Horsepower - American Muscle/MMFF Dyno Wars! Part 2

We all want it. We crave that rush of acceleration, we spend our hard-earned bucks to go faster. Horsepower is something motorheads have bragged about for years, and you'll find a slathering of claims on hundreds of Internet forums--you know, the keyboard jockeys who brag about how much power they make. Well, MM&FF decided to present a unique challenge, so we created the Dyno Wars--but our challenge has a twist. Yes, this is a dyno challenge, or "War" if you will, but we're not really looking for "dyno queens."

We teamed up with AmericanMuscle.com to present a competition for legit street cars with the ability to lay down a big dyno and track number. With that, anyone can apply to be a participant in the Dyno Wars (this being the second of four), just follow the instructions online on our website (www.musclemustangfastfords.com or at www.americanmuscle.com). Basically, each "War" is open to street-legal Fords with any combination. After we receive information from the applicants, we pick the cars that we hope will put on the best show.

Ultimately, we look for machines that have actually turned some track numbers, or have known street cred. We've seen cars that make 1,000 rwhp and run 12s or worse--we don't want that. In fact, minutes after this War, two of the contestants drove straight to Atco Raceway (Atco, New Jersey) to actually race their Mustangs, and two others drove home over 100 miles each. In our first War, the winning Fox-body had never been on a dyno until our challenge, but had run low 9s!

Yes, Dyno Wars is a challenge to show off your horsepower, however we then get to dissect some of the sickest street and track combinations so you can learn what makes them tick. What we've revealed so far is the big power cars have a wide range of tuneability that enables them to be cranked up for that big dyno number, then tamed down for street cruising. Not surprisingly, this flexability is easy with today's hand-held tuning devises, a swipe of the keyboard, or nudge on the wastegate.

These Mustangs represent the pinnacle of power and performance. Are they for everyone--heck no, but they do show off in grand fashion what modern technology has to offer and what you can do with boost and tuning.

Rank:6

Dan Frayko • '09 Shelby GT500

Dan's GT500 was the first car on the dyno at AmericanMuscle. It was the first time Dan put race gas in it and loaded the more aggressive tune, which we're told had more timing than the street tune. He told us he was expecting to be in the mid-700 rwhp range. The first hit yielded 671 rwhp and 624 lb-ft of torque. Though not what he was looking for, we made one more run on this tune with the fluids up to temperature. After laying down 678 rwhp and 627 lb-ft of torque, Dan decided to swap tunes.

With the street tune in the ECU, we spun the roller and saw the highest numbers of the day--689 rwhp and 622 lb-ft or torque. We made one last run, but weren't able to make more power.

Rank:5

Anthony Bongiovanni • '10 Shelby GT500

Under the hood, the long-block was as it came from Ford, save for the aftermarket cams. The stock supercharger has been ditched in favor of a 2.9L twin-screw unit from Ford Racing Performance Parts. The stock camshafts have been replaced with Super Cobra Jet cams from JDM Engineering, which give this GT500 a super-aggressive idle.

Once the car was strapped to the dyno, Bongiovanni swapped tunes, and we made our first hit. When the rollers stopped, the raven GT500 cranked out 759 rwhp and 676 lb-ft of torque. We made another pull, which brought max power to 771 rwhp and 678 lb-ft of torque.

Bongiovanni used the rest of the session to let the car cool, but unfortunately, it wasn't able to make any more power. His last two attempts netted 763 and 747 rwhp respectively.

Rank:4

Chris Pilla • '03 SVT Cobra

Fast forward past the broken stock engine, and Pilla's Cobra has a built motor with all forged internals, ported cylinder heads, aftermarket cams, and 25 psi of boost from a 3.4L Whipple twin-screw supercharger. Oh, and that broken IRS was replaced with a Currie 8.8-inch solid axle.

On the dyno, Pilla was in-and-out after three quick runs. The first run netted 775 rwhp and 651 lb-ft of torque. With the fluids up to temp, we made a second run, which saw horsepower and torque rise to 782 rwhp and 659 lb-ft. After some time to cool, we made one last attempt at making more power, but unfortunately came up short with 756 rwhp and 659 lb-ft of torque.

Rank:3

Michael Corrin • '92 Mustang LX

The base of this monster is a 331ci Dart-based engine with Trick Flow Specialty cylinder heads and intake manifold. The camshaft is a custom grind hydraulic roller, and it's all controlled by an Accel DFI fuel injection system. It's backed by a built AOD-e automatic transmission with a 3,200-stall converter.Corrin started his dyno time with a low-boost pull. With only 10 psi, the emerald coupe laid down 581 rwhp and 567 lb-ft of torque. After an adjustment to boost controller we started the second run. As we rolled into the throttle, the car came into boost violently--so much so that we aborted the run just after 5,000 rpm. Even though the run was ended early, the car still produced 894 rwhp and 893 lb-ft of torque with 27 psi. Corrin adjusted the boost controller one more time for the last run, which netted 866 rwhp and 858 lb-ft of torque at 24 psi.

Rank:2

Chris Jurkowitsch • '03 SVT Cobra

Under the hood sits a slew of go-fast goodies, all starting with a near-bulletproof 324ci Boss block modular engine built by MMR. The short-block is topped with a set of Livernois Motorsports-ported Four-Valve heads, with a set of Comp cams controlling the incoming mix of air and fuel. It's topped off with a 3.4L Whipple twin-screw supercharger making 25 psi of boost, and a 100 hp shot of giggle gas.

Jurkowitsch's Cobra was the only dual poweradder car in the event, and we looked forward to what it would lay down. The first pull was made with no nitrous, and 746 rwhp and 745 lb-ft of torque. We realized the low air pressure in the slick was probably robbing horsepower, so Jurkowitsch pumped the rear hides up from 10 to 25 psi, lowering the rolling resistance. The next run resulted in 812 rwhp and 770 lb-ft, while spinning the tires, all without nitrous. The last run was on the bottle. We gently rolled into the throttle in an effort to not spin the tires. When the rollers stopped, the screen lit up with 908 rwhp and 907 lb-ft of torque. Jurkowitsch left AmericanMuscle's facility and headed to Atco to see what these numbers translated to on track.

Rank:1

Winner!

Clinton Smith • '11 Mustang GT

When you open the hood, everything looks stock, save for the 76mm Precision turbo smugly sitting in the engine bay. Although the engine looks stock, only some of it hasn't been upgraded. The stock motor was pulled and upgraded with forged internals. The JPC Racing short-block was topped with stock heads, but the factory valvesprings have been replaced with heavier versions, and the stock camshafts were reused, along with the factory intake manifold.

On the dyno, Smith's car came out of the box swinging--it laid down 875 rwhp and 808 lb-ft on the first run. Justin Burcham of JPC Racing climbed under the car and gave the wastegate a turn or two, taking boost from 17 psi to about 19. This resulted in a second pull of 907 rwhp and 803 lb-ft. Another couple of turns on the wastegate brought the boost level to about 21, which was about as high as Burcham and Smith were willing to go. The end result was 925 rwhp and 817 lb-ft of torque, which was enough to take the top spot in the second stop of the AmericanMuscle.com Dyno Wars series.