The low-slung look gives this...
The low-slung look gives this truck a sporty appearance. The blown engine under the hood ensures that any encounters with Silverado SS trucks would prove victorious.
Dez Racing was gracious enough...
Dez Racing was gracious enough to strap down the Roush Stage 3 to their DynoJet chassis dyno. It spun the drums to the tune of 345 rwhp and 391 rwtq.
Moving to the outside of the F-150-gone are the all-business and boring steel bumpers. A front fascia and rear roll pan/bumper make these trucks slip through the air and look sporty. The lower portion of the front valance gives a "slammed" look. The side rocker panels extend the doors and pickup bed downward-keeping the sporty appearance smooth and continuous. A slightly noticeable rear wing (optional) has been grafted onto the tailgate. The wheelwell openings benefit from fender flares. The truck rolls on a set of 20-inch wheels with optional BFGoodrich KDW (285/55-R20) tires; standard rubbers are Cooper Zeon XST skins. Normally, a 20-inch wheel/tire package is overkill, but the gargantuan-size wheelwells gobble up the rolling stock with ease. It's hard to imagine anything smaller in there.
Things get interesting under the hood with the Stage 3 truck, as it features a Roots-style supercharger system dubbed the ROUSHcharger. Output is a lofty 345 rwhp and 391 rwtq, as tested on a DynoJet chassis dyno at Dez Racing (Seekonk, Massachusetts). Roush advertises crankshaft output as being 445 hp and 500 lb-ft of torque-numbers that are in line with the results from the chassis dyno pulls we performed. We ran the truck on Englishtown Raceway Park's quarter-mile dragstrip, and it went a best of a 13.93 at 96 mph. The overall weight puts this truck behind the Gen II Lightning in terms of performances, despite the Roush engine combination making similar power-345 rwhp for the Roush and 330 rwhp for the last Lightning truck.
Perhaps the most refreshing observation we made during our test was the presence of a blower whine in a Ford truck. The ROUSHcharger is an Eaton blower (with intercooler) designed for this application. Under hard throttle the blower whine is quite reminiscent of our favorite SVT product. We called Johnny Lightning Performance to ask what aftermarket options were available. Head-honcho Johnny Lightning told us that if we owned the truck he would recommend adding long-tube headers, a better exhaust system, custom tuning, and different blower pulleys to up the boost. Those mods would certainly bring output to around 400 hp at the tires. Not a Corvette killer, but the Roush F-150 would certainly get a kick in the pants and run deep into the 13s, possibly 12s, depending on traction.
A supercharged F-150 from Roush Performance is available from any of the 360 Roush-authorized Ford dealers in the country. Checkout the Web site (www.roushperformance.com) for a dealer near you-and try not to leave any tire marks when you pull out of the dealer lot.