Things are a bit more clear-cut...
Things are a bit more clear-cut on the passenger side, as the starter and steering shaft are not players over here. Once the factory manifold is out of the way and you have removed the appropriate studs, you can snake the BBK header into place.
“The long-tube header install did not require any air/fuel changes (or cause any), but the key to extracting power from any Coyote combination is getting the TI-VCT right,” Justin hinted. “We are making 640 rwhp through an auto transmission; the guys with larger blowers and manuals are making more at the wheels, but crank horsepower is similar, around 800 hp. We intentionally run the factory enclosed airbox to limit boost on the top end for fuel system and engine durability reasons.
“We have not even begun to push the Roush 2.3-liter TVS kit hard. The TVS has produced over 800 rwhp on my Shelby GT500. There is plenty left in the 2.3-liter blower, at this point we are just stepping lightly around the stock engine/trans/fuel system. I believe the Roush kit could easily go to 700-750 rwhp on a stock engine with fuel, though it would be on borrowed time.”
In the end, the combination described here resulted in a stunning 10.00 at 138 mph with a 1.5-second 60-foot time. Keep in mind that this car has a stock engine. So despite its most obvious bolt-on—the blower—it is still a new Mustang with a handful of bolt-on parts. These are good times indeed, and Rebecca’s project is far from complete.
With the headers in place,...
With the headers in place, you are on the home stretch. The BBK X-style pipe uses a ball-flange in the front, and the factory band clamps at the rear.
Here’s the completed install...
Here’s the completed install with the BBK hardware looking right at home. Just as with the front widebands, the rear oxygen sensors are a bit farther away from their stock locations, so it is necessary to join the sensors with the extension harnesses supplied in the BBK kit.
“I’m turned on by the fact that we are going to see a bunch of factory hot-rod 5.0-liter parts. The 5.0 in the F-150 is going to be lower compression than the Mustang version, which is good for boost. The Roush kit will essentially bolt right onto an F-150. Then we’ve got the Boss with its factory forged parts,” Justin said. “Whether we can draw from this parts bin or just use aftermarket parts is still being determined. The stock auto trans and stock converter is almost more of a durability concern than the engine, but solutions are becoming available for that, too. We plan to eventually build an engine to handle 20 pounds of boost. However, to run fast a built motor is not as much of a necessity as everyone first thought. The factory 11:1 compression ratio is boost-friendly, even on pump gas.” 5.0
As you can see, the headers...
As you can see, the headers and tuning picked up the powerband across the board, but helped particularly in the midrange.
On The Dyno
Though boost actually tailed off a bit due to the reduction in backpressure, the addition of the BBK headers definitely picked up the power of Rebecca’s Roushcharged ’11 GT. The gains were particularly strong in the midrange, where the ’Stang picked up peaks of 19.22 horsepower and 22.63 lb-ft of torque. Since our testing, Justin has since stepped the blower down to a 69mm pulley, resulting in a whopping 670 hp and 610 lb-ft at the Mickeys. This car is currently producing the power of a bolt-on GT500. The Coyote era truly is a big reset for our bolt-on expectations.
These days we rarely install...
These days we rarely install a part without the rubber hitting the rollers. That is especially true at VMP, where all of the Starkey’s in-house vehicles undergo tireless testing.
After installing the headers,...
After installing the headers, we immediately hit the dyno to see how much power we had unleashed. Initially, it looked like the headers would be a break-even proposition. That was until Justin decoded the variable cam timing programming in the Copperhead ECM to unlock the potential of the freer-flowing exhaust.