Wild E. Coyote Eats E85 On The Dyno, 826.3 Horsepower Is The Result

dynowildeleadAfter forty articles and nearly four years of ownership, StangTV’s project Wild E. Coyote is coming to a close – but not before we roll the dyno at Cunningham Motorsports in one final insane session. Initial goals of street-car supremacy using a variety of bolt-on parts morphed into the plan for a seriously-capable track performer able to eclipse 1.0G on the skidpad while knocking down ten-second timeslips with ease.

MG3_3157The Coyote 5.0L engine in the car was designed and built by none other than Rich Groh Racing Engines with an eye on making 1,000 horsepower at the crankshaft. There are detailed articles here and here on the engine’s construction.

As powerful as the Coyote engine is, it still needs some assistance to make it to the four-digit horsepower realm. We turned to JPC Racing to use one of their bolt-on Coyote single turbo systems – the initial installation of which was covered in this article.

The Formidable Base

The engine consists of a stock Coyote block that’s been treated to the Groh experience and filled with a stock forged Coyote crankshaft, JE pistons, and an octet of Manley Pro Series I-Beam billet connecting rods. On top sits a set of Groh-massaged stock cylinder head castings that have been stuffed with a set of four billet camshafts from COMP Cams – all of the materials we’ll need to achieve that big power number.

Left - Rich Groh uses years of experience building competition engines that have excelled in NMRA competition to science out our combination. Right - The long-block buttoned up and ready to go.

The stoichiometric ratio of the mixture with E10 (regular pump fuel) is about 14.1:1, while E85 is about 9.75:1. – Ryne Cunningham, Cunningham Motorsports

When we set out to build the engine, we discovered that there are some significant differences between the 2011-12 Coyote block and subsequent 2013-14 castings, which were explained to us by Jesse Kershaw of Ford Racing Parts. They have also developed a new competition block that’s now available for purchase – the M-6010-M50R block – that has revised water jackets and added bore support.

“The 2011-12 block used 12mm head bolts and piston squirters, which were blocked in the BOSS engine. Then for 2013-14, the head bolt size was limited to 11mm and the squirters were deleted. These stock blocks have massive water jacket openings on the deck for great cooling under road race conditions. However, this nearly open-deck design was seen as a detriment for high horsepower street/strip applications, which is where the M50R block comes in,” explains Kershaw.

We’re using RGR’s Stage 2 cylinder heads. RGR Engines developed cylinder head port profiles that are available in three different configurations based on months of research on his in-house flow bench. Groh has found that the short-turn radius and the bowl are the most important places that need to be cleaned up in the factory castings, along with the combustion chamber in the most serious applications like ours. He feels that the key to making big power with the Coyote platform is to address the exhaust side.

Our Four-Valve Coyote heads have been treated to the full RGR experience - new Ferrea oversize valves, new valve guides, competition valve job, and proprietary portwork.

Our Four-Valve Coyote heads have been treated to the full RGR experience – new Ferrea oversize valves, new valve guides, competition valve job, and proprietary port work.

“I spent probably four months on the flowbench developing port profiles when the heads first hit the market. These valves are ideal in size for what we’re trying to achieve horsepower-wise, and economical enough to work with the stock casting. The head castings do vary quite a bit from the factory and there are areas where we touch and don’t touch due to the factory casting shift, depending upon what stage portwork we perform,” says Groh.

Engine Build Video

Bringing In The Boost

Fuel Requirements

In order to maintain enough fuel volume to support 1,000 crankshaft horsepower running on E85 fuel, we needed to install a serious pump. We’ve had great success with Aeromotive‘s line of Steath drop-in fuel system parts and pumps in the past, so we looked in their direction for this project as well [complete story here].

The company’s venerable Eliminator fuel pump [PN 18695] has been designed to work in the Coyote application and will support 1,900 hp naturally-aspirated/1,400 hp forced-induction. The fuel pressure in this application will be a bit north of 58 psi, giving us 900 gallons per hour flow capability from the pump. In order to slow the pump’s roll we also installed one of Aeromotive’s billet fuel pump controllers to handle controlling the fuel flow. The rest of the system was supplemented with Aeromotive filters and Fragola black nylon-covered hose and fittings.

JPC Racing’s turbo system for the Coyote includes everything you need short of an actual tuneup, although the company does provide a base tune that will get you to the dyno. “We include a base tune to get the car running, but a professional needs to perform the final tuning on the car to ensure everything is set up properly,” says Burcham.

