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Project Vapor Trail Update - Just Can’t StopWith all the great gear available for the S197, it’s tough to leave PVT alone From the July, 2011 issue of 5.0 Mustang & Super Fords By Steve Turner Photography by By The Author
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Here’s a look at PVT’s current... Here’s a look at PVT’s current underhood look. Now it is rocking Steeda’s adjustable belt tensioner; VMP Tuning’s stock-look, 2.59-inch pulley; JLT’s oil separators; and Mello Heinemann Racing’s aesthetically joined coolant and intercooler reservoir known as The Tank.. Despite my best efforts not to lust after more gear, there are just a few carbon-fiber lower cladding pieces that would round out PVT’s look. Longtime readers will know my adage about project cars, but if you are just joining the 5.0&SF party, it’s important that you know the deal. You can never truly “finish” a project car. It just doesn’t happen. The only time you finish a project car is the day you sell it. That’s because it’s just too much fun to leave them alone, even if they are really finished by most measures. As I recently wrote in my column, I was really having a hard time with this internal struggle because PVT has to share my affections with Fox 500 these days. As such, I’ve been trying to sneak in those last few mods before I totally shift gears into revamping the Fox 500’s interior. I actually managed to get most of them taken care of before the Fox arrived, but a few were added guiltily as I looked over the Fox. Of course, I didn’t feel that guilty, because the aftermarket for the S197 has become so robust that there are simply parts that are too cool to ignore. Nowhere is that more true than in the instance of the Shelby GT500. So, here’s the latest update on PVT. Some of this gear is available for any S197, while some is GT500-specific, but all of it is pretty cool, so check it out.  In case you missed it in Tech...  In case you missed it in Tech Inspection (April ’11, p. 134), one of the recent additions to PVT’s lineup wasn’t in the engine compartment. It was MGW’s new GT500 shifter, shrouded in a custom shift boot from Redline Goods ( www.redlinegoods.com). This shifter provided an immense improvement in shift feel, and its striped and snaked knob looks pretty cool too.  Oil separators are not a new...  Oil separators are not a new technology, as the idea of keeping oil out of your engine’s inlet system has long been considered a way to fend off detonation that might come from said oil diluting your fuel’s octane levels. However, JLT has packaged separators in an elegant, easy-to-install configuration customized for several Mustang applications. These are the driver- and passenger-side separators for the GT500 ($119 each).  Here’s how JLT’s billet aluminum...  Here’s how JLT’s billet aluminum oil separator works. The top of the unit features a Ford Motorcraft metal-mesh PCV pre-filter element that snatches the oil out of the PCV air stream and collects it in the reservoir below. The cup easily unscrews so you can empty and clean it. JLT recommends you do this each time you perform an oil change.  Because the JLT separators...  Because the JLT separators ship equipped with factory tubing and connections, they are one of the easiest mods on the planet. Simply slide back the retaining clips, pop off the stock tubing, and then pop on the JLT assembly. It might not look like it from this view, but there actually is clearance under PVT’s KR-style strut brace from Ford Racing Performance Parts. There’s even more clearance under a stock strut brace..  The driver-side separator...  The driver-side separator drops on just as easily, especially if your car still wears the stock inlet tube or JLT’s own carbon-fiber tube. In the case of PVT, its Ford GT inlet tube required some creative adjustment of the hoses, but the separator fit just fine.  While I wasn’t experiencing...  While I wasn’t experiencing any perceptible belt slip, I was fighting an irritating chirp until the belt warmed up. I thought adding Steeda’s adjustable billet belt tensioner (PN 555-3354; $262.45) might quiet the bird under the hood. It didn’t, but it can’t hurt having a little adjustability on the supercharger circuit to help compensate for belt stretch.  The Steeda tensioner is a...  The Steeda tensioner is a pretty straightforward install that replaces three factory bolts with longer fasteners. The belt tension is adjustable with this Allen bolt and locks down with a locknut seen here. There are also two locking bolts on the backside that further secure the adjustment where you set it. The result looks great and gives the engine a more performance-oriented personality.  It turns out that GT500s running...  It turns out that GT500s running more boost with larger crank pulleys and smaller blower pulleys are often plagued by squeaking belts. The solution to this issue is a heavy-duty green-stripe belt. These belts don’t glaze over like the standard belts do. Since we needed to swap belts, it seemed like a good time to step down in diameter to VMP’s 2.59-inch pulley from the previous-gen VMP 2.65-inch pulley PVT was rocking. We headed over to VMP, where Justin used his slick VMP Ultimate pulley puller-and-installer tool ($139.99) to remove the pulley.  