Anderson Ford Motorsport Bolt On Parts - Adding Ford Muscle

Bolt-ons-we've all read stories about them, as these modifications are the heart and soul of hot rodding. They allow us to do a little now and a little later as the budget allows, and most of us are on budgets of some sort. The trick is to pick the right parts or combination of parts to meet the goal you have planned.

For those of you with a 4.6 GT looking to improve power on a budget, Rick Anderson and Anderson Ford Motorsport just might have what you're looking for.

When you start adding parts designed to increase horsepower, you usually move both the horsepower and torque curves higher in the rpm range. On a street-driven car, this often results in a soggy, sluggish feel because the engine needs to rev higher to make the same power it did before at a lower engine speed.

In some cases, it may be better for the power to come in later-such as a car with poor traction due to tire or chassis limitations-but for most with street driven cars, a full, smooth power curve is the way to go.

Call it average horsepower across the powerband or area under the power curve-either way, it all adds up to a vehicle that's a pleasure to drive. It also adds up to a car that will beat the car with a little more peak power in a tighter power curve.

Anderson Ford Motorsport has found a com-bination of parts that adds almost 50 hp, yet maintains the same or slightly better torque from 2,000 rpm on up. In a nutshell, this means that even though your engine is modified and may be making over 275 rwhp, it won't feel soft or soggy on the bottom end from lost torque. The result of experience and hours of dyno testing parts is a top-notch package for the 4.6.

Anderson Ford Motorsport has been doing business since 1987, and its facility is part of the family's 30,000-square-foot new-car dealership. Rick Anderson, who has been involved in motorsports for over 18 years, was excited about this setup. "The neatest thing about this combination is that it is a very strong car with excellent driveability."

This bolt-on bash focuses on an '02 Mustang GT with 3.27 rear gears and a manual trans-mission. With a carefully chosen combination of external bolt-on parts, you can substantially increase top-end power without losing any low-end torque. The parts will be installed in groups that complement each other, then tested on a chassis dyno to verify their merit.

The first baseline dyno run showed 268 lb-ft of torque and 229 hp. But look at the torque between 2,000 and 2,500-this is what pushes you back in the seat when accelerating from a stop. Watch the torque in this area on all the graphs, and you'll see it drops as parts are installed, but it is right back where it started when we finish. This is in addition to the horse-power and peak torque we gained.

With only 281 cubes under the hood, low-end torque is a bit hard to come by, but we've proven we don't have to sacrifice it for more horsepower.

After our performance enhancements, we increased the low-end grunt slightly and picked up another 29 lb-ft or torque at peak. Horsepower really jumped, as we increased our 229 baseline horsepower by 49 to 278-that's a healthy, naturally aspirated Two-Valve!

So, if you're looking to "amp up" your 4.6-liter GT, visit www.andersonfordmotorsport.com, or call Rick Anderson-he'll help you add Ford muscle to your Mustang.