ChipBeck Posted August 27, 2008 Report Share Posted August 27, 2008 Gentlemen, My Whipple Supercharger should arrive this Friday and I am most anxious to get it installed. A few questions for those of you who have installed the Ford Racing Whipple Supercharger on your Shelby GT. First, I know the SGT strut tower brace will not clear the Whipple supercharger, but how much taller would the strut tower brace have to be to clear the supercharger? 1/4", 1/2", 1 inch? Did it just barely not fit or was it not even close? Is the problem that the brace hit the top of the supercharger, or hit the air intake snorkel, or both? I know the Kenny Bell supercharger will fit underneath that strut tower brace but by the barest of margins. It's so tight that when the engine moves on the engine mounts it will probably hit the brace. I will be building a new strut tower brace to clear the supercharger and my goal is to make it visually indistinguishable from the original. Last, how long did it take Ford Racing to send you the Pro-Cal tuner after you called them with your car's specifications? Thanks in advance for this information. Chip Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RogerS Posted August 27, 2008 Report Share Posted August 27, 2008 Hello Chip, I can only speak for myself here. My Whipple was installed at the Mod Shop in Las Vegas. I did receive the Pro-Cal with the car. If I remember correctly it took about 1-2 weeks after notification from Ford Racing. I would suspect that it would be 1 week or less. On the strut tower brace, I am very interested on your final product. There have been many who have become very creative in this area. With the Ken Bell the "stock" Ford Racing V6 strut tower brace fits with room to spare. I do hear that the intake maniford height is the difference from the Whipple and Ken Bell. From what I remember, the Whipple is 1 3/8" taller. I have been exploring many options as I too would like some strut tower to strut tower support. The is a member who did have a Ford Racing GT500 strut tower brace modified to fit under the stock hood and over the Whipple. It did require under hood support modification and removal of the blanket. While modification was taking place under the hood, he took the liberty to also make the stock hood scoop functional. See the attached pictures. This was not a modification for the faint of heart or should I say faint of wallet! The issue I believe you will have will be under hood clearance. My Whipple hits the hood blanket in several areas without an strut support in the area of the throttle body and cold air tube in 2 locations. There is a strut tower bar that is avalible from an aftermarket company made of billet aluminum. Alutec is the name of the company. It consists of 3 pieces. Two shock tower supports with mounting point and the bar. It seems to have possibilities. Under hood modifications would need to be performed. I have also attached a picture below. Another potential solution would be solid billet motor mounts. Some reduce engine height by 1". This will create a potential pinion angle issue requiring an adjustable upper control arm to correct. It will also increase NHV due to the solid mounts. I will be watching this thread with great anticipation as your hood scoop solution was well thougtht out and executed. Please keep in touch via e-mail. Roger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SGT2666 Posted August 27, 2008 Report Share Posted August 27, 2008 My tuner from Ford came pretty quickly as I remember no more then a week or two. Not sure how you are installing yours but I thought I would tell you about my installation experience. My tune from Ford was terribly fat with an AF of 10 and only made 432hp which was significantly lower then expectation. I'm currently working with JDM Engineering who is pretty adamant that the Ford tune is overdriving the 38 pound injectors by putting 60 pound of pressure to them to meet fuel demand. They have recommended that I go to 52 pound injectors from the GT500 allowing them to run a normal duty cycle reducing heat and increasing longevity of the injectors while meeting fuel demands. The first pass from JDM yielded 450hp with a nice flat AF but I start leaning out at peak HP, so they are currently working up the tune with the 52 pound injectors. We are looking for 475 to 500 rwhp with the new setup. I tell you this because after going through this I've found that many tuners don't like the small injectors that Whipple packages with their blowers, so Whipple sells a tuner package that does not include the tune or the injectors and may be a better way to go. I wasn't real very happy with the Whipple tune and the inability to adjust it so I went with JDM, they have a good reputation and they do alot of Saleen work so they've done alot of mustangs. I'm sure there are many quality tuners out there, I just wish I'd have gone with one to begin with it would have saved me some money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MMcGuirk Posted August 27, 2008 Report Share Posted August 27, 2008 Gentlemen, My Whipple Supercharger should arrive this Friday and I am most anxious to get it installed. A few questions for those of you who have installed the Ford Racing Whipple Supercharger on your Shelby GT. First, I know the SGT strut tower brace will not clear the Whipple supercharger, but how much taller would the strut tower brace have to be to clear the supercharger? 1/4", 1/2", 1 inch? Did it just barely not fit or was it not even close? Is the problem that the brace hit the top of the supercharger, or hit the air intake snorkel, or both? I know the Kenny Bell supercharger will fit underneath that strut tower brace but by the barest of margins. It's so tight that when the engine moves on the engine mounts it will probably hit the brace. I will be building a new strut tower brace to clear the supercharger and my goal is to make it visually indistinguishable from the original. Last, how long did it take Ford Racing to send you the Pro-Cal tuner after you called them with your car's specifications? Thanks in advance for this information. Chip Chip, I receive my SC kit from FRPP on Friday, filled our the paperwork, logged into their website, registered and received the programmer on Tuesday. This was perfect as it took me until Monday night to complete the install. Regarding the tune, I made 478, 480 and 476 at the wheels on three pulls with no mods other than a Corsa X pipe. As a bonus, the driveability of my car not under boost improved significantly over stock. The A/F ratio with the kit supplied injectors was the desired 11.5. I am very pleased with my SC choice. Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
