Hey, guys. Today we are going to show you exactly how well the 2.3 EcoBoost engine reacts
to aftermarket modifications. And with this car, there is no better place to start than
with the turbo and opening up some airflow around it. So we are going to throw in a new
exhaust system from the turbo back along with a cold air intake, and we'll wrap it all up
with a custom tune to dial it all in and push some more boost. This EcoBoost was still working
with the factory air box when it came to us so one of the first things that we did here
was swap that out. It's worth mentioning that the factory air box for the S550 isn't a bad
intake setup. It's pretty efficient and functions well, but as you start to mod the car, it
will become restrictive. And that is something that we wanted to make sure we didn't encounter,
and so we chose the C&L intake, because if you are looking for performance gains, it
has one of the best designs on the market.
The key to this design is going to be this air box. It's an enclosed air box, one of
the only on the market and it has a removable lid so you can get to your filter easily.
The enclosed air box is also going to protect the filter from elements with inside the engine
compartment and, more importantly, it's going to help keep warm air from inside the compartment
from being used by the intake, and this is a technique that works. We saw some low intake
air temps on the Dyno and this leads me to another cool thing about the housing and that's
that it taps into the factory cold air duct, which brings cool air in from the grill instead
of using warm engine compartment air. This is a really nice feature in my opinion and
it gives this intake the benefit that you don't see from many other aftermarket intakes
for the S550 EcoBoost.
A few other real quick notes about this intake, it's got a classic reusable air filter, and
can be cleaned and reinstalled. It's also got a nice sized intake tube which is important
if you are looking for the most gains possible. Any gains over the stock setup are going to
be coming from the intakes with larger filters and intake tubes.
Of course, that's not all we did with the car, but we've got to get the car in the air
to show you where we've done some of the more serious modding. In the world of turbos, one
of the first and most beneficial power mods that you can do is get a new downpipe, so
that's exactly what we did. The factory downpipe on the EcoBoost is pretty restrictive so this
downpipe is going to be for those people that are looking for less restriction, which ultimately
means some improvements in performance.
An aftermarket downpipe can offer a big improvement in performance because it helps the airflow
of the turbo, where you pretty much want things as unrestricted as possible so you can spool
the turbo more quickly which is where your gains will come from. Two big things about
this downpipe, it's a 3 inch down pipe which is an upgrade over the stock downpipe an it's
one of the only 3 inch downpipes that are available right now. The other thing is this
is a cat-less or off road down pipe so we are talking even less restriction. It's a
stainless steel downpipe as well, another great thing about this downpipe is that it
gives you an option when it comes to the rest of your exhaust. Borla includes an adapter
for this downpipe so you can still use a stock exhaust if you want, but of course, we didn't
want to do that here.
The catback we got on here today is a Borla ATAK catback, and that's actually a two and
a quarter inch system. One thing I will say is that's it's great to see a 3-inch downpipe
that will still with a two and a quarter inch system because you can still get the max benefits
from the 3-inch downpipe. Now the Borla ATAK is not only a high-quality system being a
full 304 stainless steel and great fitting, but it's also one of the loudest and most
aggressive systems for the turbo 4 cylinder Mustang. I'm talking a ton of volume and a
ton of turbo noise.
Now all of these exhaust mods definitely made a huge difference in sound, even that downpipe.
Even though the main idea behind an aftermarket downpipe is to help give the turbo unhindered
airflow, an aftermarket downpipe is also going to give you more sound too. And since this
particular down pipe is an off road or un-catted downpipe, you can expect an even louder result,
like the sound you just heard. So while the combo of these mods makes for a beastly sounding
turbo 4 cylinder, I'd actually like to see what exactly what it all equates to on the
Dyno, and what we are looking at in terms of power and torque gains. But, before we
do that we need one more thing that's going to tie all this together for us, and that's
going to be a Cobb Accessport. We went with the Cobb Accessport for the fast downloads
and the on the fly adjustability that it offers. But, enough about parts, let's get this thing
on the Dyno.
Of course, we ran the car before installing any mods so we could have some baseline numbers
to compare to, and that baseline run gave us numbers of 245 horsepower and 277 foot-pounds
of torque at the rear wheels. With all of our parts installed and with the Cobb Accessport
tune, the car made 311 horsepower and 360 foot-pounds of torque making for a peak gain
of 66 horsepower and 83 foot-pounds of torque. As with any Dyno result, peak gains are always
nice to know but the real thing I look for is difference throughout the curve. The curve
is going to show the changes that were made in your driving RPMs and these are the things
that you are actually going to notice performance wise when you're driving. So, throughout the
curve, we are seeing gains here 113 horsepower in the 6400 RPM range and 96 foot-pounds of
torque right in that same range. Now these are some pretty big curve gains more than
100 horsepower and almost 100 foot-pounds of torque in the curve. This graph tells me
that we should have a totally different feeling car to drive, so with all of that being said,
I really just want to drive this thing. So let's take it out for some road time.
