2020 Shelby GT500 | Modding and Testing VMP's Project Snowbird

2020 Shelby GT500 | Modding and Testing VMP's Project Snowbird

VMP_GT500_039.jpg

I know you guys have been waiting for this. The 2020 GT500 has already proven to be a supremely impressive addition to Ford Performance family of vehicles. But this is SVTP, you know we never leave anything stock for long. So we teamed up with the supercharger experts at VMP Performance to cover some up the preliminary build up of their project Predator. When we arrived, the car was already equipped with a ported supercharger courtesy of Jokerz Performance. Other than the blower, the car was stock.

VMP_GT500_001.jpg


The 2020 Shelby GT500 is Ford Performance's ultimate expression of S550 Mustang prowess, and it looks like they left the aftermarket plenty of room to play.

So the first order of business was to strap the Twister Orange Mustang to rollers and set a baseline. He above setup netted us 680 RWHP, but the interesting thing we noticed was the power starting to drop off once the engine reached 7,700 RPM. VMP’s Justin Starkey believed it was due to restriction in the suction side of the intake tract. We would soon find out just how true that theory was. We decided to ditch the factory airbox lid to see if that freed things up a bit. There’s been a rumor that opening things up could make things interesting. Check out this video:



Stock Tune Vs Stock Tune No Lid.png


Just removing the air box lid gave the GT500 a 65RWHP increase over our baseline, and power was continuing to climb past 7,700 RPMs.


From there we bolted the intake lid back on and VMP played with some played around with some mild tuning. Justin’s software of choice was HP-Tuners due to their support and speedy load times. With some minor adjustments (though still running a lot of safeties) the car picked up 46HP/21TQ to the tires. Looking around VMP’s shop, we found one of their 105mm Throttle Bodies that just happened to fit the inlet of the Jokerz Performance ported supercharger perfectly. It’s a very nicely made piece. However, at factory boost levels we saw negligible gains. I suspect the 105mm TB will pay dividends once the supercharger is pulleied down and flowing more air. Check out the video of these tests:



Base 680 Vs Tune Only 715.png


The major take away here is that the car picked up power everywhere across the RPM range.


Finally, it was time to test the air box lid delete mod in the real world. I had my doubts that the massive gains we saw on the dyno would translate into the real world, and there’s no better real world test than knocking off a few ¼ mile passes. So we loaded up and head over to Orlando Speed World for a little test-and-tune time. One thing that is instantly apparent when looking at the time sheets is that the car is insanely consistent. However, it appears that my theory on ripping off the lid was correct. There’s not much value in it on the street or track. This video details the runs:



VMP_GT500_063.jpg


Hard to argue with these back to back passes. Perhaps the results will be different once we add a few more PSI to the mix.


Overall, we had a great couple days playing with Ford’s latest and greatest Pony Car. We performed a lot more tests than what’s posted in this thread. However, the videos go into much greater detail on all the changes we made; so I suggest watching them. If you have any questions of what to see more dyno sheets just let me know. We’ll keep posting them up in this thread. One note though, we did happen to receive prototype JLT Performance Cold Air Intake the last day we were on the dyno. I’ll be posting up those results tomorrow, so keep an eye out for that.

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Not since the 'snorkel' silencer on the Terminator have we seen a factory intake tract piece rob so much power.


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Pulling the lid leaves you with an air intake that looks remarkably like the one found on the Shelby GT350 Mustang.


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There's just a little bit of difference here. Stock 92mm vs VMP 105mm. I'm betting we see significant gains once we add about 4#s of boost.


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This photo isn't exactly straight on, but it gives you an idea of just how close Jokerz Performance ported inlet is size matched to the VMP 105mm throttle body.


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This is not a bad way to spend a Tuesday.

-SID297
 
Ouch! That bad? I was seriously curious.

It was running 10.60s with a base Odin kit breathing through a stock TB and airbox. Very impressive considering the setup.

The GT500 tuning is so early that it's really too early to predict how well it's going to run in the future. It'll be interesting to see how well the clutches hold up.

The comparison isn't really fair because the Gen 3 Coyote and 10R80 are known quantities.
 
It was running 10.60s with a base Odin kit breathing through a stock TB and airbox. Very impressive considering the setup.

The GT500 tuning is so early that it's really too early to predict how well it's going to run in the future. It'll be interesting to see how well the clutches hold up.

