator pulley to a smaller, lower profile unit (not an underdrive pulley), and fitting the Techco-supplied alternator-jumper wiring harness. | |