Friday, January 24, 2020

All Blower Installations are not equal.


Why should you choose a company to install your blower that has a Dyno facility in-house?


Are all dealerships equal in installing blowers?
                Yes, if they don’t have a Dyno facility or certified technicians


So why would you want a dealership that has a Dyno facility?
               If you are investing that much money to increase horsepower and improve performance the only true way to make sure there is an increase is to measure both before and after the installation.  By doing this you know for certain the vehicle is creating the horsepower that it’s supposed to in stock form, which is crucial. Not all vehicles create the same horsepower, there are always times when something could be wrong. If it does not that needs to be fixed first before you install a blower. After installation you need to re-dyno to confirm the horsepower increase and to assure your fuel curve and timing are correct. 


Many times, we install a blower and when we put the vehicle on our dyno, we find that the software isn’t correct. We can then make corrections with the proper tune.

Without a dyno you install parts hoping that the Roush or Vortech part does the job of increasing horsepower and the only way to tell is literally by the seat of your pants and even then you have no way of knowing it’s safe or dangerous or too lean.

Bottom line, when you dyno both before and after there is no guessing. 


So technically all dealerships are NOT created equal when it comes to installing blowers.

Give Ryan a call at 888-868-2244 for info on getting your car on the dyno and a blower installed.

   

Friday, July 31, 2015

7/31/2015  Breaking News!   Our Roush Stage 3 is here!  We are cleaning it up now but here's a sneak peek!!    This one is sweeeeet!!

Thursday, July 23, 2015

**PRESS RELEASE**

Meet & Greet w/ John Clor   Anderson Ford Car Show Clinton IL  September 13th, 2015

You've read his columns in Mustang magazines for years. You've seen him talk Mustangs on "The History Channel and "SpeedVision." You may even own his limited-edition, sold-out hardcover history book "Mustang Dynasty." Now – you can meet him in person! Noted auto journalist and author John Clor, a former SVT PR man who today manages the club outreach program and enthusiast website content for Ford Racing, is hosting a Ford Racing Meet-n-Greet at our carshow on Sunday, September 13th!  Don’t miss this chance to meet one of Ford’s best-known Mustang spokesmen at the Ford Racing tent!


*******
About  JOHN M. CLOR
Veteran automotive journalist, author and marketer John M. Clor has owned, worked on, raced and written about cars and trucks for nearly four decades – and has long been a regular columnist for a number of magazines specializing in the Ford Mustang. John has been a member of the Automotive Press Association since 1989, with his work appearing in a wide range of both consumer and industry publications. Additionally, his marketing communications work for the likes of Ford, General Motors, Mazda and several automotive suppliers over the years has given him comprehensive insight into the auto industry that few journalists or analysts have attained.
A native Detroiter, Clor paid his journalism dues with a 15-year editing career at The Detroit News before joining the staff of AutoWeek magazine, where he spent more than six years writing road tests and penning auto features as Deputy Managing Editor. John then jumped into the corporate automotive public relations world in 1995, when he became the Communications Manager for the Special Vehicle Team, Ford’s high-profile, high performance vehicle group. There, he helped developed media programs, dealer training, a consumer-facing web site, and marketing materials, including an award-winning newsletter, SVT News. Intrigued by the explosive growth of the Internet, John returned to journalism in 1999 for a three-year stint as Detroit Editor for the Edmunds.com auto web site.
Clor’s broad-based automotive knowledge and engaging personality have earned him recurring guest spots on radio and TV, including CBS, CNN, PBS, The History Channel, A&E, Tech TV, SpeedVision, ABC Radio News, NPR, Michigan Public Radio, WJR, Public Reality Radio, and many other national and local media outlets. As a freelancer, John founded a communications firm called “Cars in Context” specializing in custom automotive writing, editing, research and consulting to a variety of outlets, including the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune as well as cable TV's Modern Marvels and Mad Men. He even hosts his own Cars In Context TV talk show on his local cable access station.
After returning to Ford in 2002 and managing its SVT and Shelby GT500 website for more than a half-decade, John penned and published a hardcover history book titled The Mustang Dynasty, whose 2007 and 2009 print runs both sold out. Today, John manages the Ford Performance Group of enthusiast organizations, a club outreach marketing program for Ford Racing, and oversees enthusiast content for the www.FordRacing.com web site as an Account Director for PCGCampbell, a Dearborn-based marketing communications agency. Still active in several car clubs, Clor is a director of the SVT Owners Association, serves as editor of its critically acclaimed SVT Enthusiast club magazine, and is the proud owner of two ’70s-era Mustangs – one of which he calls “a long-term project.”

