Twin-Turbo V6 Mustang - Get Your Kicks with MRT's 6T6

Working for Ford Motor Company taught Scott Hoag plenty of things. For one, when designing a component, no matter how grand or trivial, it's not just about slapping it on and making it look good. It's about making sure it passes rigorous crash testing, having it fit like the original design, and making it blend seamlessly into the inner workings of the car. The component must also last the lifetime of the vehicle, so there are little short-cuts one can take. It's a fine balance between making it work and making it cost effective.

Luckily for MRT, Scott has the experience to walk the tightrope with deft precision. He and MRT entered the marketplace a few years back to take the fledging company toward a new direction never before seen in the aftermarket. The hard work has been paying off as we're now featuring MRT's third and most recent project car, the Cherry 6T6.

After creating the Surfchaser and Interceptor concept cars, MRT decided to build something different for the '05 SEMA show. Choosing an '06 Mustang convertible would be quite a challenge, especially with its six-cylinder powerplant. The Cherry 6T6 started life as an ordinary V-6 Stang, but thanks to the crafty MRT team, they've assembled a car that can make any GT owner jealous.

Now before you go knocking the V-6 Mustang, keep in mind that the days of the weak 3.8 Pony are far behind. The new Mustang's 4.0-liter V-6 is a rather stout piece. It has single overhead cams, forged rods, and 245 ci of engine displacement. In this day and age, it's also good to know that it can muster an amazing 28 mpg on the highway. With 210 hp and an impressive torque curve (there's 240 lb-ft across the bottom of the tach range), the entry-level Mustang moves along in quite a hurry. It's a great value, for certain, but more importantly, it's a lighter and easier-to-service engine package.

For the MRT technicians, crawling underneath revealed plenty of space on either side of the engine. To fill this void, MRT stuffed in a pair of turbochargers. Yes, that's right, two of them! By using the stock exhaust manifolds to feed the turbines, it allowed the development engineers to cut down on the development time. Adapters connect the OEM manifolds to the liquid-cooled turbos, mounting them low and out of sight. This retains the centralized center of gravity the car was designed with and prevents excessive heat buildup inside the engine compartment. Both turbos then send the pressurized air into a front-mounted inter-cooler that chills the 7 pounds of boost before it enters the factory 65mm drive-by-wire throttle body. An SCT custom chip dials in the Silver Oak processor to maintain factory drive-ability and responsive performance. Horsepower is estimated to be in the 325 range. The really cool sounds from the twin turbos come along free for the ride.

Other nut and bolt factoids include upgraded suspension and braking. BMR's adjustable control arms and Panhard bar link the 8.8 to the car while H&R springs and shocks improve the ride and offer the lowered stance. Massive SSBC Force 10 V8 brake calipers feature eight pistons each and slow down the car with incredible control. The slotted rotors measure 13 inches and make sure that no matter what speed this Mustang may get up to, aborting any pursuit for terminal velocity is just a press of the middle pedal away.

The exterior styling incorporates some rather subtle and appropriate accessories. A custom rear spoiler sits prominently on the rear decklid while taillight accents surround the factory lenses. A nod toward nostalgia, the panel between the taillights is blacked out. In front, a custom billet grille treatment complements the custom lower lip spoiler. Again, this concept car has some one-off pieces on it, so MRT does not offer them as of yet. Let's cross our fingers and hope that it does in the near future. Covering the entire car is rich PPG Black Cherry applied by the students of Washtenaw Community College. We're talking stunning, boys and girls.

A lightbar from Classic Design Concepts (CDC) was covered in grey and red leather to match the Sparco/Custom Automotive Interiors leather interior kit. This is more than just an upholstery kit-it's a complete seating upgrade with cushions, and this car is the prototype for eventual kits. The rest of the interior mods include a Woodview carbon-fiber dash kit and Auto Meter gauges. In the electronics department, a whole catalog was thrown at this car. Starting with the Pontus PD765D multimedia DVD AV system (what us old-timers used to call an in-dash radio), the 6T6 is equipped with 1,000 watts of ground-pounding power. MW Designs assembled the three Rockford-Fosgate subwoofers into a custom trunk enclosure and mounted the remaining eight speakers throughout the car to crank out the tunes, while the six monitors display whatever DVD the driver chooses to play. A backup camera shows what's behind when the vehicle is put into Reverse. Custom fiberglass panels and speaker enclosures are painted in the matching Black Cherry paint scheme.

MRT's Cherry 6T6 concept car debuted at SEMA with great fanfare. The viewing public loved it, the media adored it, and one day you can own a car like it. It encompasses some of the most effective modifications we've seen in a long time with major backing from various aftermarket vendors. Hopefully, MRT will get hard to work on offering what is on this car to its customers. If the Interceptor concept car is a sign of things to come, we can expect these new components sooner than later. It won't be a moment too soon.