68fastback Posted August 27, 2008 Report Share Posted August 27, 2008 There was someone selling both low-profile prothane motor mounts and a K-member shim-kit that permits the huge 3.4 Whipple to clear the hood on the GT500. Those same pieces might permit the smaller whipple to clear the SGT tower brace?? Maybe a search will turn it up -- I think his screen name is DynoJoe. As Roger noted, low-mounts and K-shims will require re tweaking pinion angle -- if you lower the front of the engine the nose of the pinion will need to be lowered by the same amound (in degrees). Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LuLu Posted August 27, 2008 Report Share Posted August 27, 2008 There was someone selling both low-profile prothane motor mounts and a K-member shim-kit that permits the huge 3.4 Whipple to clear the hood on the GT500. Those same pieces might permit the smaller whipple to clear the SGT tower brace?? Maybe a search will turn it up -- I think his screen name is DynoJoe. As Roger noted, low-mounts and K-shims will require re tweaking pinion angle -- if you lower the front of the engine the nose of the pinion will need to be lowered by the same amound (in degrees). Dan Agreed, but I have my questions. One...Is the GT 500 hood the same as the SGT? Isn't the GT 500 hood built up in some way? Some taller dimensions for interior clearance? Two...You are correct to point out that changing engine/tranny/K frame mounts will require some adjustment to the pinion angle, but how does this affect those of us who have a one-piece drive shaft? Just wondering... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChipBeck Posted August 27, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 27, 2008 Gentlemen, My removable hood scoop makes taking measurements much easier. Our existing strut tower brace's tightest clearance is exactly 5/8" from the hood bracing on both sides as indicated in the photograph below. So 1/2" of additional clearance could be made quickly and easily by machining a spacer to increase the thickness of the braces two base plates by 1/2". It appears that is not going to be enough. I have an additional 1.3 inches of clearance above my intake manifold because of my open hood scoop. Utilizing this additional space with some billet aluminum or stainless steel and some quality machine work will allow me to make a brace that is at least as strong or stronger than the original. The finished product will, of course, have to look as good or better than the original and must incorporate the Ford Racing aluminum plate that exists on the stock strut tower brace. I love projects like this. I prefer the look of the underside of my hood without the insulation so I removed the hood and painted the bottom of it the same bright white as the rest of the car. Previously, the center of the hood had paint that was very thin. I'll keep you posted as this project comes together. Chip Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CH53Driver Posted August 27, 2008 Report Share Posted August 27, 2008 Wow, this is pretty cool. Very interested to see the final product! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave c Posted August 27, 2008 Report Share Posted August 27, 2008 Chip, I'm sure all the guys with the Whipples are eagerly awaiting the outcome of this project. I don't know if you're aware of the Shelby billet shock tower brace, which in my opinion looks much better than the Ford racing shock tower brace. It might even be possible to have this brace machined to help allow for more clearance and you don't have to worry about painting it. Just a thought. Here are a few pics. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MMcGuirk Posted August 27, 2008 Report Share Posted August 27, 2008 Agreed, but I have my questions. One...Is the GT 500 hood the same as the SGT? Isn't the GT 500 hood built up in some way? Some taller dimensions for interior clearance? Two...You are correct to point out that changing engine/tranny/K frame mounts will require some adjustment to the pinion angle, but how does this affect those of us who have a one-piece drive shaft? Just wondering... I have a GT500 hood on my GT. There is definitely more clearance. My strut brace does not fit over the Whipple. I am considering seeing if the GT500 brace will clear the blower and CAI. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
68fastback Posted August 27, 2008 Report Share Posted August 27, 2008 Agreed, but I have my questions. One...Is the GT 500 hood the same as the SGT? Isn't the GT 500 hood built up in some way? Some taller dimensions for interior clearance? Two...You are correct to point out that changing engine/tranny/K frame mounts will require some adjustment to the pinion angle, but how does this affect those of us who have a one-piece drive shaft? Just wondering... Hi Mac, yeah, the GT500 hood is different but to fit the huge 3.4 Whipple in they they had to drop the engine quite a lot (possible more than an inch, if I recall) so I thought DynoJoe might be able to tell SGT folks how much additional clearance the low-profile mounts and K-member shims could give and maybe some measurements would then give the answer for SGT. Changing the angle of the engine-trans would affect needed pinion correction the same for a one-piece or a two piece shaft. For argument sake, if the engine were dead-level and low-profile mounts and shim-kit tilt it down 2*, then the pinion would need to go nose-down another two degress also, assuming it was properly pre-loaded to begin with. Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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