Friday, July 10, 2015


Why The 2015 Ford Mustang GT Is Impossible Not To Like
  Article by:  Patrick George    All photos credit Kurt Bradley   
Surely you’ve done this countless times. You’ve been out driving, absent-mindedly checking out the other cars on the road, when you come across a 2015 Ford Mustang. They’re everywhere these days. And when you see one, your eyes immediately drift down to the front fender in search of the two numbers and a decimal point that make all the difference in the world: “5.0.” Five-point-oh. The thing that separates the V6 rental cars and the EcoBoost posers from the real Mustangs. That, and the GT badge on the trunk, means that Mustang has eight cylinders of American fury under the hood. That means it’s not messing around, that its driver is someone who cares about speed and not just looking good.

That’s the perception, anyway. With the smaller engines both offering at least 300 horsepower, as well as potent straight-line and backroad performance, you’re not exactly screwing yourself if you don’t go V8 with the Mustang these days. The 2.3-liter turbo four EcoBoost is faster than most V8 Mustangs have been through the years. But the GT remains the top dog of the current Mustang lineup, and that’s just how it’s going to be, no matter how much power its little brothers put out. So what’s it like to actually drive one? Does the 5.0 deserve that reputation or not?
(Full disclosure: The Ford Motor Company needed me to drive a 2015 Mustang GT so badly they dropped one off at my house with a full tank of gas for a week. I spent months asking for one because I really, really wanted to drive it.)
 
I have an unpopular confession to make: I am not, nor have I ever been, a Mustang Guy. Don’t get me wrong, the original is a classic that deserves every ounce of its iconic status, and the ’71-’73 Mach 1 is a car I’d rob banks to own. And then probably rob banks with.
 
But I’m 30, and for much of my life — with a few truly great and notable exceptions — Mustangs have been kind of ugly, or poor in quality, or lacking in performance compared to European and Japanese rivals. They always seemed aimed at your hardcore Mustang Guy (or Gal), not winning over new converts. Then something interesting happened around 2010: the Mustang started getting good. Like, really good. Like, embarrass a BMW M3 on a track good. (By the way, I’ve heard from people inside and out of the company that the Bavarians are still pissed about how that went down.) Suddenly the Mustang was back where it belonged, at the top of the global performance game and locked in a speed war with rivals from Chevrolet and Dodge — plus any import that wanted in on the fight too. Happy times were here again.
I got more compliments, thumbs up, camera phones whipped out, questions about “How many horses does that bad boy have?” and friendly waves in this blue Mustang GT than any car I’ve driven since that McLaren 650S. Like I said, the new-for-2015 Mustang is everywhere these days, but when people see a GT, they know it’s something special. Everyone loves this car, if not for its performance but for what it represents. V8 glory. American iron from the past, updated with Bluetooth and navigation and satellite radio, here to take on a modern world. It took the Mustang’s looks a while to grow on me, but having seen a bunch of them in the wild and having driven this gorgeous, option-heavy Deep Impact Blue example, I’ll admit I’m a fan now. It walks the line well between being stylish and aggressive without being overcooked, and it succeeds in making the previous car look bulky by comparison. It’s what a Mustang needs to look like in 2015.
 
The improvements are more apparent when you sit inside, where you get a cabin that’s attractively designed and, despite a few hard cheap plastics here and there, feels like an upscale car. Lots of nice touches inside, like the “Ground Speed” text on the speedometer and the vacuum gauge above the infotainment system. (It’s a boost gauge on the EcoBoost.)
 
But you’re not here to read about how the Mustang looks inside and out. You know that, you’ve seen it around. You wanna know how the GT performs. And the answer is “real good.” The 5.0-liter V8, a carryover from the old Coyote engine with some Boss 302 goodies thrown in for extra fun, puts out 435 horsepower and 400 pound-feet of torque. The 0 to 60 mph dash happens in   about 4.5 seconds. The quarter mile is executed in the upper 12 second range.
 
