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AM Enthusiast Zach W. puts down over 400 horsepower to the ground with only a C&L Performance Cold Air Intake and a Bama Performance X4 loaded with Bama's V2 tunes. After a few dyno pulls, Zach hits the street with his 2013 Mustang GT/CS to put it through its paces with the new mods added.
Justin: What's up, everybody? Justin with americanmuscle.com, here with my buddy Zach from americanmuscle.com as well. You're actually doing a lot of the writing here, right, for some of the blogs, catalogs, things like that.
Zach: Yep.
Justin: And you happen to have your ride in with us today, your beautiful California Special, silver. Looks awesome. What kind of mods you got going on so far, Zach?
Zach: It's a 2013 California Special. I put on a ROUSH Axle-back Exhaust, the Ford Racing H-Pipe with Side Exhaust, and a Ford Racing Short Throw Shifter.
Justin: Okay, so some of the basic bolt-ons, of course. Now, you haven't dove into the tune world yet, but that's something we're thinking about here today. Right?
Zach: Yeah, I used the stock horsepower after a little bit of driving it, and I just wanna, you know, turn things up a little bit.
Justin: Well, I think that's the name of the game. So today we're gonna do, obviously, some tuning, of course, from the BAMA V2, some of the custom tunes from them. We're also gonna work with an intake. Why'd you go with a C&L?
Zach: Well, C&L's a great brand. They've been around for a while. They do a lot of testing. They really make sure the products are really up-to-par. And I've heard great things about 'em, so I figured, "Why not run it myself?"
Justin: I've run it, and I have no complaints. So I think you're in the right...definitely made the right decision there. So we're gonna get to work on Zach's ride here. We're gonna basically install the intake, of course, get the BAMA team in here to do a tune for his ride, of course, run the rollers, see what we're making. So you ready to get to work?
Zach: Yeah, sounds good.
Justin: Well, guys, I think Zach would agree with me that there is absolutely no easier mod to install on these Coyote GTs than a cold air intake or pretty any Mustang, for that matter. Right, Zach?
Zach: Yeah. You know, it went on in a few minutes, and it looks great. I'm just curious to see what it puts down now.
Justin: Absolutely. Well, that is the big question, of course. But as far as install goes, thanks to the C&L, of course, it fits great, looks great. And the one thing I like to point out is that this little overhang here on the heat shield is really nice, especially with these '13 and '14 GTs with the hood vents. Sometimes, water can have the tendency to leak onto the filter, but with the C&L here, that is not gonna be the case. It won't create any misfires or anything like that. So let's get to the power numbers. We're gonna get somebody in here from the BAMA team to write a V2 tune for this thing, see what kind of power numbers we can expect with this combo.
All right, guys, this is why these first couple of mods are so popular. Let's break down these numbers real quick, Zach. 369, 372 bone stock, or baseline run, I should say, with your given numbers. About what you can expect with a 6-speed Coyote. But now, with the V2 tune, the C&L Cold Air Intake, the car's making 401, 398. That's a peak gain of 32 horsepower over those baseline numbers and gains of as much as 26 horsepower, 28 pound-feet of torque under the curve. You gotta be stoked.
Zach: Yeah, I'm super happy with what the car put down. I didn't expect it to break 400, but it did. And now I'm just curious to see how it drives.
Justin: All right. Well, that's one thing you can't measure on a dyno, of course, so we're gonna get the car off the dyno, hit the streets to see if Zach's impressed with its drivability. All right, guys, so we're out in Zach's 2013 California Special with the C&L installed with the BAMA V2 tune. And so far, your impressions, drivability just kinda pullin' out of the parking lot, are what?
Zach: You know, it's super smooth, super easy. It just rolls into each gear. There's no surging, there's no bucking. It's just very smooth.
Justin: Very nice. Now, of course, guys, we've said this before in some of these videos, and it's the curse of living in the Northeast, not the best weather to be out blastin' full throttle around. Traction-wise, the roads are wet. It's cold out, but that's not gonna stop us from testing some of this drivability. All rightey, sir, well, give the people what they want. Let's have a gear or two.
Zach: All right. That's wild. Oh, my god.
Justin: Whew! Well, she is pulling strong. That felt like every bit of 401 horsepower, I'll tell you that much, man.
Zach: Oh, yeah.
Justin: Well, you have to be happy with the results. Obviously, the power numbers are nice. But just cruisin' around in traffic, couldn't be happier, right?
Zach: Yeah, absolutely. It's the best of both worlds. I feel all the performance and everything that you'd expect to kinda have from a Mustang, but yet at the same time, as soon as I just go to normal driving, it's just, you know, better than stock, in my opinion. I can't think of any other way to make that kind of power that quick and that easy.
Justin: Well, there you have it, guys. So Zach's stoked on his ride, about an hour's worth of time, an intake, a tune, and bang for the buck you really can't beat it. So be sure to check out a C&L Cold Air, along with a custom BAMA V2 tune for your ride right here at americanmuscle.com.
