When someone mentions Edelbrock, your first thoughts are intake manifolds and cylinder heads. That's because Edelbrock has a long heritage of making some of the best aftermarket induction parts money can buy. The California-based company also sells exhaust and suspension components that are top-notch, but at the 2008 SEMA show, the famed supplier unveiled a new EFI supercharger system, dubbed the E-Force, for '05-to-present Mustang 4.6L engines.
The Mustang kit isn't the first for Edelbrock, as the company has been producing supercharger systems for carburetor-equipped engines for the past several years. Most people in the Mustang market never noticed them because the applications were brand-X specific. Nevertheless, the impressive E-Force EFI kit is hot and we've been waiting to get our hands on one.
Edelbrock might be somewhat new to the Ford EFI supercharger market, but it assembled a team of experienced engineers to build this product. The design starts around the proven Roots-style blower, but with many technological advancements. Edelbrock tapped Rob Simons, formerly of Saleen, to lead this project. He has worked on a variety of parts and vehicles for Saleen, including the S7 supercar and the company's own supercharger.
Here are the impressive numbers...
Here are the impressive numbers the Edelbrock E-Force blower produced. It brought output up considerably from the 271-rwhp and 298-lb-ft of torque baseline to a boost-enhanced 519 rwhp and 489 lb-ft.
The E-Force group chose an Eaton Gen VI rotor package, otherwise known as the Twin Vortices System (TVS) 2300. The TVS rotating assembly is standard equipment on the '08 Mustang Cobra Jet drag car and Corvette ZR1. It features a unique four-lobe design with 160 degrees of twist and a 140ci capacity. According to Eaton, the lobe design enables maximum flow with minimal air temperature increases and silent operation. This supercharger rotor combination supersedes the well-known M122 Gen V series, which is found on the Shelby GT500 5.4L engine.
MM&FF has tested other supercharger systems utilizing the TVS guts with great success. The Roots-style supercharger tends to offer a snappier feeling in the lower-rpm range as it builds boost very quickly. While the Eaton's low-end prowess is well known, Edelbrock went after even more low-end torque with its unique blower intake manifold (intakes are Edelbrock's specialty after all).
The speed freaks at Edelbrock inverted the supercharger housing upside-down to reach their goals. This was done to incorporate 15-inch long runners-the longest runners of any current Roots or twin-screw-style blower available for Three-Valve Mustangs. Long runners promote low-end torque because they create a better ram effect at lower rpm, and this equates to improved cylinder filling.
The stock intake setup was...
The stock intake setup was removed to make room for the massive supercharger. The E-Force sits in place of the stock intake. As you can see, there are a lot more wires lurking around the Three-Valve engine. These are the Edelbrock wire harnesses to extend the fuel injector plugs and various sensors that are relocated.
At first glance, we thought of two other products that share a similar concept with the manifold design-the Saleen twin-screw blower and the C&L Three-Valve manifold. Both utilize the same concept of a bottom plenum flowing up over into the intake ports.
"The long runners and upside blower are very efficient," said Jim D'Amore of JDM Engineering. No worries on its massive size though, the supercharger fits under the factory hood, but you should check with Edelbrock if your Stang has a strut-tower brace. We know it clears the Ford Racing brace, but the braces with the three-point attachment (firewall and each strut tower) might cause a problem.
Edelbrock's Rob Simons had a lot of insight into the manifold design and long runner technology. He said, "The common myth has been that when you add a supercharger, it is no longer required to tune intake-runner length to the application. That is rooted in the fact that superchargers inherently provide a large increase in low-end torque on their own, and therefore it is not necessary to try to package a long runner in the manifold. While it is of course true that you can achieve large increases in low-end torque simply by adding a supercharger, this is not to say that the system could not be optimized by fine-tuning each aspect of the system's geometry."
One of the biggest differences...
One of the biggest differences between this kit and other TVS supercharger systems on the market are ...
...the long runners in the...
...the long runners in the unique manifold. Edelbrock incorporated 15-inch-long runners to promote low-end torque.
With the supercharger pulley...
With the supercharger pulley sitting in the center location, the alternator was relocated. A new cast bracket is included in the kit, making it like an OEM setup.
This is a close-up of the...
This is a close-up of the underside of the blower front assembly. It incorporates both the blower inlet and pulley snout. It is cast in-house by Edelbrock in its foundry, as are the other components. The packaging allows for more airflow to the TVS guts and ease of mounting.
JDM added a 3.250-inch pulley...
JDM added a 3.250-inch pulley to spin the blower faster and produce more boost. Peak boost was 14.5 psi, but according to D'Amore, that is a little higher than average because of the stock exhaust system, which is a restriction and creates higher than normal boost numbers.
A new water crossover tube...
A new water crossover tube is provided and must be placed on the supercharger before it is lowered onto the engine.