Numbers don’t tell you that the Mustang GT pulls hard and steady from the midrange and charges up to its 7000 RPM redline in a smooth, linear, reliable way, like a freight train. This is a wonderful, modern V8 with old-school character that will get you addicted to speed.
 
 
What the GT isn’t is some crazy, balls-out, extreme speed machine. Ford definitely left room for the GT350 and GT350R. Instead, the GT is a pretty-laid back cruiser capable of effortless passes, storming backroads and laid-back daily driving. Most of the time it’s pretty civilized, but still enough to blow the doors off most other cars you’ll encounter on the road.
Even in its sport and track modes it’s pretty well sorted and easy to handle even under the hardest of straight-line acceleration. In short, it’s exactly the accessible, everyman performance car that a Mustang GT should be.
 
A big part of the fun is the rumbling eight-cylinder tenor, which is all-engine here and not a bunch of turbo-muffled computer-fed fake nonsense. You’ll be doing hard highway pulls every chance you get just to hear that noise. The sound is very bad for your fuel economy. (I averaged about 19 MPG the week I had the car, in case you’re curious.) Some critics have said it’s too quiet; I think it’s about perfect for a stock Mustang GT, and if you want more, you have a huge aftermarket to back you up. The V8’s audio track alone here is worth the price of admission. I wish every car sounded this good. 
 
I have to mention Line Lock, which is a fancy way of saying “burnout control.” Not launch control, mind you, burnout control. Here it’s all digitized and done through the track apps suite. Just set it the car in track mode, hold the confirmation button, press the brake hard, and then the car hold the brakes in place while you spin the tires and light some fires for a full 15 seconds.                                       
 
I’d be remiss in my duty as a journalist — nay, as an American — if I didn’t test it once or twice. Does it work? You bet your ass it works. It’s how I got those photos up above. (I do think the name Line Lock is too weak to adequately describe what it does. I preferred to call it the Mechanized Unified Systematic Tire Annihilation & Nullification Generator, or MUSTANG.) Sick burnouts has never been easier. Here, it’s almost too easy.
But hey, Mustangs have always been about clutch drops and tire spinning. Now the big news is that the Mustang has an independent rear suspension — like a modern car, holy shit! — so now it can actually handle. It doesn’t feel like a lowered pickup truck anymore, and its rear end doesn’t get unsettled whenever there’s a hard bump in the road. The ride quality and Brembo brakes are both stellar, but I can’t say the same for the Recaro seats up front, which were over-bolstered and manual in operation only.
 
Granted, it’s on the heavy side. At a hair above 3,700 pounds, nobody will mistake the Mustang for a pure sports car. While the suspension and chassis upgrades from my tester’s performance pack make body roll nonexistent, you can feel that weight in the corners. The good news is that it’s smaller than a Camaro and certainly a Challenger, and it feels it,
making it much easier to manhandle through corners. The performance pack, by the way, is something I think you’ll want. Better springs, bushings and dampers, upgraded brakes, a strut bar, a front splitter, a 3.73 rear axle ratio, a Torsen differential, 19-inch wheels and summer tires, all for $2,495. Do it.
 
Want to feel extra patriotic a few days after the 4th of July? Ask yourself why every American car seems to have the Europeans beat in terms of steering feel and response with electric racks. What you get in the Mustang (and the Corvette Stingray, and the ATS-V) is consistently better than the stuff from BMW and Porsche. Up your game, Germans.
My tester came with a six-speed manual gearbox. If you buy this car, don’t get the automatic. Please. The manual is very, very good. Shifts are short, tight and heavy, perfectly weighted. Pedals are perfectly spaced for heel-and-toe downshifting. The clutch felt on the hefty side, but that could be chalked up to 10,000 miles of hard press car abuse more than anything else.

Forget all the numbers and the tech and the upgrades for a moment. The most important thing about this car — the most important thing about any car, really — is how it makes you feel. And the modern Mustang GT will make anyone feel wonderful. It’s one of the more satisfying cars I’ve driven in a while. Something about driving this car with the windows down on a summer evening, as the Texas sun set all around me, with that pony logo on the steering wheel staring back at me and the sound of the V8 in my ears... it made me feel good. Content, even. This is what driving is supposed to be about, I said to myself. We had all better enjoy this thing while we can. It’s not like American V8 cars are as in ready supply as they used to be.
 
