Several years ago we met Scott L at a local autocross and eventually started working on his 2003 Brickyard 350z. He loved to road race so we performed incremental upgrades including Stoptech front brakes, a Quaife differential, Hotchkis sway bars, Koni Yellow shocks, and adjustable front A-arms with rear lower control arms. We also did a minor tune and numerous track day-prep/maintenance. Here he is at Laguna Seca:
With 200k miles on the Z he started looking for a new sportscar that met his requirements. Being a Nissan fan and quite attached to his Z the GT-R did make his list but the lack of a true manual transmission steered him away. A C7 Z51 and Cayman GTS were also in the running until he saw the new GT350 Mustang and it ticked all the right boxes:
Scott stopped by ZCG to dyno the Shelby and it put down an impressive 460hp/375tq to the wheels! Factory rated at 520hp/429tq, this flat-plane crank beast has been reported to put down even more power on 93 octane!
The dyno chart is displayed with a bone stock 2012 Mustang GT:
Here is a video of the ‘Stang on the dyno. Congratulations Scott and thanks for bringing her by the shop!
Rob was completely impressed after driving it…Nissan are you listening?
Kevin B has been a long-time customer of Z Car Garage and we have had the pleasure of maintaining and modifying his gorgeous Cherry Red Pearl 300zx Twin Turbo and supercharged Fox-Body Mustang GT.
Kevin recently picked up this sweet 2013 Mustang GT (Track-Pack) and immediately began taking it to open track days throughout Northern California. We are fans of the 5.0 Coyote drivetrain with big power from the factory and a capable chassis.
Here is an initial baseline dyno followed by a run after a K&N air filter. The air filter alone gave us solid gains of 9hp/10tq for a total of 379hp/367tq to the wheels. Very impressive numbers!
After tracking the car with much success Kevin noticed excessive front tire wear. The front suspension has no provision for camber adjustment so we installed Maximum Motorsports caster/camber plates to dial in more negative camber. Further suspension upgrades included Koni yellows followed by a full alignment. We also installed some Forgestar wheels for track days:
Kevin came back for more track-related items like brake ducts, a front splitter, tow hooks and differential breather. During hard racing the fluid in the rear end heats up and expands. Combine that with extreme cornering and the fluid can spit out of the factory breather vent and all over the track. With this expansion take, the fluid flows up into the tank and then back down when it cools.
Front brakes can also benefit from extra cooling so we installed a brake ducting kit from Ford Racing. This helps to reduce front brake temperatures by ducting air to the brake rotors and even uses the factory fog light openings! Fresh rotors were also installed and brake fluid flushed/replaced with Castrol SRF. OEM Brembos squeeze Stoptech 309 pads:
The installation is seamless!
A Boss-302 style front splitter was installed:
It was great to see Kevin at a SpeedSF track day at Laguna Seca. We hear the Z Car Garage license plate frame is good for another 10hp! Thanks for letting us make your track days more enjoyable!
When you build a car with us sometimes it’s contagious. Doug W is the best friend of Z33 owner Craig K and he couldn’t resist visiting us for a boost upgrade on his sweet 2012 Shelby GT500. Equipped from the factory with a Eaton supercharger, a common way to increase boost is to use a smaller diameter pulley. Shown here (right) is a 2.5″ supercharger pulley designed to look like the stock 3″ unit. To make up for the slack due to the smaller pulley, a larger 90mm idler (left) was used:
Installation was straightforward:
The smaller pulley is designed to give 3-4lbs more boost. Using an SCT tuner we gained 16hp/37tq for a total of 530hp/519tq to the wheels. The power gains are everywhere!
Kevin B has been with Z Car Garage for a long time and owns a pristine Cherry Red Pearl Z32TT(to be featured soon). Kevin also owns this surprisingly clean Fox-body Mustang GT and wanted it to be as fast as his Z.
He came to us for a complete Vortech supercharger install to wakeup the venerable 5.0L V8. Here are some of the goodies:
The Vortech kit designed for Fox-body Mustangs has been around for years and still has great fit/finish. Here are some before/after shots:
A closer look at the black finished supercharger and plumbing:
We ran a baseline dyno before the blower install and the mighty 302 put down a very healthy 199hp/264tq at the wheels. Not bad for its at-the-time crank rating of 225hp/275tq. With the Vortech this ordinary 5.0 becomes a monster with 328hp/361tq to the wheels! Check out the significant gains especially throughout the entire rev range: well over 300lb of tq is available from 2,500 to 5,500 rpm:
So which is faster Kevin, the ‘Stang or the Z? Tune in next time as we feature Kevin’s pretty 300zx and think twice before you roll that “slow 5.0” sitting next to you at the stoplight 🙂
No, this is not a Nissan. It is not even a Z. This is a 2011 Ford Mustang GT, and it’s wild with plenty of horses. How many? The 5.0L engine is rated at 412hp from the factory, but the ZCG dyno reveals it’s true output! Rob tells the story of how this GT gets a serious boost in power from an already potent powerplant:
Michael L lives in Santa Cruz, Ca. He was referred to ZCarGarage by Vortech engineering in Southern California. ZCG is a top tier installer of Vortech products and we have performed several non-Nissan installs. You might remember the 2010 Camaro from last fall. Michael and I spoke and decided to meet. I told him we would love to add boost to his new ‘Stang as long as he didn’t mind that all the other horses in this stable would be Zs. Once again Vortech delivers with an amazing product. The kit parts and installation are as if Ford designed it to be a dealer add-on. This is a limited edition kit to celebrate Vortech’s 20-year anniversary in the performance aftermarket and most of the components are finished in matte black.
Back to the car… this Mustang marks the return of the 5.0. Rated at 412 hp at the crank this pony put down some strong baseline numbers: 376hp/364tq. So the 5.0 is really making close to 440hp at the crank!
ZCG’s Josh C comes from a Ford background. Growing up his Dad’s pride and joy was a 1970 XR-7 Cougar ‘vert. Only 1700 were made in the 351 and 4 speed set up. We hope to help Josh’s father restore this car someday. During his younger days Josh owned a ’69 Mustang and a ’65 Ranchero so he was excited to add his touch to the late model Mustang. The Vortech kit is intercooled and is going to be completely smog legal delivering its 8 psi. Post-install dyno numbers are very impressive: 496hp/436tq! The car starts and drives like a stock car until you press the go pedal. Great job Vortech! Enjoy the ride Michael and may your second car be a Nissan.
-Rob
Here are a few more pics of the install, enjoy!
Intercooler, very low-key:
