Picking Up Power
VMP Performance boosts the performance of its project truck with a better blower
By Steve Turner
When we last climbed aboard VMP Performance’s 2016 F-150 project truck it had put down over 566 horsepower and 521 lb-ft of torque to the wheels with a TVS supercharger and a VMP custom calibration (check out that story here). The full-weight, otherwise-stock truck charged out of the gate with 12.06-second e.t.’s at over 113 mph and eventually dipped into the 11-second zone.
As you might imagine, that was just the beginning of the story. Installing the supercharger kit set the stage for the pickup’s natural evolution—a move to VMP’s own Gen2 TVS supercharger (PN VMPTVSF1505.0L; $6,599). If you aren’t up to speed on this version of the popular supercharger, VMP designed a case and integral inlet elbow that maximizes the efficiency and flow of air to the popular Eaton rotors used in all 2.3-liter TVS blowers.
“At VMP we've always pushed the limits, and looked for solutions to get past those limits. The goal of the Gen2 was to support 1,000 crank horsepower from a 2.3-liter blower,”Justin Starkey of VMP Performance explained.
The short story is that positive-displacement blowers thrive with as little inlet restriction as possible and the VMP Gen2 offers a more efficient air path to the rotors. For more details on the this blower, you can check out our original story here, but the result is that the Gen2 is more efficient, thus it makes more power than a standard 2.3-liter TVS.
“Every aspect of the design was optimized for airflow potential, from the throttle body opening, to the one-piece inlet casting,” Justin said. “The durability of the Eaton TVS rotorpack is unmatched in street and race environments.”
Wanting to push the performance of its truck even higher, VMP was ready to swap on the Gen2, and they invited us to stop by and document the job. The more involved task is installing the complete supercharger kit, which we detailed in our last installment. Just swapping blowers is basic remove and replace work, but while he was at it, VMP’s Brad Marsh added some upgrades to support big power—an overdrive ATI SuperDamper and a set of VMP’s new Coyote fuel rails (PN VMP-5LRAILKIT; $299.99) with larger injectors.
“After we pushed the truck into the 11s with the Roush blower, it was time to try out our blower,” Justin said. “So far we've gone a best of 11.6 at 120 with more to come as the Florida weather cools down.”
You can watch it in action right here…
[video=youtube;IFFMDE6vUDI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFFMDE6vUDI[/video]
After we snapped our shots, the VMP truck headed straight out on the event trail, where Justin spent his spare moments refining the calibration. With the calibration dialed in for the new blower and free-flowing exhaust, the VMP F-150 put down over 668 horsepower and 599 lb-ft of torque to the rear wheels.
“I’m very pleased with what we are accomplishing with the little brother to the Coyote Mustang powerplant. Most people that line up next to the truck are shocked at how quick it is. The new aluminum bodied F-150s are light to start with— just over 5,000 pounds—and our blower and tuning just builds upon that inherent quickness.”
With little more than a supercharger upgrade and a custom tune, VMP Performance’s F-150 dipped in the 11-second zone. The next step was an upgrade to the company’s Gen2 TVS supercharger and mid-11s.
When we last shoved our camera under the hood of VMP’s truck it had just received this Phase 2 TVS supercharger upgrade, which resulted in over 566 rear-wheel horsepower.
VMP Performance’s Brad Marsh begins the swap by removing the induction, throttle body, vacuum lines and electrical connections.
Brad used a cordless impact wrench to loosened the easily accessible bolts retaining the blower to in the intake manifold. At the rear he switched to a ratchet and removed those bolts the old-fashioned way.
Free from its drive belt and mechanical connections the TVS blower is muscled up and off the engine by Brad. If you already have a TVS, you could opt for one of VMP’s housing upgrades like we did. These kits (PN GEN2SWAP; $1,499.00) offer an affordable way to move up to the Gen2.
The VMP TVS is a direct swap for the outgoing unit and now the engine is ready to accept the more efficient Gen2 supercharger.
With the supercharger out of the way, Brad took the opportunity to install a set of VMP’s new Coyote fuel rails. He began by safely relieving the pressure from the fuel system, then he disconnected the lines, unbolted the rails and removed the rails and injectors as a single unit.
Brad assembled the rails with the include plugs, fittings, crossover line and adapters. Then he lubricated the 0-rings on the high-flow injectors and pushed them into the rails.
With the assembly process complete he installed the rails and injectors together, bolted down the rails and attached the factory fuel lines via the included adapter. The chrome rails definitely brighten up the ebony F-150’s engine compartment, but they are also available in black if you prefer a stealthier look.
Before he wrapped up the blower install, Brad used a puller to remove the factory crank damper in anticipation of installing an overdriven unit from ATI.
The ATI SuperDamper requires some assembly. Brad bolts together the accessory pulley, hub and damper. He applied blue thread locker to the fasteners, then torqued the Allen-head bolts to 16 lb-ft and the cap screws to 30 lb-ft.With the damper assembled, Brad pressed it on and bolted it up with Blue Loctite 242 on the fastener threads. He torqued the damper to 120 lb-ft.
Since the Gen2 was born for Mustang applications, it’s necessary to T-into the vacuum plumbing for the MAP sensor like so.
After swapping over the VMP TwinJet throttle body, Brad lowered the Gen2 TVS onto the truck’s intercooled lower intake manifold. Then he bolted the blower to the manifold and torqued the fasteners in a criss-cross pattern starting from the inside an working outward. He began at 10 newton-meters stepping up to 20 Nm on the second pass and wrapping up with 30 Nm on the final pass.
A JLT cold air intake replace the factory induction and Brad reinstalled the supercharger belt.
With the hardware installed, the Gen2 looked right at home on the VMP F-150 and all it needed was a custom calibration from Justin Starkey, which he dialed in using HP Tuners software and a nGauge.
Justin Starkey determined that the stock exhaust would prevent the more efficient Gen2 TVS from pushing the F-150 Coyote to its full potential, so he chose a a set of Kooks Headers 2015+ Ford F-150 1 7/8-inch long-tubes (PN 13612400; $1,155.35) to uncork the exhaust.
To keep the VMP truck clean, Justin opted to run Kooks’ 2015+ Ford F-150 Green-Catted Y-Pipe (PN 13613300; $1,319.98). There is also and off-road version for race trucks, but you must run the matching Y-pipe with the Kooks long-tubes.
Comparing the Kooks headers with the factory manifolds, it’s easy to see how they will improve the exhaust flow from the boosted Coyote engine. Ford engineers do a great job packaging exhaust into tight spaces and complying with emissions, but there’s no performance substitute for a proper set of headers.
The Kooks fitment is great and the installation is a bit easier on an F-150 than it is on a 5.0 Mustang, as there’s a bit more room to work. After bolting up the headers, the VMP crew swapped over the factory oxygen sensors and bolted up the Kooks Y-pipe. Then it was time to hit the dyno.
As you can see the more efficient VMP Gen2 blower and the free-flowing Kooks exhaust combined to really wake up the output of the stock Coyote engine in the VMP project truck. The F-150’s rear-wheel output jumped to over 668 horsepower and 599 lb-ft of torque, which added up to peak-to-peak gains of 53.64 horsepower and 69.13 lb-ft of torque.
The tach signal glitched in the middle of this run, but we can still see some impressive under-the-curve gains by looking at a sampling of the data. The VMP Gen2 and Kook exhaust improve performance throughout the pull, but the chunkiest gains clock in from 4,100 to 5,400 rpm.
