2007-2009 GT500: Bolt-On Build-Ups

Justin: Hey, Justin with americanmuscle.com, here with a Stage 1 Powerpack Bolt-On Build-Up for all 2007 to 2009 GT500s. 2007 marked the 40th anniversary of the original GT500, so Ford and Shelby decided to do what they do best and give this car enough horsepower and aggressive styling to make it worthy of the GT500 badge. Just because the GT500s are the baddest of the bad in factory form doesn't make them immune to the typical Mustang owner's treatment, which is how do we make this thing faster? So, that's the goal here with these Powerpacks.

Now, if you want to check out more Bolt-On Build-Ups for your ride, you can subscribe to our YouTube channel by clicking on the link below, if you haven't done so already.

We already knocked out our baseline runs with the 2008 GT500 here, so let's get into the mods that make up our Powerpack.

This Powerpack consists of two relatively simple parts that a majority of our customers and Mustang owners turn to when they first start modding, GT500 owners included, and there's a reason for that. They're both extremely easy to install, even for the most novice mechanics out there, and best of all, they get results. The first part, which I just finished up installing, is JLT's Carbon Fiber Big Air Intake available for all 2007 to 2009 GT500s. Again, a very simple mod, very easy to install, but a very important mod when you do start working on these cars with the positive displacement blowers, like the '08 GT500 here.

A lot of people think that the easiest way to make more power and boost on a supercharged engine is to throw a smaller pulley on it. And while that's not a bad idea, did you know you can actually pick up a lot more power and possibly even an extra pound or two of boost simply by throwing on a massive cold air intake like the JLT here? You're not only allowing the engine to breathe a lot easier, which is going to increase your supercharger's efficiency, but you're also increasing the flow capacity of the motor itself. So basically, when you do throw a smaller pulley on down the road and really start spinning that blower up, the motor isn't going to get choked out by the less efficient factory intake.

In addition to that, the JLT just looks awesome. The carbon fiber construction will look great under the hood, definitely get you a few style points while you're at it. On top of that, like I said earlier, a very easy install that will take you maybe an hour, tops. Now, if you want to learn more about this intake and hear what other GT500 owners are saying about it, just click the link below to head back to the Product page at americanmuscle.com, if you're not there already.

The JLT does boast one of the largest map housings available on the market today at 127 millimeters, which is basically gonna allow your blown 5.4 liter to devour massive amounts of air. However, because of this, a custom tune is required, so I'm gonna call my buddy, Mike J. in from Bama Performance and talk a little bit more about the second part of our Powerpack.

Just finished up with the install of the JLT, as you can see. How is this going to affect your tune?

Mike: Well, obviously, the JLT is gonna push in a lot more air, and any time you're pushing in more air, you really gotta be conscious of your air-fuel ratio. So, the first thing we're going to look at is fuel adjustment, spark adjustment to get that right. We'll load everything up using the Bama SCT tuner, get this thing loaded up and make some more hits on it.

Justin: Well, I'm gonna hop in, do another pull, see what kind of gains we're looking at.

The baseline numbers with our 2008 GT500 gave us 434 horsepower and 432 pound-feet of torque at the rear wheels. At the end of the Stage 1 Powerpack, our car was now making 508 horsepower and 479 pound-feet of torque, giving us a peak gain of 74 horsepower over our baseline numbers, and gains of 56 horsepower and 64 pound-feet of torque throughout the curve. Well, with only two pretty basic mods in about an hour or two worth of our time, we gave our already potent '08 GT500 a serious bump in power that even the most jaded gearhead would be happy with.

Now, that will do it for the Stage 1 Powerpack Bolt-On Build-Up with the '07 to '09 GT500. You have to check out our other Bolt-On Build-Ups for the '07 to '09 GT500s, where we really increase the power and start talking about some more serious mods. Don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel, if you haven't done so already. And don't forget to keep it right here at your number one source for all things Mustang, americanmuscle.com

Justin: Hey, I'm Justin with americanmuscle.com and this is the Stage 2 Power Pack Bolt-On Build-Up for all 2007 to 2009 GT500s. This power pack is for the GT500 owners who have already taken care of some of the basic bolt-ons, your cold air intakes, your tunes and are looking for more power out of your supercharged 5.4 liter. Now if you guys are looking for more power out of your Mustang whether it's a GT500, a GT or a V6 be sure to check out some of our other bolt-on build-ups by subscribing to our YouTube channel if you haven't done so already.

This entire pack is centered around a very popular supercharger mod that's going to increase our boost and therefore increase the horsepower on our GT500. However just like anything else in the forced induction world, you can't just add more boost without addressing other key areas of your ride to ensure you're getting the most out of each mod but more importantly, to ensure the safety of your motor. So first let's get to everybody's favorite topic, more boost.