The comparison isn't really fair because the Gen 3 Coyote and 10R80 are known quantities.

I wasn't trying to draw a comparative. As a Gen3r 6r80 guy with the itch to upgrade I'm curious how it fared. Hell if you could've had a Gen5 whippled GT350 along it would've been perfect.

How do you like the DCT vs 10r80 vs tr6060? Personally I like DCT's, the intuitive programming is impressive as is the speed.
 
I wasn't trying to draw a comparative. As a Gen3r 6r80 guy with the itch to upgrade I'm curious how it fared. Hell if you could've had a Gen5 whippled GT350 along it would've been perfect.

How do you like the DCT vs 10r80 vs tr6060? Personally I like DCT's, the intuitive programming is impressive as is the speed.

They are all great in their own right. If given the choice, I will almost always choose a manual.
 
The 10R80 is an awesome transmission.
In Sport+ mode, with Traction Control off, the car is really fast. The first 3 gear shifts are vicious.
It's actually too much in city/congested driving. Almost like learning to drive a clutch for the first time. lol On the highway, it's glorious.
 
@SID297
Were these quarter mile runs on the GT500 done completely stock minus the supercharger porting?
Was the airlid removed on the runs? (It looks like it was not, just want to be sure.)

Looks like heat soak is a problem as is with pretty much almost any supercharged vehicle. Speaking of the horsepower numbers dropping on the dyno with back to back runs. Which, is to be expected.
 
@SID297
Were these quarter mile runs on the GT500 done completely stock minus the supercharger porting?
Was the airlid removed on the runs? (It looks like it was not, just want to be sure.)

Looks like heat soak is a problem as is with pretty much almost any supercharged vehicle. Speaking of the horsepower numbers dropping on the dyno with back to back runs. Which, is to be expected.

I'd have to go back and look at the notes for each specific run. Between the two in question, there were no changes made and there was a cool down period.
 
@SID297
Were these quarter mile runs on the GT500 done completely stock minus the supercharger porting?
Was the airlid removed on the runs? (It looks like it was not, just want to be sure.)

Looks like heat soak is a problem as is with pretty much almost any supercharged vehicle. Speaking of the horsepower numbers dropping on the dyno with back to back runs. Which, is to be expected.
I can’t speak to the airbox lid but yes, this car has had the ported supercharger since VMP picked it up from Jokerz Performance.
Jokerz is well known for their supercharger porting services so it’s no surprise their car has a ported blower.
As someone who has a Jokerz ported VMP Gen3R enroute, as well future new GT500 owner, I can’t wait to see what this car does with the boost turned up to take advantage of the ported supercharger and 105mm TB and improved CAI.
Remember these cars are no longer MAF sensor equipped, so there can be interesting designs and sizes on the CAI/filter coming. Loki g forward to see what works best, but you can’t really go too big on feeding the blower rotors until driveability suffers.
-J
 
I can’t speak to the airbox lid but yes, this car has had the ported supercharger since VMP picked it up from Jokerz Performance.
Jokerz is well known for their supercharger porting services so it’s no surprise their car has a ported blower.
As someone who has a Jokerz ported VMP Gen3R enroute, as well future new GT500 owner, I can’t wait to see what this car does with the boost turned up to take advantage of the ported supercharger and 105mm TB and improved CAI.
Remember these cars are no longer MAF sensor equipped, so there can be interesting designs and sizes on the CAI/filter coming. Loki g forward to see what works best, but you can’t really go too big on feeding the blower rotors until driveability suffers.
-J
Definitely. I agree.
I did see that supercharger was ported, but it still picked 65HP after doing some pulls with the lid off. After doing dyno pulls with the lid on. Pretty impressive.
I wonder if it would equate to anything on the drag strip though?
 
Definitely. I agree.
I did see that supercharger was ported, but it still picked 65HP after doing some pulls with the lid off. After doing dyno pulls with the lid on. Pretty impressive.
I wonder if it would equate to anything on the drag strip though?

Watch this vid (and subscribe to the SVTP YouTube channel so you don't miss out on more stuff):

 
Has anyone taken a JLT intake to the track and done a stock comparison? Not buying into the JLT hype quite yet. Their tests as well as their "3rd party tests" all seem skewed" and we all know dyno numbers are not real life numbers.
 

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