Given the daily driver nature of this Vortech kit, plus what seems an intent by Ford to someday provide forced induction in the Mustang, the stock fuel pump, filters, lines and rails proved plenty large. Only the fuel injectors require a step up to the tried and true GT500 units. Electronic tuning is done via an SCT hand-held flash tuner hooked to the electronic data port under the dashboard. As always, Vortech demands a stock compression ratio and 91-octane-or-higher premium fuel. East Coasters with ready access to 93-octane premium can gain an additional 30 hp with custom tuning.
Thanks to the intricacies of the parts supply pipeline, divining the street price of Vortech's soon-to-be-released '11 Mustang GT kit requires some crystal balling. The suggested retail-a price no one pays-is $5,995.95. This is identical to the same system if it were polished and more than if it were garden variety satin. Satin pricing had not been set at our press time.
Squinting a little, we'll guestimate the real-world street price of the black anniversary '11 GT kit to hover at $5,475. Expect the same pricing for the eventual polished kit, and about $5,250 for a satin kit. Another guess is when the satin and polished kits will be released. The black anniversary kits will definitely be available by the end of November 2010, and we'll wager the satin/polished versions will show by March 2011, possibly sooner.
The other option is a tuner kit. That's a blower kit designed for pro shops that prefer to do their own tuning, so they don't want, need or get a flash programmer, fuel injectors and other fuel system bits in a tuner kit. In short, it's just the mechanical portion of the blower kit and typically costs approximately $1,000 less than the full kit. But obviously the installed cost will still reflect aftermarket fuel injectors and custom tuning.
All told, the '11 GT Votech is a moderate installation job that should take at most one shop day. Home installation by experienced enthusiasts is no problem. With its relatively modest low-rpm power increase and strong top end charge, the Vortech is a good partner for the gent wanting a civilized around-town driver along with extra snort when pushing hard. It's also a smart choice for any sort of road course work-open-tracking or racing-because the power is easily hooked up, the rpm can easily be kept high on the track and weight gain is less than a positive-displacement blower.
Drag racers may find the Vortech revvy personality helpful, too, depending on how much traction their class allows, but they may miss icing the old water-to-air charge cooler. In all cases we recommend 3.55 rear gears or steeper to maximize initial acceleration before the boost ramps up. Here's to another 20 years of centrifugual fun. Congratulations, Vortech, on the silver anniversary, and thanks for celebrating it in black!
Staggered height and curvature...
Staggered height and curvature blades are a visual hallmark of the Si impeller. These carefully designed vanes boast aerodynamic cross-section and require serious machining capability, something Vortech definitely has in-house.
Vortech mounts its blower...
Vortech mounts its blower using this plate assembly. The rear plate facing the camera is steel, the front plate is aluminum. Vortech is shipping this as an assembly pretty much as shown here, complete with idler pulleys and belt already wrapped in place. With all pulleys mounted in double shear, this should prove a rigid, long-lived piece. The row of holes at 4 o'clock allow repositioning an idler gear to accommodate different blower drive pulley sizes.
It's large, and looks larger...
It's large, and looks larger painted black, but the air-to-air intercooler weighs a little less than you'd think. Because there is no additional water, reservoir, hoses, pump and relay the air-to-air system should be cheaper and weigh less than the water-based charge-cooling used on previous Vortech Mustang kits.
Pure prototypes, these hand-fabbed...
Pure prototypes, these hand-fabbed aluminum air ducts will be black roto-molded plastic in production blower kits. The bypass valve is the "mini-race" part, and definitely out-flows Vortech's traditional street bypass. It's a noisy cuss, however, so ask for Vortech's hush kit for this bypass if the air-rush sound will bother you.
Vortech supplies stock GT500...
Vortech supplies stock GT500 fuel injectors with their 5.0 kit, along with aluminum spacers. The spacers make up for the GT500 units shorter height. Furthermore, the GT500 injector and spacer combination does away with the 5.0's injector retaining clips. Vortech prefers using these injectors because they are readily available and a known quantity from a tuning standpoint.
This simple aluminum spacer...
This simple aluminum spacer is supplied to space the stock throttle body forward. Without the spacer the supercharger hit's the throttle body. Additionally, Vortech has you re-clock the throttle body upside down for more clearance. Vortech reports that extensive naturally aspirated testing with the throttle body inverted showed no power or driveability issues.
Vortech was able to pull two...
Vortech was able to pull two existing ancillary kits off its parts shelf for 5.0 use. This radiator hose kit is one of them. The chrome pipes and molded hoses are used to extend and reroute the radiator hoses away from the supercharger. This kit was originally developed for the Three-Valve Mustang.
Vortech's other off-the-shelf...
Vortech's other off-the-shelf Three-Valve kit that also works on the new 5.0 is this coolant tank assembly. The roto-molded tank re-uses the stock coolant tank cap.
Like almost any blower install,...
Like almost any blower install, the Vortech 5.0 fitment begins by disconnecting the battery, draining the radiator, then stripping off the front fascia. A series of plastic push pins and small bolts holds the fascia on. At the corners the fascia simply pulls out (seems crude but that's how it unclips).
Once the fascia is free from...
Once the fascia is free from the chassis, reach behind it to unplug the running light wiring harness at each lamp, then pull the fascia off, but don't set it aside just yet.
The large air-to-air intercooler...
The large air-to-air intercooler requires the fascia be trimmed on its backside. It's a little tough to see here, but the center and two side inlets below the bumper have all been hacked open to clear the 'cooler.
To fit the intercooler, it's...
To fit the intercooler, it's also necessary to remove the stock air-filter box, the snorkel under the airbox, the two plastic shrouds flanking the radiator, and the Styrofoam bumper pad. Here the final piece, the snorkel, is coming out.
Atop the radiator the coolant...
Atop the radiator the coolant reservoir is removed and a small section of the fan shroud under the reservoir requires minor trimming.
This is a view of the front...
This is a view of the front of the engine showing the spliced, lengthened and re-routed radiator hoses, among other things. Our photos were shot on Vortech's test mule which had been together and apart numerous times, so the coolant hoses had already been modified. Likewise, now is the time to mount the new coolant reservoir on the right shock tower.
With the hoses reconfigured...
With the hoses reconfigured it's time to mount the blower bracket to the right front corner of the engine. Two long studs are threaded into the engine just above and on both sides of the air conditioning compressor. Three timing cover bolts are also removed at this time.
Wheeling The Wheel
Although far from fully tuned, Vortech generously put us behind the wheel of its '11 test mule so we could begin our blown Coyote education.
Happily, we must say a '11 Mustang GT putting down 460 Clydesdale horsepower to the rear tires is a smoking good time. Switch off the traction control, put a couple of thousand rpm on the tach, trade clutch and throttle pedals with authority, and the big GT blazes the rear tires as much as you command. With the rear end slowly swinging side-to-side, First gear goes by quickly; an enthusiastic granny shift keeps the music squealing in Second. It takes a touch of driving to maintain directional control, and as speed builds to the top of Second gear and your tire-frying resolve begins to wane in favor of forward motion, the 5.0 will be ready to hook up. A speed shift into Third would no doubt bring a satisfying bark from the rear tires, but we didn't want to visit such aggression on Vortech's shiny red bit of test equipment, so we left that for you to explore. But it definitely has some steam.