The first mod in our power pack consists of the Metco Motorsports 2.6 inch Upper Pulley. Now a smaller pulley like the Metco here is always a very popular choice with supercharged applications because what it's gonna allow you to do is spin that stock blower much faster resulting in more boost. In fact we should be looking at three to four pounds of additional boost compared to the stock three inch pulley. The Metco itself is a very nice piece and it's actually very popular with other GT500 owners here on the site. In fact if you want you can just click on the link below to read up on some of the reviews. Now the design is a two piece design so you have a hub that presses onto the blower shaft first and then the actual pulley bolts to the hub using the included hardware. This is just basically gonna make any future pulley swaps a complete piece of cake. I really can't wait to see what a few extra pounds of boost are gonna do to our power numbers and best of all, that factory Eaton blower should really be screaming.

With the pulley out of the way let's talk about some of those other supplementary mods I told you guys about at the beginning of the pack. Now again you can't just bolt up a pulley and go without addressing some other areas. Case in point, that smaller pulley has now created some excess slack in our belt which basically our factory idler will not be able to keep up with. What this is gonna result in is dreaded boost and power robbing belt slippage.

Enter the Metco Double Bearing Auxiliary Idler Pulley Kit which we also installed on our '08 here. Now this is gonna take up the extra slack created by the smaller 2.6 inch pulley and just create plenty of belt wrap to prevent any belt slippage and more importantly it's gonna ensure that those boost levels stay rock solid all the through the upper RPM range. On top of that the double bearing construction will ensure a little bit more durability over time. It might actually be a little quieter and for a few bucks more it's really a no-brainer.

Finally there's one more part to go over before we bring in Mike J from BAMA to tweak the tune a little bit for us and of course turn the rollers one more time. With that pulley in place we're really gonna be spending our blower a lot faster than we were before which of course will lead to more boost meaning we had to address our spark plugs. So we installed the NGK TR6 Plugs which really are the go-to spark plug for any Shelby owner who is upping their boost. They're a one heat range colder plug compared to our stock plugs which will help avoid any possible detonation. An important note. Just make sure they're gapped correctly before install to avoid any spark blowout. Definitely recommend doing these plugs or something similar whenever you really start cranking up the boost like we are here with the '08.

All right, well, with all the new parts in place we have Mike J from the BAMA Performance Team in here working on a new tune for us for all the increased boost that we're gonna be seeing thanks to that smaller pulley. Now Mike, obviously the car is gonna be seeing a lot more boost than we were before. How does that affect things on your end?

Mike: Well, basically with the higher boost levels we're gonna be seeing right around 12 to 13 pounds. I've already gone ahead and made adjustments to the ignition timetables to make sure we're not gonna see any detonation at all. And then basically it's just looking at air fuel ratio to make sure we're in that sweet spot.

Justin: Awesome, man. I know those colder plugs should definitely help with that detonation too, so.

Mike: Absolutely.

Justin: Very cool, man. Well, if you're all finished up I want you to hop on out of there because I think it's my turn. I get to get in, do another pull and see what the numbers are.

At the end of the stage 1 power pack featuring our 2008 GT500 the car was making 508 horsepower and 479 pound-feet of torque at the rear wheels. With all the stage 2 modifications in the power pack installed we were now putting down 548 horsepower and 545 pound-feet of torque making for a gain of 40 horsepower over our stage 1 numbers and gains of 66 horsepower and 71 pound-feet of torque throughout the curve.

The stage 2 power pack with pulley and supporting mods is always a favorite of GT500 owners and I think it's pretty easy to see why. Honestly, there's nothing that compares to swapping those upper pulleys and really cranking up the boost. Hey, that's gonna do it for the Stage 2 Power Pack Bolt-On Build-Up for all '07 to '09 GT500s. Be sure to check out the other power packs for the GT500s and don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel if you haven't already. Thanks again for watching and for everything Mustang, keep it right here at americanmuscle.com.

Hey, Justin with americanmuscle.com, here with the Stage 3 Powerpack Bolt-On Build-Up for all '07 to '09 GT500s. The focus of the Stage 3 Powerpack is to take our already worked up '08 GT500 to the next level and beyond.

