Sometimes, projects go smoothly. Sometimes, they don’t. The first four installments of the Boosted Coyote engine project have definitely been the former, thanks to the hard work and expertise of Livernois Motorsports and Engineering. The team was able to take the few salvageable pieces of project-owner Ivan Korda’s OEM engine and craft it into one of their Race-Series long-blocks, with the intention of shooting for 1,000 rear-wheel horsepower.
However, in the last installment of the project, we did hit our first hiccup in the project. After upgrading the injectors to DeatschWerks 1,500cc/min units before going to the dyno, we thought that Ivan’s GT350 twin-fuel-pump setup would be enough to supply the juice we needed. We were wrong, as Ivan ended up maxing out the GT350 fuel system.
While the car ran great on the dyno with the third-generation Whipple 2.9L supercharger, we came up well short of our goal. The boost was capped at 16psi, and the engine could only spin to 7,500 rpm before running out of pump. The final number posted on the dyno that day was 822 rwhp and 630 lb-ft of rear-wheel torque. Nice numbers, but not what we were hoping for.
Pumping Up
If you’re already running a twin-pump setup and maxing that out, what’s the next logical step? Why, three pumps, of course! To house three pumps, we turned to Fore Innovations and their S550 Triple Pump Module. Designed to be a mechanical drop-in solution, the triple-pump hat comes with your choice of fuel pumps.
Besides housing three pumps in a drop-in fitment, the Fore hat retains the OEM fuel level sender, so your factory fuel gauge will still work, along with the factory crossover functionality. Another innovative feature is the way the pumps seat into the hat with only O-ring seals. this eliminates the need for short runs of fuel hose inside the tank itself, which prevents any degradation issues when using high-ethanol fuels.
For our application, we decided on three TI Automotive F90000274 pumps, which were formerly known as the “High-Pressure Walbro 450, 465, or 485” pumps. These pumps are E85 compatible and able to operate in high-pressure applications up to 112 psi total system pressure, with a rating of 450 lph at 50 psi.
The pumps feature an internal check valve for use in staged systems, which is critical in a three-pump setup being driven on the street as well as the track. It would do no good to have one or two pumps working, only to have the disengaged pump allowing a pressure loss due to backflow.
Fore advertises its triple-pump setup as capable of supporting 1,600 to 1,700 rear-wheel horsepower on E85. So, our measly (by comparison) goal of 1,000 wheel horsepower should be no problem for this pump setup. To make this a streetable setup, we used the Fore FC3 triple-pump staged controller. The controller itself comes wired with a 15-foot, 4-gauge power wire, and a 3-foot, 4-gauge ground wire.
Designed as an all-in-one controller, the FC3 is essentially an intelligent power distribution module that takes a single high-current feed and uses it to control the individual pumps. With a capacity of 30 amps per pump, the FC3 has internal, replaceable fuses for each individual pump.
The controller allows either one or two pumps to be run full time, with the remaining pump(s) activated by a simple 12-volt positive trigger. The idea behind staging pumps is that on the street or in low-load situations there is no need for all three pumps to be running at the same time creating excess heat, as a majority of the fuel would be returned to the tank under low load.
Since Ivan will be driving on the street in a low-load situation quite a bit, it was decided to run two pumps consistently and have the third be staged, for several reasons. First, in case of failure of a pump at any point in the engine’s range of operation, the engine should still be safe running on just one pump up to 5 psi and at full-boogie, two pumps. Two of the three pumps at maximum output should be able to support 1,000 horsepower for a short time, which will prevent the engine from detonating.
Second, in case of a failure of the secondary activation method (a 5-psi mechanical switch, in this case) in the heat of the moment, there will still be enough fuel to keep the engine safe. While running on only two pumps isn’t ideal, as they would be at their limits, running two of the pumps constantly and one staged is the best balance of limiting excess heat in the fuel and safety in a failure mode.
The pump-activation can be triggered by a multitude of different switches, like standalone fuel pressure, RPM, or boost pressure switches. Or you can configure an output from an ECU, which takes all those factors into consideration. For our application, we have the controller set up to drive two of the 450-lph pumps constantly, with the third pump activating whenever boost hits 5 psi.
