That's about where we left off in our last installment, promising that this time around we'd see the reloading continue by way of a Novi 2000 intercooled supercharger-something to justify that huge rear rubber. In truth, MRT's project would be serving as a prototype platform for trial fitting of the burly Novi 2000 to the Bullitt (Paxton's basic Bullitt kit is based around the smaller-scrolled Novi 1000 and is noninter-cooled.) Since we figured prototyping a specific application for an intercooled blower kit would likely involve some fabrication, and since MRT was also going to develop the tune for the kit, we wisely chose to stay away until the job was done and the dyno wheels had stopped spinning. Paxton now offers a Bullitt-specific charge-cooled Novi 2000 kit for the Bullitt, so the operation must have been a success.
The blower itself mounts to its bridge-girder-like bracketry via six bolts (a ratcheting box-end wrench would be ideal for this task). Notice the clocking of the blower outlet, orienting it towards the charge-cooler ducting. A nonintercooled kit would be clocked up towards the throttle body. Near the top left you can also see the brass 90-degree fitting set to receive the braided engine oil feed line. This shot also makes obvious the reason for altering the upper rad hose. | 
To provide blower room, offset brackets are supplied to relocate the factory coolant overflow bottle perhaps an inch outboard of its factory position. | 
As is typical on Paxton and Vortech blowers-or any others that do not employ self-contained lubricant-a rubber return line plumbs into the oil pan via a fitting, and the braided pressure feed line takes its supply from a T-junction installed at the oil-pressure sending unit outlet on the underside of the oil filter housing (fitting is barely visible at top right). The kit supplies a punch to put a hole in the front of the oil pan or, as MRT did, you can lift the engine and remove the pan to create and thread the hole for the supplied brass fitting. |
What we're doing here is by no means a detailed how-to, but rather a look at how the big Novi fits, and what MRT did from a fuel-supply and tuning perspective to make it work-safely. Paxton sells the Bullitt Novi 2000 kit only in "tuner" form, meaning the company leaves it up to you and your tuner to decide on the fuel pump, fuel injector, and calibration approach for your particular vehicle-a wise idea since the big Paxton can produce up to 27 psi. Rest assured that MRT pulleyed its car for a lot less, since the Bullitt Reloaded project is meant to be an all-around performer, from street to strip, and even to Hoag's favorite venue, the road-course. This latter idea of doing some open tracking led MRT to err on the side of caution when it came to cooling and fuel supply, the details of which we'll get into in our captions.
As mentioneD, the Novi 2000 kit comes only in tuner form, with no fuel supply or calibration hardware. MRT replaced the stock (orange top) 19-lb/hr injectors with green-top 42 pounders. Injector size depends, of course, on how much of the 2000's boost potential you'd like to harness. | 
A variety of options can be pursued to assure adequate fuel supply. Rather than swap pumps in the stock tank, Scott Hoag opted to bolt up a complete Terminator Cobra factory tank, particularly because the car will see road-course work. Obviously the '03-'04 Cobra pumps are sufficient to feed a supercharged engine, but the second advantage of this setup is that the Cobra tank's "slosh bucket"- in essence the "well" the pumps draw from-is of a much better design for assuring supply under lateral g-loads than a GT/Bullitt tank. | 
On the cooling front, again mostly because of the project's likely road-course excursions, MRT chose to dip into the factory Terminator parts bin once more for the blown Cobra's radiator. This is a proven design that bolts right in, has aluminum end tanks, and dimpled fins which provide superior heat exchange. This shot also shows the method of mounting the Novi's charge cooler ahead of the rad. |
By the way, if some of these photos look suspicious, it's because we actually photo-graphed the blower coming back off the Bullitt-as we said, we weren't there for the actual prototyping. MRT did the disassembly both so we could have some photos to accompany these words, and in order to replace an air-conditioning line damaged in the original installation. Just the same, we think you'll get the idea that this is a pretty tight fit, and unless you have need of the Novi 2000's huge boost potential-and the subsequent budget for a built short-block if you're planning on using that full boost potential-you might want to give some consideration to the smaller Novi 1000. Then again, if only the biggest will do.