I know many of you have been wondering where the Bumpside Build-On (and on) has gone and all I can say is nowhere-which is part of the problem. I won't ramble on about life and this and that, but many of you know how things go when your project is a one-man (or woman) show and if you don't work on it nothing gets done. Such is the case here-I have no help and little time-but fear not! The end is near. I think what I needed was a good shot in the arm to get excited about the truck again, which came in the form of a 550hp needle thanks to two cool words: forced induction.
Many of you know that my '68 F-100 was a good test bed for Ford Racing Performance Parts (FRPP) to develop their stand-alone 4.6/5.4L three-valve engine harness and with that now in their catalog, they wanted to show what else you could do with it, fairly easily I might add. There is only minor engine work (removing and replacing parts) needed to gain an alleged 250 hp over the stock 300 ponies.
Ford Racing and Whipple Superchargers have teamed up to assemble blower kits for all the late-model Ford engines, which basically gives you loads of OEM-approved power along with reliability in a well-engineered package. There are actually two levels of FRPP supercharger kits. One is a 400hp/400 lb-ft kit (4.6L three-valve) that is pretty basic and simple and does this by running 5 pounds of boost. The second is the 550hp/542 lb-ft Big Boost kit, which is a modified version of the previous that pumps up the boost to 11 pounds and requires a full air-to-liquid intercooler system and an upgraded fuel system. Lucky for me, I overbuilt the fuel system in the truck to begin with "just in case," and the -8 (1/2-inch) send and return lines are ample for the big boost kit, which works with the stock 11mm (roughly 7/16) Mustang fuel lines. The Big Boost kit does come with an upgrade to dual fuel pumps for the stock Mustang gas tank, which isn't very usable in a non-stock application. Luckily, the dual pump setup and the harness (PN M-9407-GT05) for it can be sold online to recoup about seven bills. Both kits are 50-state smog legal and built to order.
Here is the heart of the whole shoot 'n' match, the supercharger that Whipple makes for Ford Racing, which is what comes on a new Ford if you buy one with a huffer-pretty sweet. There are several configurations of blowers from Ford Racing for many of their engines. This is the one for the 550hp Big Boost kit for the '08 4.6L three-valve V-8. They are also available in a polished finish, but wrinkle black seemed more manageable.
Since the engine in the '68 is an '08 4.6L three-valve that's the FRPP/Whipple Big Boost kit we'll be installing here. Because it's meant to be installed in a stock '08 Mustang GT there will be a few things that will need to be adapted to fit the surroundings of the F-100, like the aforementioned fuel system. First and foremost in this issue we'll go over the basic install of actually getting the blower onto the engine and some of the wiring sorted back out. Remember from Sept. '09 how we cut open the stock wire loom and ran everything under the intake for a nice uncluttered look? Well, that was great, but wasn't going to work with the blower, so it all had to come back out and get cleaned up (why can't we leave well enough alone in the first place?). There are plenty of other little things that need to be redone on the truck to accommodate the supercharger, like the fuel line from the rail to the fuel pressure regulator, slight regulator relocating, and a few other details.
We'll get right to business here. The kit comes with comprehensive instructions, which you should read first and get familiar with. They were written by someone who speaks plain English too, which is nice for those of us who aren't engine/late-model/blower whizzes! Many things need to be done in a stock Mustang before the install begins, but luckily I can skip most of that and get to unhooking most of the electrical connectors in the vicinity of the intake.
Next month we'll install the Big Boost/intercooler system and tie up any other loose ends that come with the adaptation of a kit like this into an older vehicle. In the meantime, whether or not you are in the market for a blower, Ford Racing has turnkey 4.6L V-8 crate engines ready to rock. Check out their website for all the info and even sounds.