We accomplish that through the use of a Honeywell 5-psi pressure switch sold by Fore. With a boost-reference line plumbed to the switch, as soon as the mechanical diaphragm in the switch sees 5 psi, it closes the contacts, sending a 12-volt trigger signal to the FC3 to turn on the third pump.
Plumbing Isn’t Just for the Mario Brothers
The biggest, baddest fuel pumps in the world aren’t worth much if you can’t efficiently and safely get the fuel to the engine. For that, we turned once again to our friends at DeatschWerks. While well-known for its line of fuel injectors, DeatschWerks also has its own line of fuel hoses and fittings to handle a variety of fuels and performance applications.
Fuel line sizing can be slightly confusing since it’s not something the average person ever thinks about being a limiting factor in making power. Luckily, DeatschWerks offers a hose-size guide for different fuels. While AN-8 hose is listed as capable of 1,400 horsepower on E85, we didn’t want to impart any restrictions on fuel flow since our pump setup is capable of more than 1,400 horsepower of flow.
To that end, we chose to run AN-10 fittings and hose on the output side of the pump hat, and AN-8 as the return. With those two primary sizes determined at the fuel hat, it was just a matter of drawing a flow map and determining the path of the fuel with the help of DeatschWerks.
A quick overview of the routing of the lines is: from the pumps, we used -10 line to an FF160 10-micron fuel filter, to a single -10 in, dual -8 out, Y-block mounted on the fender well. Two -8 lines run from the Y-block on the fender well to feed the fuel rails. On the return-side of the fuel rails are a pair of -8 lines which feed into the DWR2000 fuel pressure regulator, and an AN-8 line from the return port back to the return fitting on the pump hat.
For the fuel line, we opted for DeatschWerks nylon-braided Chlorinated Polyethylene (CPE) hose throughout. DeatschWerks also offers a stainless-braided version, as well as nylon- and stainless-braided PTFE lines. But, for our application, the CPE line was sufficient and notably easier to work with than the PTFE variant.
The CPE nylon-braided line has a pressure rating of 350 psi, which is more than enough for our fuel supply. It also happens to be the lowest-rated of DeatschWerks lines, as the stainless-braided CPE line is rated to 500 psi, and both PTFE lines will hold a whopping 1,000 psi.
The CPE line is compatible with standard pump gas, E85, and most race fuels, which is perfect for Ivan, as he is planning on a steady diet of Renegade Pro E85 Unleaded. The nylon-braided version is lightweight and has an operating temperature of -40 to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. It is the most cost-effective option, and also offers quick-and-easy installation of hose ends and fittings.
Speaking of fittings, every fitting used on this project — with the exception of the two fittings included with the Fore fuel pump hat — are all from DeatschWerks line of aluminum fittings. They are all manufactured to JIC and SAE standards and come in a slick titanium finish. That finish is an anodizing applied to the heat-treated 6061-T6 aluminum after manufacturing, which looks great and prevents corrosion.
Regulators, Mount Up
We also used a DeatschWerks DWR2000 Fuel Pressure Regulator. Advertised as being 2,000-horsepower-capable, the DWR2000 regulator is made out of anodized 6061 aluminum with stainless-steel hardware. A nitrile diaphragm makes for the highest fuel compatibility and will flow in excess of 1,000 lph.
The DWR2000 regulator has two AN-10 ORB inlets. But, as mentioned previously we have AN-8 lines running from the fuel rails to the regulator, so we installed a pair of DeatschWerks -10 ORB to -8 Male AN adaptor fittings into the inlet ports, along with a standard -8 ORB to Male AN fitting in the return port.
Twice Filtered
After the outlet from the pump, we also installed a DeatschWerks FF160 10-micron fuel filter. The DWFF160 uses both a 124mm-long, 304 stainless-steel mesh filter element with 65 square inches of surface area, and a neodymium magnet ring to incorporate magnetic filtration as well.
The 160mm-long filter housing is made from anodized 6061 aluminum, and features -8 ORB inlet and outlet fittings. The DWFF160 equipped with a 10-micron element is rated at 1,000 lph of flow, which is more than enough to support our horsepower goals. Because the filter housing has a -8 ORB inlet and outlet, we used DeatschWerks -8 ORB to -10 Male AN adaptor fittings to plumb it into our -10 fuel feed line.
Back to the Dyno
With the new fuel system installed, and the S550’s fuel tank full of Renegade Race Fuels’ Pro E85, it was time to head back to Dynospeed Racing in Memphis, Tennessee, to get the Mustang on the rollers. However, there was a little bit of tuning to be done still. In preparation for some future testing with Whipple (which we’ll discuss more in-depth in a later article), we joined forces with an outfit with a ton of Whipple-tuning experience: Lund Racing.
Between Jon Lund, Sr. and John Lund, Jr., the Lund Racing team has more than two decades of Whipple tuning experience. With the switch to Lund Racing comes the switch to an nGauge tuner. “We use the nGauge as a tune delivery device because of its ease of use in loading tune files, flashing tune files, and datalogging,” says Jon Lund, Jr. “The device doesn’t require special software to load files onto it, and it can hold as many datalogs and tune files as the SD card will allow.”
For those unfamiliar, the nGauge is an OBD-II connective combination tool that has a 2.4-inch color LCD touch-screen with programmable LEDs, micro-SD card slot to hold both tune and datalog files, and the ability to display six gauges from the OBD-II datastream.
The first order of business was ensuring all the parameters were spot-on before going all-in on the dyno. “Ivan’s fuel system just required the typical changes we do for a full-return-style fuel system in the calibration, by modifying the injector data appropriately and optimizing the fueling with datalog review and tune revisions,” says Lund.
“Really, there is no difference between a street tune and a track tune. We have [Ivan’s car] setup to shift and drive well-mannered at part-throttle, but when at full-throttle it shifts where it needs to. The way his calibration is set up is exactly how I set up our 1,600 rwhp turbo car. I want it to cold-start, idle, and drive good, and still run a number at the track without having to swap tunes out.”
With the first runs out of the way and changes made via remote tuning, it was time to swap to the 2.75-inch pulley from the 3.25-inch pulley and see what kind of numbers the additional boost would post. After the first pull on the smaller pulley, it was apparent that the fuel system was good to go, as the boost peaked at 19.5 psi.
There were two more pulls made, with Lund making minor tweaks between each. The final numbers posted were 875 horsepower and 702 lb-ft of torque at the rear wheels and 19.5 psi peak boost. Not the ultimate goal, to be sure, but we reached the limit of the stock diameter crank pulley and 2.75-inch blower pulley.
“The 875 number had optimal ignition timing, based on my experience. Beyond 20 degrees of timing on these engines, you typically begin to see diminishing returns per degree of timing added,” explains Lund. “Typically, I don’t like to push beyond that 21- to 22-degree area because I don’t think another two degrees is worth it for maybe 15 rwhp in sustained use. I’d rather add boost instead of timing once we’re at this point because the HP gain per psi of boost is pretty consistent.”
With that said, the only way to get more boost at this point is to overdrive the crank pulley, which Ivan is hesitant to do. “Every one pound of boost on a supercharged setup usually sees a 25 rwhp gain on average,” says Lund. “So, if we did a 20-percent overdrive lower pulley and saw another 4-5 psi, we stand to see another 100-125 rwhp with other changes.”
While that would put us at the 1,000 rear-wheel horsepower goal, there is another option. Remember when we mentioned something about testing with Whipple earlier in the article? They offer an upgrade to this supercharger kit using the Gen-5 blower and intercooler from the Ford Performance Cobra Jet program. That supercharger is more efficient thanks to an improved rotor and intercooler design, which means more power at similar boost levels.
“I suspect the Gen-5 Whipple may see a 30-35 rwhp gain over the Gen-3 at the same boost levels, on average,” says Lund. “If there’s a gain in boost at high-RPM [on the same pulley configuration] due to the increased efficiency, we may see a little more peak power, too.”
So stay tuned as we continue Ivan’s quest to make 1,000 horsepower at the rear wheels with his Livernois Race-Series Coyote engine and add a Gen-5 Whipple supercharger.