With the old pulley removed,...  With the old pulley removed, Justin pressed on the new 2.59 pulley ($159) in a short time. On the dyno, it turned out the pulley swap was a break-even on PVT, but Justin has seen a handful of ponies on some cars when moving from the 2.65 to the 2.59. Moving from the stock pulley to the 2.59 obviously provides an increase of 3-4 psi and a significant boost in power.  We stuck with the stock-look...  We stuck with the stock-look 2.59, but VMP also offers an “aftermarket-look” version with faux bolt heads on its face. Either way, the pulley helps your stock or TVS blower make more boost. On PVT, the addition of the green belt with the 2.59 chased the belt chirp away. What a relief!  After running into Bill Mello...  After running into Bill Mello and Jake Heinemann of Mello Heinemann Racing ( m-hracing.com), I fell for the company’s headlining product, The Tank (PN MH-GT500TANK-S; $649). This unit cosmetically fuses the coolant and intercooler reservoirs into one sleek package. Try as you might to get separate tanks lined up, it never seems to work out. With The Tank, the fluids are physically separate, but presented as one clean unit built from rugged, 0.120-wall, 5053 aluminum. PVT’s unit arrived via our pals at Lethal Performance, an M-H Racing dealer.  Obviously the first step to...  Obviously the first step to installing The Tank is to clear a path. I used a siphon pump to drain both the intercooler and coolant tanks as much as possible to keep the mess to a minimum. Then it was time to slide off the hoses and remove the tanks.  The toughest part of installing...  The toughest part of installing the tank is cutting this hose. It was particularly tough to get the nerve to cut PVT’s silicone Samco hoses from Blue Collar Performance ( www.bluecollarperformance.com). In the end, the fact that The Tank would be a permanent resident under PVT’s hooded provided the needed drive to make the cut.  The Tank uses this clever...  The Tank uses this clever mounting bracket to provide a rigid mount with a bit of adjustability. It is clever because it uses the three existing mounting holes for the stock tanks to secure a bracket that runs the length of the radiator. Nominally, the bracket is powdercoated black just like The Tank to match the stock blower and cam covers. Notice this one was painted Vapor Silver to match PVT.  Once the bracket is secured,...  Once the bracket is secured, The Tank is fastened to the bracket using these stylish button-head fasteners. In this shot, you can see I wrapped the tank in painter’s tape to protect its new paint job from any miscues during the install.  Here’s the finished product....  Here’s the finished product. The Tank really classes up PVT’s underhood view with its clean lines. Our version is the latest to come out of M-H Racing, and utilizes stock or stock-style caps like PVT’s carbon-fiber Project 321 caps ( www.project321.com). Of course, they still offer the original design with a fuel cell-style cap on the intercooler side. This feature allows for the easy addition of ice at the race track. Both units are available via Lethal. And, just to be clear, the paint-matching is a DIY addition.  S197 seats, particularly those...  S197 seats, particularly those in the GT500, offer a nice balance of comfort and lateral support. Let’s face it—they are much nicer than the seats offered in many of their predecessors. One sticky point of these seats, however, is the non-adjustable headrests. To the rescue comes TMI with its four-way-adjustable, tilting headrests for ’05-and-up ’Stangs. They are available in colors and materials to match the stock seating.  First you have to remove your...  First you have to remove your stock headrests. It should just be a matter of pushing the release button and sliding them out. Ours seemed to resist our advances, so we had to resort to muscling them out, which tweaked one of the rods a bit. It’s nothing that can’t be bent back, but just a warning.  The new TMI adjustable headrest...  The new TMI adjustable headrest slid right in. As you can see, they are a different style that our ’08 headrests, but the adjustability is such a nice addition. Here they are adjusted to tilt forward at the farthest adjustment. One more click and they return to a straight-up position. They are really slick.  Of course, not to leave well...  Of course, not to leave well enough alone, we had our pal Keith Doughty at KDezines ( www.kdezines.com) apply a custom PVT logo to the new TMI headrests. The logo is applied with a new heat-transfer process rather than embroidery, so it can be applied without disassembling your headrests. Plus KDezines can do all sorts of custom logos. Just dream up a logo, send him the file, ship him your headrests, and your ’Stang is one of a kind. 5.0
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