How are we gonna get there? Well for one, we're gonna make sure our car's ready to flow some serious air, improving on both the intake and exhaust side of the equation. On top of that, we're gonna add a little bit more boost to our car, and see what kind of numbers are possible with the factory Eaton M122 blowers still in place. For starters, let's set the table for a little bit more boost. Once you start getting around 550 wheel horsepower in these cars, that factory throttle body really becomes a big restriction. And since we're pretty much already there now with our basic bolt-ons and 26 pulley, that factory throttle body just had to go. In its place now is the Ford Racing Twin 65 millimeter Cobra Jet Throttle Body. This is the same throttle body used on the purpose-built Cobra drag car, so you know it's proven. This is gonna replace the Twin 60-millimeter stocker with twin 65-millimeter openings, allowing much more air into the supercharger and into the engine. Since it is a Ford racing part, you know the quality, the fitment and the electronics are all gonna be dead on.

And lastly, I know we're all about performance here in these powerpacks, but you can't deny this is a very good-looking part. The polished billet construction and the Ford racing logo, looks so good under the hood especially alongside that JLT carbon fiber intake. Now that we opened up things on the intake here, let's take a closer look at that exhaust.

One of the biggest disruptors of exhaust flow on any car is the factory cats. They're just performance killers and that was certainly the case here with our Shelby. So to fix that, we installed this Offroad X-Pipe here. Full stainless steel construction throughout, mandrel bends, in 2 and 3/4-inch tubing. Best of all, really gonna uncork the flow of exhaust and should transform our exhaust note to something much more sinister.

Speaking of that exhaust note, if getting rid of the factory cats weren't enough, adding Flowmaster's Outlaw Series Axle-Back here has definitely given this thing a tone worthy of one of the baddest Mustangs of all time. In fact, listen for yourself. We chose the Outlaw series here, again, because of its straight-through design, which is going to increase the flow of exhaust when working with that Offroad X-Pipe we just mentioned. Now, this is basically just to ensure that our GT500 is ready to move some serious air, which is very important here in the Stage 3 Powerpack, because we are gonna be throwing a few more extra pounds of boost at our car. So with that said, let's get out from underneath the car, head back up to the engine bay, and I'll show you guys where that extra boost is gonna be coming from.

Since we already have the 26 upper pulley here on our GT500, the options for adding more boost are a little limited. In fact, the easiest and really only way to do so is by adding a larger lower balancer. So, we installed the 10% Overdrive Lower Balancer from Innovators West here on our '08 GT500. The 26 pulley with that balance is actually a very popular choice with many GT500 owners, looking to get the most out of those Eaton blowers. The Innovators balancer is much lighter than our factory '08 balancer, which will mean a drop in rotational mass and by increasing the diameter 10%, we should be looking at 3 to 4 pounds more boost, which will put our Shelby at about 15 or so pounds of boost when it's all said and done. This is pretty much the safe tried and true limit of efficiency for these factory M122 blowers, that is, of course, without any additional porting or cooling, like meth injection. You start spinning them any faster and heat really becomes an issue, and at that point, the supercharger begins to lose its efficiency, which means a drop in power.

To help keep things cool here in our Shelby, we installed the AFCO Pro-Series Heat Exchanger, which does include Dual 10-inch electric fans to help keep things even cooler. The AFCO itself is a very nice piece. It's built extremely well, fits great, and does include everything you need for a painless install. Because of this, it's an extremely popular choice with Terminator owners and other GT500 owners out there. In fact, if you wanna read up on some of the reviews or learn more about the heat exchanger itself, just go ahead and click on the link below to visit the product page.

So, now that we have all of our Stage 3 mods in place, we're gonna move the car over to the dyno and let Mike J. and the Bama Performance team step in and do their thing. But before we do, just wanna remind you guys to subscribe to our YouTube channel if you haven't done so already, just to check out some of our other bolt-on build-ups and more Mustang content. All you have to do, simply click on that link below.

When the Stage 2 Powerpack was all finished up, the car was making 548 horsepower and 545 pound-feet of torque. At the end of the Stage 3 Powerpack, the car was now making 581 horsepower and 600 pound-feet of torque, giving us a peak gain of 33 horsepower over our Stage 2 numbers, and gains of 47 horsepower and 59 pound-feet of torque throughout the curve. So to recap, with all three Powerpacks installed, we went from a baseline number of 434 horsepower and 432 pound-feet of torque at the rear wheels, to 581 horsepower and 600 pound-feet of torque. That gives us a peak overall gain of 147 horsepower and gains of 157 horsepower and 169 pound-feet of torque throughout the curve.

That's gonna do it for the Stage 3 Powerpack Bolt-On Build-Up for the '07 to '09 GT500. Our '08 GT500 started out as a pretty formidable street car, but over the course of three different powerpacks, which included more boost, bolt-ons and a quality tune, it has turned into an absolute monster that is ready for just about any Challenger that might wanna test it at the track or at the next red light. We hope you guys have enjoyed watching these Powerpacks. Don't forget to check out the Stage 1 and 2. And for all things Mustang, keep it right here at americanmuscle.com.