Powerful Pickup
Installing a Whipple supercharger on a 5.0-powered F-150 delivers over 500 rwhp
By Steve Turner
Photos courtesy of ID Motorsports
There has always been a strong interest in hot rodding Ford’s ever-popular F-150 pickup. Even the Blue Oval’s performance divisions can’t resist rolling out hopped up versions like the Lightning and Raptor. These days, however, the V-8 version of the trucks has a lot in common with the Mustang and that means they both like superchargers.
After refining the naturally aspirated tuning of his 2015 F-150 4x2 with a 5.0-liter engine, Matt Alderman of ID Motorsports was ready to kick things up a notch with a power adder. To add boost and plenty of low-end grunt, he opted for one of Whipple Superchargers’ 2.9-liter supercharger systems for the Coyote pickup. Based on his experience with these kits on the latest Mustangs, Matt chose the tuner version of the kit.
“We did choose the Competition kit so the injectors and calibration were deleted. We fitted this vehicle up with Deatschwerks 95 lb/hr injectors to give us room to grow,” he explained. “When it came time to the calibrate, we were able to get a base cal very quickly due to our experience with tuning virtually this same setup on the 2015 5.0-liter Mustang.”
Like the Mustang version of the kit, the Whipple 2015-2016 Ford F-150 supercharger system ($7,295) is based on the company’s front-feed, 2.9-liter supercharger. Featuring a twin-screw design with 3x5 rotors, this blower is said to be efficient thanks to its big Crusher inlet and the huge intercooler integrated in its lower manifold. Like the Mustang system, the kit is well thought out with regard to the latest Coyote engines.
“When we first unpacked the Whipple kit we where impressed with the quality of parts and the way each bag was labeled,” Matt said. “That saved a lot of time trying to figure out what went where. As we went through the installation process we did not have any issues with fitment.”
Matt installed the kit himself and was kind enough to share some of the highlights with us. With hardware in place, he did what he does best, dialing up a custom calibration to maximize the 9 pounds of Whipple boost and 93-octane fuel moving through his truck’s stock Coyote engine.
“On the initial test drive we got a big smile on our faces when we started to hear that blower whine we all like,” he said. “As we went through refining the calibration we targeted a performance stock style drivability until you got to full throttle the you heard the blower whine louder as it pushed you back in the seat.”
As you will see from the results, his truck picked up (pun intended) some massive rear wheel gains thanks the addition of the Whipple and a custom tune. The truck’s rear-wheel numbers jumped by over 177 horsepower and 110 lb-ft of torque, which will definitely wake up it’s performance. Better yet, the truck drives still sports great driveability.
“We have put about 2,500 miles on it so far and are averaging 19.8 mpg at 70 mph and no issues at all,” Matt added.
Matt Alderman of ID Motorsport wanted more performance from his two-wheel-drive 2015 F-150, so he chose to install a Whipple supercharger atop its Coyote engine.
The centerpiece of the Whipple 2015-2016 Ford F150 supercharger system is this front-feed 2.9-liter supercharger with its companion lower manifold that houses a high-efficiency air-to-water aluminum bar-plate intercooler.
The installation process is involved, but the instructions are thorough, so read them before you dig in. Matt started by removing the factory induction, fuel rails, injectors, FEAD and other items to make way for the Whipple lower intake.
Next Matt plumbed and installed the heat exchanger and intercooler reservoir—which holds over two gallons of fluid—before wiring up the intercooler pump.
After bolting up the lower, he installed the necessary brackets and pulleys to add the supercharger belt drive. With those in place he installed the supercharger. As you can see the Whipple allows for easy, bolt-on pulley swaps.
Matt pullied the Whipple for 9 psi and installed the optional billet throttle body which offers ample flow and reduced inlet restriction versus the factory unit.
With the install completed, the Whipple looks right at home atop the Coyote in Matt’s F-150.
After Matt dialed in the calibration’s fuel, ignition timing and cam timing, the Whipple-supercharged trick picked up peak-to-peak gains of 177.16 horsepower and 110.60 lb-ft of torque.
Taking a look at the gains throughout the curve it’s clear that the Whipple improves the performance from the jump and carries the power peak far beyond the stock Coyote.
