The sound of an all-natural Coyote howl cut through the cool but sticky air at South Georgia Motorsports Park as Steeda’s Silver Bullet 2.0 blasted to a single-digit pass. It wasn’t that long ago that enthusiasts were battling against locked PCM’s to squeeze out extra S650 performance. Now that the tuning gloves are off, the results have been impressive.
While many are doing work with boost, Steeda pursued the all-natural approach, and recently, its project car pursued even quicker times thanks to cold air and some E85 from the corner filling station.
The company’s Silver Bullet 2.0 began life as a stock Mustang GT that ran mid-12s out of the box. From there, the Gen 4 5.0-liter Coyote received a serious airflow overhaul, including a Steeda ProFlow cold-air intake, ported heads from Airflow Solutions, GSC R2 camshafts, a Ford Racing Cobra Jet intake manifold, Soler Performance 90mm throttle bodies via a Boschma’s Speed Shop adapter, and 2-inch Kooks long-tube headers, all calibrated by Lund Racing.
The all-natural combo transmits power through a 10R80 automatic fitted with a Circle D torque converter and backed by a QA1 carbon-fiber driveshaft, an Auburn differential, and 3.73 gears. A full Steeda drag suspension and sticky Mickey Thompson rubber help the independent rear suspension hook the high-revving power.
Earlier track outings exposed a few weak links, but the team addressed them before this pass with a repaired throttle body, lighter Aerospace front brakes, and a return to the factory steering rack to restore drag mode and line lock.
“So what we did was let’s drive it up to the track. That was our sales manager’s idea. And you know what? Let’s put pump E85 in it. No C85,” said Scott Boda, Director of Manufacturing and Engineering at Steeda.
As a result, Steeda’s Silver Bullet 2.0 sprinted to a 9.96-second pass at more than 137 mph, which is impressive by any measure for a naturally aspirated street car. While it’s great seeing the latest Mustang rack up crazy numbers with forced induction, it is also fun to see just how quick the latest 5.0 Mustang can run in naturally aspirated form with the right set of modifications.
You might also like
Ford Racing Bronco Raptors Top King Of The Hammers Podium
Ford Racing Bronco Raptor 4600 teams finished 1-2 at King of the Hammers. Blue Oval competitors topped the podium for the fifth straight time.
