Video Review & Installation

[music]Justin Dugan: Hey guys, Justin with AmericanMuscle.com here with the Stage 3 Power Pack bolt-on buildup for all 2013 and '14 GT500's. What we've learned over the course of these first two Power Packs is that these cars are huge overachievers right from the factory. We also learned that they respond incredibly well to mods, picking up huge amounts of power, even with the most basic bolt-ons like we saw in the Stage 1 Power Pack. But we also learned that these cars tend to run out of breath pretty quickly, especially when those power and boost levels start increasing. So in the Stage 3 Power Pack we installed a few mods on to our '14 GT500 that should help it breathe a lot easier in the quest for laying down 700 wheel horsepower.But before we get started I just want to remind you guys to subscribe to our YouTube channel if you haven't done so already for more bolt-on build-ups, some of our product overviews, and of course more project cars.One of the biggest bottlenecks on any car is the factory catalytic converters. Now even though Ford did a great job and designed some pretty high flowing cats here for the '13 and '14 GT500, for the purposes of our Power Pack, they just had to go. In its place now is a stainless steel two-and-three-quarter-inch off road X-Pipe, which does, of course, eliminate those factory cats, greatly improving our exhaust flow.Helping us achieve that more aggressive tone, we installed the Axle-Back from Kooks Performance here. This is the Kooks Performance Axle-Back Exhaust system with the Quad Tips in place. Now don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of the factory GT500 exhaust from the looks down to the tone, but what Kooks has done is actually use their 40 plus years in the exhaust field and improved upon the factory design. We're looking at a 3-inch oval race muffler with the dual 4-inch polished tips, giving it that signature GT500 look. Now this Axle-Back paired with that off road X-Pipe just produces an exhaust sound that is totally evil. In fact, listen for yourself.With everything taken care of with the exhaust, let's move to the intake here where we saved the best for last. Now when I say the best in this case is the throttle body, a lot of you guys are probably going to go, really? But the truth is, upgrading the throttle bodies on these '13 and '14 Shelby's usually yields massive results. And at this point in our build it's pretty much become a necessity.The lower balancer we installed in Stage 2 has increased our boost by spinning our TVS Blower much faster, while the JLT Big Air Intake has essentially let more air into our motor. However, the only thing standing between those two parts, the supercharger and the intake, was the factory throttle body, basically causing a massive bottleneck.In its place now we have a huge upgrade. The Ford Racing Super Cobra Jet Throttle Body. This is actually the same throttle body used on the purpose-built Cobra Jet drag car, so we know it's proven. It's designed to replace the twin 60 millimeter stocker with a massive mono-blade oval design, which actually outflows the twin 65 millimeter throttle body from Ford Racing by a couple hundred CFM. Since it is built by Ford Racing, of course the quality electronics and fitment are all completely dead on as you might expect. And best of all, it's really going to uncork the airflow entering our Trinity motor.With all of our Stage 4 mods in place, we're going to get Mike J. in here from the Bama Performance Team to talk a little bit more about what we did. And more importantly get a much-needed tune for our Shelby.All right Mike, as you and I were talking about, man, the whole theme for this Power Pack was just helping our Ford team breathe a lot easier.Mike Johnston: Well it definitely needed it. As we saw in our baseline runs, the car's making great power, but it's running out of breath in the upper RPM range. So we add a throttle body, we add exhaust, we're really going to see improvement there.Justin Dugan: Awesome, and now we know these big monoblade throttle bodies are a little tough when it comes to drivability, tuning and all that stuff. Tell these guys how the Bama Team is going to tackle that.Mike Johnston: A lot of Dyno time and a lot of logging. And you're right, those are key factors. Idle and part throttle drivability are probably the most key things you want to focus in on. We did a really great job on this of nailing both of them, and then we got to play with the fun stuff, which is full throttle.Justin Dugan: All right, speaking of fun stuff, guys, I think this thing's going to be well over 700, or at least just around there. Mike, are you with me on that, man? What do you think?Mike Johnston: I think we're going to be right there. And if not, just a tad bit over. But I wouldn't counter out.Justin Dugan: All right, let's do it.At the end of our Stage 2 Power Pack, our 2014 GT500 was laying down 657 horsepower, and 696 pound feet of torque at the rear wheels. With everything installed here in the Stage 3 Power Pack, our GT500 is now putting down a very impressive 709 horsepower, and 727 pound feet of torque. That gives us a peak gain of 52 horsepower over our Stage 2 numbers, and gains of 65 horsepower, and 57 pound feet of torque throughout the curve.So to recap, our baseline run with our stock 2014 GT500 gave us 600 horsepower and 544 pound feet of torque. With all three Power Packs installed the car was now making 709 horsepower, and 727 pound feet of torque, giving us a peak gain of 109 horsepower over those baseline numbers, and curve gains of 163 horsepower, and 193 pound feet of torque.These Power Packs featuring the 2013 and '14 Shelby GT500's show why these cars are at the top of the food chain when it comes to muscle cars. That's because, honestly for the money there's nothing that can touch the power that these things are capable of. Especially when given a little help like we demonstrated here with our Power Packs.We hope you guys have enjoyed the bolt-on build-up for the '13 and '14 GT500. And remember, for all things Mustang keep it right here at AmericanMuscle.com