 
Simply put, the Mustang GT is a car that’s impossible not to like. Even if you’re some kind of seething, die-hard Camaro fan, the kind of person who has the decal where Calvin pees on the Ford logo stuck to the back windshield of your Z/28, you at least have to appreciate how good the competition is and how it pushes your car to be better. We’re in a new
golden age of American performance. That’s something we should all be happy about, no matter which team you swear allegiance to.
 
The downside is how much you have to be willing to pay for all of it. The GT Premium, with comfort and convenience options you’ll want, starts at $36,300. The loaded blue tester you see here came in at a fairly shocking $45,885. That includes the Shaker audio system ($1,795), adaptive cruise control ($1,195), the aforementioned GT performance package ($2,495) Recaro leather seats ($1,595), voice navigation ($795) and other options. Honestly, you can skip most of those options except the must-have performance package, but even then it ain’t cheap. A decently-equipped GT can now easily touch $40,000.
 
At this price, the Mustang GT is no longer really the everyman’s performance car, even if it behaves like one. It’s the Mustang for the die-hards, the hardcore Mustang enthusiast who will have nothing else and has the cash to pay for it. It’s a bargain Corvette, if not in outright performance than in appeal. The rest of us will make do with the Mustang EcoBoost which is now priced to be the true people’s speed machine. Nonetheless the GT is too good to ignore and still the best Mustang of the moment. Impressive as the other engines are, the V8 is still worth it if you find the spare change in your couch. It just offers things, tangible or otherwise, you probably can’t get in a turbo four or a V6.
 
If you weren’t a Mustang Guy (or Gal) before, this is the Mustang that will change your mind.
 
 

 
 


All photos credit Kurt Bradley
Contact the author at patrick@jalopnik.com.

Friday, July 3, 2015

Check out this 1974 Maverick that was on our Dyno yesterday! 

1974 Ford Maverick with a stroked Windsor 408, ProCharger D-1SC supercharger making 12 psi, Trick Flow Hi-Port cylinder heads, a 1000 cfm blow-through carb, C-4 transmission with a 5500 stall. 657 rear wheel horsepower only turning the engine 6200 rpm. Not to shabby!

Friday, May 8, 2015

The value of a chassis dynamometer

The value of a chassis dynamometer
Every automobile performance enthusiast at some point wants to know how much horsepower his or
her hotrod has after investing countless hours and dollars in order to make it unique. The easiest and
most direct method of acquiring that information is by using a chassis dyno.  There are engine dyno’s
that measure horsepower at the flywheel. This “flywheel” number is representative of how the O.E.M. manufacturers rate and advertise the performance numbers that you see in magazines, on TV, and in the showroom of your favorite brand of vehicle.  Unfortunately, for the vehicle owner, it’s not practical to remove the engine from an already assembled unit, install it on an engine dynamometer, test it , and then re-install it in the vehicle chassis. Money and time makes it cost prohibitive. It’s just not practical.

The manufacturer however, has the advantage of being able to test the engine assembly before it is
Installed and becomes a finished automobile, ready to drive. The alternative method of acquiring the horsepower number is by installing the vehicle on a chassis dynamometer. It’s a much simpler method because it only requires that the rear wheels to be driven onto the rollers, the vehicle anchored with tie down straps at four corners, attach an electrical pick up lead, and an exhaust gas sniffer hose in the exhaust pipe, and a reference listing of performance upgrades. Once the vehicle has been aligned properly, and the retention straps are tightened, the vehicle is ready for testing. The driving procedure for the chassis dyno is similar to driving on the road except for the fact that you are sitting stationary and only the rear wheels are rotating. Something to keep in mind is that the horsepower value obtained on the chassis dyno will be less than the resulting number obtained on an engine dyno. This lower number is due to the energy absorption requirements to transfer motion from the crankshaft to the rear wheels. This lower horsepower number can easily be adjusted to the flywheel equivalent using a simple formula. Divide the rear wheel HP valve obtained at a drive ratio of 1:1 by .85. This will result in the approximate flywheel HP equivalent.

