2007 Ford Mustang Nitrous Install - Chemical Dependency

Feeling a little down on torque? Is the local bully stealing your lunch money on grudge night at the local track? Do you need better low end to go along with your sparkling top-end charge? Just add some nitrous to your supercharged combination and let it rip. A little hit of the giggle gas on top of your supercharged S197 will solve all of your problems.

"Nitrous gives you the torque for bottom end and midrange to help your car run quicker 60-foot and 330-foot times," said Justin Burcham of JPC Racing when he told us about combining nitrous with a centrifugal blower combination. His enthusiasm was obvious when he spoke of a package that's becoming more and more popular-bolt-on S197 cars with a ProCharger and a hit of nitrous. Burcham says customers aren't so inclined to tear into their engine just yet, and the addition of nitrous helps provide quicker performance at a reasonable price tag. "Centrifugals don't make enough down low to help get heavy street cars moving, especially in an automatic car like this one," he says. It's like having the best of both worlds.

Usually, when this combo is discussed, the first comment from the peanut gallery is, "Are you crazy-putting boost and nitrous into an otherwise stock engine?" Yeah, we're crazy, but this engine has lived for the past three months of service. "The motor in this car is still together largely because the tuning is conservative and the rpm levels have been kept low," Burcham says. He was also quick to point out that the car's owner runs mostly on eighth-mile tracks, further aiding its longevity with the big boost and nitrous-injected concoction. Adequate fuel delivery, reasonable timing levels, and 104-octane fuel all play their part in this puzzle. The result is a car that can run high-10s in the quarter-mile and has run a best eighth-mile of 6.75, which is the equivalent to 10.50s at 128 mph.

What makes this combination tick? The list of mods isn't as long as most other 10-second cars. The obvious parts of the package are a ProCharger D1SC supercharger with upgraded twin-core air-to-air intercooler, Bassani full-length headers, an x pipe system, a 2.5-inch after-cat exhaust system, and the formidable nitrous system courtesy of Nitrous Pro-Flow. The transmission is stock save for a TCI torque converter with custom stall speed and two factory transmission coolers. Surprisingly, the factory units aren't half bad, and Burcham says that by adding a second one, there's plenty of transmission oil cooling. JPC Racing prefers the two factory units because their long, narrow sizing making them easier to mount.

Internally, the engine hasn't been touched-it's a time bomb waiting to happen, but it has lasted for some time. We suspect that's because the owner runs mostly on eighth-mile tracks. That said, we wouldn't recommend entering a weekly bracket-racing series because odds are you wouldn't finish out the season with the same bullet under the hood. We'd reserve the nitrous for special occasions. That's not to say this engine will blow up when squirting it; this particular car has survived through the spring and summer months without incident. If the boost was lowered and a reduced nitrous hit was used, running high-10s without thinking twice is certainly possible. Our speculation is that if this car were run on the quarter-mile in this trim all the time, the owner would have a new short-block on order.

Other equipment includes a complete JPC Racing fuel system and a custom tune using DiabloSport software. The suspension features Metco upper and lower control arms with ICMB plates, QA1 struts and shocks, and Eibach springs. Rolling stock consists of Bogart wheels, M/T 28x10.5 slicks, and ET Drag front-runners. Lastly, the JPC crew welded in a six-point rollbar since this car sees a lot of track action.