Network
By most drag racing calculators, you need a 6.40 or better in the eighth-mile or better to eclipse the magic 10-second barrier. And with every project car, that last tenth always seems to make you work the hardest. It has happened to me time and again that when I get close to some sort of target, it gets mysteriously harder. Although Project Magneto had already surpassed its goal of going faster than a GT500 for a fraction of the cost, we began chasing the limits of what our VMP Loki kit could do — thus, this is where we find ourselves.
I’d love to hear from you on what you think we should have done differently? — Scott Parker
For our final outings, we used BOOSTane’s E85 Race fuel on Project Magneto. We’ve run the company’s octane additives ever since they saved our behinds from bad fuel when dyno testing.
The Gen 3 Coyote under Project Magneto’s hood lives a hard life as a high-mile commuter to a weekly track abuser at my hands. I tried to treat her well, topping the engine off with some good fluids and oil pump gears. In our latest endeavor, we searched for a more detonation-resistant fuel source that would better deal with the boosted inlet air temperatures. BOOSTane’s E85 Race Fuel was an easy choice to fit those requirements, which required a Deatschwerks twin-fuel-pump, return-style system. With better fuel, we were able to add boost. And overall that helped us net 722 horsepower. However, we encountered an issue on the dyno. It seemed like there was some instability on the top end that we attributed to the factory belt tensioner on our six-rib (yes, six-rib) setup.
VMP’s HD tensioner provides more, well, tension to the belt via its stronger spring – something you can actually feel when you go to install the belt. The pulley also allows for a wider belt, should you choose to upgrade to an eight-rib for the Odin kit. With the standard supercharger pulley, though, this was never an issue on the Loki kit we had. It only became an issue when we decided to pulley down for more boost.
VMP recommended its Heavy-Duty Supercharger Belt Tensioner (PN VMP-SUT009) to provide more stability at high rpm. We pushed our previous belt as tight as it would go, but the higher spring tension is what we needed. It will fit six- and eight-rib belts and requires no grinding, which I liked since I could install it at home. It did require the next size up on belts, even with the 3.1-inch supercharger pulley due to its different clocking. Installation required unbolting the degas bottle and moving it aside, as well as removing the A/C belt to make room. It was a fairly painless bolt-on affair.
To install the new tensioner, you must first remove the old one and the belt with it. There’s just a single bolt that holds it on. To get access you will need to unbolt the degas bottle and move it out of the way, as well as remove the A/C belt. Also note: We found that we needed to go up one belt size because of the unique clocking of the VMP HD tensioner. That was a few trips to the parts store, as the guy behind the counter year-make-model’d me to death until I hopped behind and looked at the belts myself.
We also made some changes to the transmission tuning, which seemed to be a larger factor in our track performance. Ever since we stepped up our boost level it seemed like the transmission was not catching up. A problem that was probably amplified, if not caused by, our switch to the 3.21 gears. This is why finding the right combination takes time and patience, something content producers don’t always have — as we try to feed our hungry readers. Imagine a YouTube thumbnail that read: “Mustang goes slower than last time after spending another $5,000.” Not exciting, but that’s racing.
The VMP tensioner clocks differently on the block, and you will know that you have it right because otherwise it will not sit flush (note the dowel that protrudes off the surface on the bottom right). Despite how the zinc coated bolt is sitting now, it actually goes through the other side with the pulley facing the block. This means the belt needs to go in with the tensioner to make installation easier. Getting that right took a minute or two of head scratching, but after doing it once it will take much less time should I ever need to do it again.
On the first attempt, I went to Darlington Dragway for testing. It was around 50 degrees and dropping as the night went on, with the barometer just under 30 inches. The factory line lock gave me some trouble right off the bat, and that continued all night. I still managed to pull off a decent burnout and ripped off a 1.439 short time. Since it was Grudge Night, the track prep was pretty decent. This led to a 6.54 at 107-mph eighth mile and a 10.189 in the quarter mile. After a 30-minute cooldown, I made another rip — this time trying to leave a little harder, and it went 1.4370 to the 60-foot mark. The modicum of improvement showed up at the eighth-mile going 6.5220 at 108.1 mph on the way to 10.1113 out the back door. These times, while earning some level of respect among fellow racers that night, were a little disappointing as they did not surpass our 6.47 and 10.08 elapsed times during our last visit to Darlington with less horsepower.
Grudge night at Darlington: The air was cool, and the prep was on point.
On attempt number two, I went to Mooresville Dragway for some eighth-mile hits. With a fresh transmission tune onboard, away I went, thinking the eighth mile would be good enough since that’s where we struggled the most. Depending upon how you look at it, it was either a great night or a bad night. It was a hot and humid day, as Charlotte went from winter to summer in an instant. It was over 80 degrees and 90-percent humidity at its peak, there were multiple wrecks on the highway, and multiple oil-downs at the track. Ultimately, that meant we got one good pass on the night. We got fresh track prep for it. I did a long burnout, saying to hell with the line lock this time. I wasn’t messing around. I stalled it as high as the stock converter would go and mashed it when the light turned green. The Mickey Thompson drag radials grabbed, nothing broke, it just went.
In 76-degree weather with 62-percent humidity, 29.31 inches (uncorrected), and 2,384 feet of density altitude, Project Magneto went 6.4760 at 109.17 mph. It went a 1.4283 60-foot, one of the fastest ever, and 4.2147 seconds to the 330-foot mark.
Is there more left in it? Absolutely. But we weren’t going to find out how much any time soon.
I still have every single time-slip from Magneto from stock until now. It’s a fairly thick stack. She’s earned a little rest.
Closing Thoughts
The biggest hindrance to getting better times out of Magneto is my inability to control the transmission shifting. I have neither the equipment or the know-how to do this on the fly at the track. A stick may have been easier and more comfortable for me, personally. But then I would have needed bias-ply slicks, which are not quite as street-friendly. I thought maybe one of VMP’s ice tanks rather than or in addition to the E85 swap would have also been beneficial. At Mooresville, it went from 100-degree IATs to 160 simply from shutting the hood and moving 100 feet down the staging lanes. But enough about me, I’d love to hear from you on what you think we should have done differently. Catch you next time!
Complete Project Magneto Story List
Introduction & Baseline Drag Testing
QA1 Driveshaft & TDSS Axles Install
Melling Billet Oil Pump Gears Install
VMP Loki Supercharger Install & Test
Suncoast 10R80 Transmission Build
Kooks Exhaust Install & Dyno Test
RC Beadlock Wheels & Mickey Thompson ET Street R Upgrade
Budget Rear & Smaller SC Pulley Track Tested
I’d like to extend a huge thank you to all our sponsors on Project Magneto including Simpson for providing the Titan suit that kept us SFI legal and safe.
