My apologies for the ridiculously long post. I can get lost in my thoughts at times and generally have so much to say.
For sure, I have to agree with you here, and have often times wondered why I am going down this path. The price tag is more than egregious and to 99.999% of people (even in the mustang and car community), they will scratch their heads and ask what is wrong with me. You all, are part of my extended family, my Mustang family and I don't expect everyone to fully understand my craziness and that is perfectly fine and completely understandable.
I guess it started out with the folks on S197 forum like Matt Dasilva, Marcspaz, Chad05gt, and Spyder who pushed the envelope of what you can do with a 3V. I mean these were the guys who were exploring the absolute limits of the engine and they were all doing it N/A (not to discount those who were pushing the FI envelope), they were pushing for that 400 RWHP mark. Something that so many have thought was unobtainable out of a modular motor. Defying what people thought they knew and showing what can be done with the right knowledge and ingenuity. I look up to that kind of ideal and is something I have always strived for and have wanted to achieve. To show what I can do when people tell me I can’t or that it can’t be done.
When the Coyote rumors were flying around in 2009, we heard that it was going to have 400HP from the factory I was just blown away. Here was an engine that in all likelihood was going to put down at the rear wheels what they were putting down going all out and I couldn’t help but wonder what this engine could do and I was brimming with anticipation at the thought of guys like these who went ahead and blazed a path towards an unobtainable number N/A. As for the Boss, that is a different story, one that extends to one of those first page blurbs in a Motor Trend magazine back in 2008 when they broke the news that Ford would be releasing a Boss 302 and Bullitt version of the Mustang. Thankfully, that didn’t happen! In 2010 when the Boss 302 was unveiled I was in utter shock and amazement that Ford was willing to take an engine and make it so close to the cars that I would look at in amazement when I had my little V6. You had CNC’d heads, different cams, forged internals, a new intake manifold, everything that you needed to create a monster sitting right under the hood of this beautiful car! It was something special and amazing to me and only strengthened my desire to have one and unleash the beast inside.
Up until somewhat recently, no one has had the fortitude (or should I say enough lack of sense) to try and achieve 500 RWHP with this motor. When I saw someone do this, it was at JPC Racing (Joe Marini’s car IIRC) and they made 500HP through the Boss intake manifold and I watched in amazement at this Top Dog package creating 480 HP through the stock Manifold and 507HP through the Boss manifold. For a long time, this was all I had heard about N/A power with this motor. Then you see some people popping up using a combo that I thought would get you some great results and you could make 500HP with off the shelf parts and E85.
I’m not one to try and settle for mediocrity and follow down a path that has been done before. I pride myself in the uniqueness of things (hence a Laguna Seca over a regular Boss 302. I mean that with the utmost respect towards my fellow Boss and Mustang owners.)and try to do what has not been done before. If we never tried to reinvent the wheel we would never have had the Lotus 77 or the aero cars of the late 60’s NASCAR or a Gurney Flap. There would be no innovation or advancement in technology or the way we understand things. This is America, where we welcome and encourage the idea of doing new things, or taking what works and tinkering with it to make it work even better. One hundred and thirty years later we are still tinkering and trying to perfect personal motorized transport.
I chose JPC Racing as my engine builders because through it all, they have seemed to emerge as one of the best in the business. Recently it has become clear that they run the fastest cars down a strip short of MMR's 6 second "car" and their reputation is about as squeaky clean as they come. Working with RGR Engines which is IMO one of the top 5 modular engine builders in the country they can do pretty much any task and whenever I needed to talk to Aaron or Eric (including weekends), they have always been there or gotten back to me in a timely manor. They are by and large one of the most respected shops in the Mustang world with almost no contention to that and I have never seen a bad report come across their desk that hasn't been resolved. While I know that they aren't the cheapest out there, in my opinion they know their N/A work with this platform and their reputation and quality of service is second to none to me. Let me not forget to mention that I am so overbuilding this car, which is one reason why the build price is so high. The Darton sleeves will help the block stay true and increases rigidity and longevity of the motor, coated bearings, pistons, wrist pins etc., the billet lower crank gear is a wee bit overkill, the billet secondary chains are a wee bit overkill, the high strength reusable cam cap bolts are probably not needed but a just in case item, I will be running ID1000 injectors for a just in case item with the E85 fuel system. Those extras alone totaled $6k not to mention the $750 in specialty tools that I am renting ..... Son of a, why did I do this again?
This engine is a departure from the norm, from what we know will work and a push towards the envelope of what we can do with the platform. When I started this, I was one of only a handful of people who looked at this as a task worth pursuing. Most of those who did it, did so to be competitive in their class of racing, but no one had come out and shared their recipe to try and achieve these high HP numbers. Now look at this, one of our fellow Boss family members Darren (who unfortunately found out the hard way of MMR’s hard won reputation) has an engine similar to mine and is making some wicked awesome numbers with it and tearing the NASA Mid Atlantic Region a new one. I love seeing these kinds of things and applaud all who step up to the challenge of modifying their car, be it anything from a CAI & tune, up to a full BIW race car. I am doing this as something that I was told I couldn’t possibly do. That building an engine was too difficult; while it is a daunting task, it is one that I would like to do and share with the community to help those who might not otherwise know how to do things (such as myself). So they can look at this and say, oh ok so that is how you time the engine, or that is how the intake manifold goes on.
For me, this is an opportunity to do that which not a whole lot of people have done before, to push the envelope, to reinvent the wheel with a RGR/JPC built 326ci monster that can terrorize the streets and hang with some of the most powerful of factory built cars. The exclusivity of a 326ci Pre-Production Laguna Seca is something I admire and am proud of with only one in the world. Sure, the price is preposterous, and the gains compared to that of XS are marginal at best. I could have slapped a JPC turbo on an engine and made close to 1000 RWHP, but that isn’t my cup of tea. I prefer making power the way God intended us to …. With atmospheric pressure.