All right, so first thing to address is obviously going to be our new exhaust tone. It's very
loud, very loud. You guys already heard that in the sound clips. Like I mentioned, it's
definitely that raw turbo 4 cylinder sound, and that's undeniable. The Borla 3-inch downpipe,
like I said, uncatted with the Borla Atak which is the loudest catback, turbo 4 cylinder
all the way there. Especially when you start getting into the upper RPMs, the one good thing about
it is obviously, it's not going to be for everyone. It's definitely not for everyone.
But if you are looking for lots of turbo noise, a lot of sound, a lot of volume, then this
is where your setup is going to be. Everyone is going to hear you coming. You can hear
every single shift. You can't really hide so I hope you're a good driver.
So, if we want to kind of test out drone at cruising RPMs, we are just over 2000 RPM right
now, we're at like 2205 we're not quite at 2500 yet. You can definitely hear that there
is an aftermarket system on this car. But when you are driving down the highway, I wouldn't
say that this is anything that your eardrums are going to be bleeding. You're not going
to be terribly upset at the end of a long trip with this car. You can hear that there
is aftermarket exhaust on it like I said, but it's not like a crazy loud drone. If we
go up to 2500 RPM, it kind of does drone out a little bit. You can hear it right there.
You know, it's a little bit more droney at 2500 RPM. But I'm really surprised it's not
any worse, especially considering how loud this system is and the type of volume that
it has. Another thing that I did notice is that there is, you know, a pretty decent amount
of crackle on decel with this car, you know when you are off throttle especially if you
are above 3000 RPM, and you go to a downshift. There is a little bit of popping. For people
that are looking for that, it's actually a nice feature. It just adds a little bit something
more to the system.
One thing that I am really interested to see, and I'm really happy about is the tune. This
tune had great results, a ton of power and a ton of torque gains under the curve. And
I can feel a huge difference already in the car. It's one of the most exciting things.
You buy a couple of mods, you spend a little bit of money and you get a tuner, and it ties
everything together. There is just so much of a difference in drivability in this car.
From factory after 5000 RPM, this thing just fell on its face. And we saw on the Dyno graph
that it still falls, there is definitely a curve down, but it's not nearly what it was
from factory. And what I can tell you right away, just from driving in some of the lower
RPMs, is that this thing...you can definitely feel the huge low-end torque gain. It drives
so much better. Honestly, it really wasn't much fun to drive before. It kind of fell
on its face and it was a little disappointing honestly for me, but now, you kind of just
want to lay into it a little bit.
Yeah, you can definitely hear turbo spool from inside the car especially in the lower
RPMs. You kind of lose it a little bit from inside the car because the system is just
so loud. And even just laying into the car, like that was a little test right there, just
laying into the car from lower RPMs and seeing how it goes through the RPMs, that's a test
of the tune and that felt great to me. The car just pulled like 2500 right now, lay into
it. It actually sits you back into the seat a little bit, which was something that it
definitely didn't do before. So, it's definitely a little bit more fun to drive.
Even at idle, this thing is a lot louder. It's just louder all the way around.
The tune is definitely nice. It definitely makes you want to go through those gears a little bit
faster. Like I said, throughout the curve over 100 horsepower and almost a 100 foot-pounds
of torque, that is something that you are definitely going to notice. There is no not
noticing that.
So the combination of this downpipe, and the catback, I can hear it right now because I'm
actually just driving around a parking lot. You actually get some of that turbo gurgle
that you hear a lot of times with turbo cars that have more free exhaust. There's like
a little bit of gurgle to it, like right before the turbo starts spooling. So, like I said
if you are really interested in hearing a lot more of that turbo noise, then this exhaust
setup is definitely going to be your good option. It's going to be your go-to option.
All right, let's try to jump on it a little bit. Do a little more.
You can definitely feel over 5000 RPM, there is a little drop-off. But to be completely
honest with you, the car does pull before it starts to hit that drop-off. You can feel
the turbo going to work. It drives a whole lot better overall. So this definitely isn't
a sound or a setup that's going to be for everyone out there on the market. It's loud,
it's definitely in your face, and it's definitely that raw turbo 4 cylinder sound.
Really, what we started out to do here, at the end of the day, was see how these cars
react to some mild bolt-ons and a mild tune, and I think that this was a great test of
this car's ability to rapidly pick up power and torque, all throughout the curve, low-end,
top-end with just pretty much mild stuff. This is all stuff that novice mechanics can
do in their garage, in their driveway. This isn't serious stuff that you have to go to
a garage for. So I think ultimately, at the end of the day, it's great to see that these
cars respond so well to just a few mods that really only take a few hours to do and you
get a great, fun result.
This thing definitely gets up to speed a lot quicker, now after the fact, which is really
nice because it's kind of effortless. It feels effortless now whereas before it would be
like "All right, let's get up to 50 miles an hour. Come on, girlfriend." But now it's
pretty effortless, and it's actually great.
All right so that's going to wrap up this EcoBoost build. Overall, I'd say I'm really
happy with all of the gains that we saw from a few minor bolt-on modifications paired with
a tune. I hope you guys enjoyed the video. And as always, for all things Mustang, keep
it right here at AmericanMuscle.com