WHY VORTECH?
There were several reasons we chose Vortech over the other competitors. Vortech had the best reputation for parts quality, consistency, and customer satisfaction. Our installation shop, as always, was Custom Performance in Concord, NC, and shop owner Dale Sciranko highly recommended Vortech for "BrightMare". They live by the Vortech name, and although they could have installed anything we purchased, they knew what was best for our car. Price was also a factor. Procharger had the cheapest kit of the three, but hearing about quality issues, we chose not to go that route, even though we liked the idea of self-oiled systems. Kenne Bell was far too expensive even though the roots style blower was more attractive for big low-rpm torque. In the end, Vortech was the weapon of choice.

We ordered the polished Vortech SQ Trim Tuner Kit, which is basically everything from the standard kit minus the injectors, fuel pump, and computer tune. 42lb/hr injectors and the '03 Cobra fuel pump will give us plenty of room for more horsepower down the road should we have the need for it, and ensure we are never starving for fuel. Our kit also included the Vortech MaxFlow Power Cooler which is used to cool the air intake temperature coming out of the head unit. By nature of the law of physics, when air is pressurized, it creates heat. Therefore, the aftercooler works to ensure about a 110 degree lower air temperature, which in turn increases the amount of boost to the engine, and helps prevent detonation. Our engine is comprised of all stock internals at this point, so we want to be as safe as possible so as not to damage what we've built.


INSTALLATION:
We did not document the installation process, as Custom Performance did all the work for us. I had originally planned to do the installation myself and then have it taken for tuning afterwards. But time was something I didn't have, and it was easier to shell out the money for labor to ensure it was done right, and with a quick turnaround.

Custom Performance recommended the following setup in addition to the blower, and because we trust their judgement, these are the items we went with, although other combinations are also possible.

Anderson Ford Motorsport Power Pipe 42lb/hr injectors 03 Cobra Fuel Pump assembly Pro-M 80mm Mass Air Meter (for tuning) Synthetic Oil w/filter change new spark plugs, one range colder reflash stock computer with new specs

We already had several modifications on the car that would help airflow, mainly the C&L Plenum and Accufab 75mm Throttlebody we had installed for a previous product review. We also have a MAC Prochamber H-pipe to increase air flow on the backside. In addition, our battery had already been previously relocated to the trunk, so the water box for the Vortech cooler was ready to drop in it's place under the hood. For the record, the car also has 3.73 gears, aluminum driveshaft, Tokico 5way adjustable shocks/struts, Steeda SuperLite springs, and a rear seat delete kit.

Tuning on the car was provided by Dan DeSio of Pro-Dyno after the installation. When we first got the car back, we had some minor problems with bucking/jerking at low throttle input around 3300 RPM, although Wide Open Throttle performance was perfect. We took the car back a week later, and Dan corrected the issues for us, by adjusting the settings in the load tables. This is evidently a common occurance with supercharged Mustangs, and takes very fine tuning to get the timing set perfectly in all the right places. Having someone experienced such as Dan DeSio on the job, was invaluable, as adjusting the OBD II computer tables is very complex. Below are the peak numbers that came out of the dyno tuning:

STD Corrected 408 rwhp / 405 rwtq

TRACK TIMES:
As of this writing, we've had the blower installed for almost 2 months, and I am having a blast driving it! I've had a chance to run it on the local 1/4 mile at Darlington Dragway, and I was very pleased with it's performance. With 80 degree temperatures, icing down the engine before our runs, and using ice water in the cooler, we pulled out onto the track. We were running on 275/50/15 Nitto Drag Radials and we had yanked the passenger seat, trunk mat, & spare tire/jack. Launching the blower with a 5spd has become a bit tricky, but it was definitely much easier than the nitrous we had used previously on the car. We slipped the clutch out at around 3000rpm and once out of the hole, laid the throttle on the floorboard. This was good enough for a 1.84 60ft time. Nothing to write home about, but good for our near-stock suspension. I ended up running a best time of 12.08 @ 117 mph on a hot-lapped pass! The 1/8 mile time for that run was 7.85 @ 91.7 mph. It was more than enough reason to be dancing in the driver's seat coming down the return road.

That elusive 11-second timeslip is just around the corner. With a bit more practice, maybe just a few degrees cooler, and we'll be well into the 11's on a very streetable, street-legal, stock-internaled, daily driver. The money we have spent on this was well worth the experience.

CONTACTS:
Custom Performance (Dale Sciranko): 704-454-5220
Vortech Engineering: 805-247-0226
Pro-Dyno (Dan DeSio): 704-651-3807
Pro-M Racing: 248-541-4780


Written by: Steve Shrader