The industry offers several choices of chassis dynamometers, each of them utilizing their own unique design. The two main engineering types are the inertia dyno and the load dyno. In addition, there are competitive name brands of each type.  In this discussion we will focus on the type or design, not the brand. The two types most commonly used are the inertia dyno and the load dyno. Both designs will measure horsepower at the rear wheels. Each design will provide accurate and repeatable values, but
the values are calculated using different engineering designs and therefore the actual  HP “number”
recorded by each type will be different , but does that really matter. I will explain…..

Inertia dynos extrapolate horsepower output by analyzing the dyno drum's acceleration rate using a sophisticated accelerometer and computer software. An inertia dyno works only when the car is accelerating. It uses heavy roller drums of known mass mounted on bearings that allow them to freely rotate. A vehicle is placed in position on the dyno with the drive wheels sitting on the rollers. The car is placed in gear and accelerated at wide-open throttle. It takes a certain amount of time and force for the tires to accelerate the heavy rollers. The laws of physics state that acceleration rate is directly proportional to how much power the tires place on the heavy roller to get it to rotate.

The dyno software monitors roller velocity and the time it takes to arrive at a rate of acceleration and estimates power at the rear wheels. Using data from an engine-mounted inductive probe, the software then graphs the power and gear-compensated engine torque against engine rpm. Some inertia dynos also attempt to estimate flywheel power and torque numbers based on mathematical models and data from additional sensors.

A pure inertia-only dyno can only calculate power by measuring the rate of change in acceleration (that's why it's called  an inertia dyno), so it can't do loaded tests or step-tests. The inability to perform load tests makes it difficult to accurately establish optimum timing and fuel curves for use under varying driving conditions. On today's inertial dynos, the static roller weight or resistance isn't adjustable to match vehicle weight; depending on the dyno software and whether the  inertial test function can be combined with a strain gauge to effectively change the rollers' inertia trim-as is possible on higher-end multifunction dynos-extremely light or heavy vehicles might fall off the curve, and turbocharged engines won't build boost as they do in the real world. On the other hand, with mainstream vehicles weighing around 3,500 pounds, the results are repeatable with minimal setup time. Dynojet is the most common pure-inertia dyno in use today; however, some of its newer models also have an eddy-current option. Load dyno’s, also known as an eddy-current dyno. This type of dyno controls the brake/absorber using electric current instead of fluid, measuring torque output and calculating horsepower based on a strain-gauge. Electric current provides much more
precise control and minimal spool-up lag-time, but you need a gonzo electric supply and the dyno itself is more expensive than other types. Top-flight eddy-current dynos are used for sophisticated R&D and emissions testing where dead-nuts accuracy is extremely important. They are especially useful in calibrating electronic engine-management systems at varying vehicle loads.
On the other hand, utilizing the capabilities of this dyno to its full potential requires a high degree of skill and setup time. Mustang and SuperFlow are among those companies marketing high-end eddy-current dynos. Some eddy-current dynos can also be run in "pure inertia mode," but then they have the same drawbacks as any other pure inertia dyno. Many factors that influence test accuracy are common to all dynos, including engine dynos; these include temperature, airflow, barometric pressure, and torque calibration. But on chassis dynos, many additional factors can affect the results,
factors much harder to control than those typically encountered on an engine dyno. Drivetrain losses vary according to gear selection (testing should usually be performed in the transmission's 1:1 gear to minimize this factor), fluid temperatures, acceleration/ load factors, drivetrain inertia, brake drag, the vehicle tie-down method, the weight over the axle, and tire selection, growth, and slippage.

The bottom line, and the most important point of fact, is that no matter what type of dyno you choose to use, it is the before and after NET result that matters. What you gain in performance from the money you’ve spent and the changes that you have made. The actual HP number is just for bragging, bench racing, and impressing your competitors.

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

From Mild to Wild! UPGRADED TO 544RWHP!!!

 
George Dowd from Arkansas
with his 2014 Mustang GT after installation of the 
Roush Performance / Ford Racing 2.3L Phase II 2300 TVS Supercharger
and 3:73 gear upgrade!
 
 
 
 

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