"My 05' Stang" 

Article Reprinted Courtesy of GVMA Club Member and Fellow Newsletter Editor, John Weir

I could never have afforded to do this as a teenager, and when I started working in my chosen trade, I had enough money along with no time and no inclination to work on my own car in the evenings. At 55, now is my time, my second childhood. The trick in my mind is to avoid attracting the attention of the police with a car that looks like it's fast and powerful. My 'Stang makes more noise than the usual 05 Mustang GT partly because of the upgraded mufflers, but let's start at the beginning.
 
When I drove out of KeyWest Ford, around the corner and North on 12th Street in New Westminster, I saw several used car dealers and rental car lots lined up like ducks in a shooting gallery. One of them was displaying a slightly older Mustang, yellow in colour with Lamborghini style doors that were open and lifted up. After a few weeks, the idea was still in my head so I started asking around and finally got a nudge to look on the internet. I found several hinge kits that were supposed to be universal fit, you simply had to weld or fabricate mounts to connect them to the car and the door. Sounds simple, doesn't it. Trust me when I say 'Universal fit hinges DO NOT', well they don't fit my Mustang, they might fit something else with a little more room inside the front fender.
 
So I have a set of Autoloc hinges with power lifts that will swing your door up to 130 degrees. They are for sale.  -  http://www.thehoffmangroup.com/autoloc/product.lasso?prodinc=lambodoors

They have a few more styles now, the ones I have look like the ones they call 'Standard Hinge' now.
 
Kaotic Kustoms in Langley found for me some very nice 'bolt in' hinges that I often wish would open a little more, but otherwise work just fine.

http://www.shopatron.com/product/product_id=KWA50030005/431.0.2096.0.0.0.0

 
The hinges are well worth it just to watch peoples faces and hear the comments at the gas station or in a parking lot when you open the doors. While the hinges are nice, they don't make the car go faster.
 
The real performance booster came from Whipple Industries

http://www.whipplesuperchargers.com/product.asp?ProdID=1208

This item was suggested, supplied and installed by Kaotic Kustoms since I was so happy with the way the hinges turned out. I intended to get the intercooled version (Whipple part number WK-200750P), however it wasn't quite ready for sale at the time. My car was Dyno tested before and after the Supercharger was installed and the rear wheel horsepower increased from 252 to 339 and the torque curve dramatically changed for the better. I then made further inquiries to find out what I could do economically to increase the horsepower again and two suggestions came forward. The first was to reduce the restriction in the exhaust system where it was determined that the Ford stock mufflers were the major restriction. 

FlowMaster mufflers were installed and the rear wheel horsepower (RWHP) increased to 373, a noticeable boost for a modest price. The second suggestion which was now possible after the muffler upgrade was to shrink the supercharger pulley by 2 sizes. There definition of 2 sizes and mine were quite different. They make the pulleys in 1/8" size increments, however their website showed 1/4" increments. The reduced restriction in the exhaust would reduce the existing boost pressure, the smaller pulley would bring it back up and then some. I accidentally made the pulley (small lathe/milling machine in basement) 3 sizes (my definition) smaller and had a terrible time with engine knock requiring me to make another pulley. The original Whipple pulley was 3-7/8" diameter and my 2nd pulley is 3-3/8" diameter. The dyno test, which may not be the end of this effort, came out at 423 RWHP 421 LbFt of torque @ 5554 RPM using 94 octane gasoline plus an octane booster that should have brought it up to over 100 octane. By the time it got to 423 RWHP the HP was still increasing, but the Air/Fuel ratio had leaned out too much because the fuel delivery system had reached its limit. To avoid damaging the engine I removed the smaller pulley and ran with the 3-7/8" Whipple pulley at 373 RWHP and I was able to use 91 octane fuel, the mid range premium gas.
 
Whipple's website says it will pump out 415 HP @ 6 PSI of boost. Using their conversion of 0.85 to obtain RWHP comes out to 352 RWHP. With my dyno results showing 373 RWHP I certainly can't complain with a calculated engine HP of 438.
 
It is now about 9 months later, the intercooler option is available for the Whipple Supercharger and their website seems to promise over 500 whopping engine HP. Kaotic Customs again ordered and installed the Intercooler upgrade kit and the dyno results are finally in. The I.C. upgrade kit came with a Shelby GT500 fuel pump and larger injectors as well as a computer upgrade to make it all work together. I had 414 RWHP @ 5500 RPM and 10.3 PSI of boost using a 3-3/8" pulley that also came with the upgrade. I also have another separate cooling system under the hood including an electric water pump and expansion tank to supply the intercooler with cold coolant. Since this translated to only 485 engine HP, I tried the original pulley that I made, a 3-1/8" pulley and came out at a calculated 507 engine HP. The RWHP came out at 431 @ 5600 RPM and 13.0 PSI of boost and I can still use 91 octane pump gas.
 
There are never enough ponies under the hood, but I think that this is where I will stop. The price of premium hay now is down from where it was, but it is still high.