With Kenne Bell's 2.1-liter Blowzilla supercharger bolted to the stock 5.0 engine in Geoff Connors' super-clean '88 GT, we proceeded to the Dynojet chassis dyno at GTR High Performance to create general and "max-effort" calibrations.
[Enter text here]
Ken Christley (technical director at Kenne Bell) handled manipulation of the 'Stang's EEC-IV processor, using SCT's tuning software to create a custom chip that contains calibrations for VP's MS109 race fuel, as well as California-standard 91-octane gas.
As the data shows, the 5.0 in Geoff's 100,000-mile GT responded favorably to forced induction, and we're impressed with the performance gains. However, we have to note that the 9 psi of boost achieved during the initial post-install dyno hit is a bit of an anomaly. Technically, with the 3-7/8-inch pulley we used, boost should be barely above 6 psi.
While the combination produced 312 hp, we believe that a restriction caused by the stock 5.0's camshaft is the reason for the abnormality in boost. Basically, the supercharged air is being restricted in the intake manifold, and essentially not getting into the cylinders.
This graph details the anemic...
This graph details the anemic rear-wheel performance of our project GT, before installing Kenne Bell's Blowzilla 2.1-liter supercharger. Trust us, despite the 'Stang's age, its stock 5.0 is still putting out power and torque that's on par with the numbers these Ponies produced back in the late '80s. Thankfully, we've become accustomed to much-bigger steam since those days.
With nothing added beyond...
With nothing added beyond the Blowzilla and its supporting components (Aeromotive Stealth 340 fuel pump, bigger injectors, AFM Power Pipe, 90mm throttle body and 90mm mass air), the gain in performance is leaps and bounds beyond the GT's baseline. With the 3-1/8-inch pulley installed, the Kenne Bell generated a peak increase of nearly 120 horses, and almost 105 lb-ft of torque at the feet!
While we were pleased with...
While we were pleased with the numbers produced immediately after installing the blower (with the 3-7/8-inch pulley and 9 psi of boost), we agreed a "big pull" was needed to see how much additional power Geoff's Pony would put down with a smaller 3-inch wheel on Blowzilla's snout. The numbers are presented in the chart for clarity; power really starts climbing when you drop a smaller pulley on this Kenne Bell unit.
As we learned in a recent experiment (cylinder-head change) with Project T-top Coupe, while intake-air restrictions cause such boost increases, the engine isn't necessarily making more power. Thus the results of this experiment are great, considering the 5,500 rpm limit that the camshaft held us to.
Geoff's Mustang now has a considerable amount of power and especially rear-wheel torque, thanks to Blowzilla, and the cool thing is there's a ton of additional performance that can come from this blower package (it can be pullied for as much as 18 psi of boost), should Geoff decide to step up to a bigger, better engine in the future.