The system is delivered with a 76mm HPS ball bearing turbocharger, 2.50-inch and 3.0-inch 304 stainless steel hot-side piping, 3.0-inch aluminum cold-side piping, along with t-bolt clamps to provide secure clamping of all connection points. The best part? The exhaust system matches up with the 2.75-inch factory over-axle exhaust, making this a true bolt-on proposition.

A new aluminum fan shroud and high-flow electric fan is included; these items are required in order for the turbocharger to fit within the confines of the Coyote’s engine bay. Dual 46mm Precision turbo wastegates are used in the bolt-on kit.

We made substantial changes to some of the parts in the kit. As we had already upgraded the engine for enhanced performance, we worked on our end to pick out components that would support our stated goal of 1,000 horsepower at the crankshaft.

We selected a GTK Series turbocharger from Turbonetics from their HPC line of billet-wheel turbochargers. The 76mm turbocharger [PN 11593] uses a forged billet aluminum compressor wheel that will help keep our 7,500-plus rpm engine happy when the throttle is matted – it outflows comparable cast-wheel turbchargers at higher boost pressures.

Left - The Turbonetics GTK 76mm turbocharger features a billet compressor wheel and many other enhancements that will help us to achieve our goals. Middle - JPC's turbo system comes with everything required for installation; it's designed to perform, fit well, and not affect the cruising capability of the S197. Right - We also selected a complement of boost-control solutions from Turbosmart's catalog - Eboost2 boost controller, a pair of HyperGate wastegates, and a Race Port blowoff valve.

Also on our upgrade list from the standard components was a pair of Turbosmart 45mm HyperGate wastegates [PN TS-0506-1002] and a single Turbosmart Race Port blowoff valve [PN TS-0204-1102], which we tested at three different boost pressure levels during our dyno sessions. The last part of our boost control strategy was handled with Turbosmart’s Eboost2 boost controller [PN TS-0301-1003].

Achieving The Goal

Now that the entire car is assembled and ready to roll, it’s time to dial it in at Cunningham Motorsports in Murrieta, California. Shop owner Ryne Cunningham is well-versed in tuning just about everything under the sun; we’ve worked with him before on other projects across all of our Power Automedia titles, and his assistance with dialing in Wild E. Coyote was invaluable.

You can see how nicely the JPC Racing turbo system fits here. We also wrapped the hot-side pipes in Heatshield Products' Lava Wrap to keep underhood temps down. The company also recommended their Lava Turbo Sheld, which will help to speed up exhaust gas flow while reducing underhood heat.

You can see how nicely the JPC Racing turbo system fits here. We also wrapped the hot-side pipes in Heatshield Products’ Lava Wrap to keep underhood temps down. The company also recommended their Lava Turbo Sheld, which will help to speed up exhaust gas flow while reducing underhood heat.

For consistency purposes, the decision was made to support Wild E.’s power production with E85 fuel instead of the terrible 91 octane hi-test (cough cough) that’s available in Southern California.

We felt that the extra engine-protecting 105 octane that the corn licker would provide to stave off detonation would be helpful during our tuning sessions as we cranked up the boost.

E85 is becoming more and more available, and enthusiasts are taking the leap to convert over. We built the engine and its supporting gear to handle the increased fuel volume required by the E85 from the outset.

Left - Our first test was made 'on the spring', which in the Hypergate's case is 8.5 psi of boost. With our Eboost2 turned off, the car makes 633.2 horsepower and 563.5 foot-pounds of torque. Middle - Moving to the middle setting (11 psi boost pressure) in the Eboost garnered us 710.9 horsepower and 615.1 foot-pounds. Right - The max setting earned the highest horsepower rating Wild E. Coyote has seen in its tenure with us at 826.3 horsepower and 756.3 foot-pounds of torque at 14.2 pounds of boost. Boost actually spikes to 16.5 psi through the midrange and tapers back down to follow our Eboost2 map, which allows the car to make massive torque. That equates to 1,032 horsepower at the crankshaft assuming a 20 percent driveline loss - which is on the optimistic side through our T-56 Magnum XL transmission.

“The stoichiometric ratio of the mixture with E10 (regular pump fuel) is about 14.1:1, while E85 is about 9.75:1. How to compensate for that depends on the computer you’re using, but with the factory Ford computer I can just go in and change it in the SCT programming and it will write to the system to command that ratio with the factory wideband sensor. Also, in this application, the exhaust pressure ratio was higher than the intake pressure ratio; we needed to run 15 psi of pressure on top of the wastegate to keep the wastegate closed under boost. That’s where the big horsepower gains came in,” says tuner Ryne Cunningham.

Final Thoughts

The dyno doesn’t lie – in our case, it’s shown us just how much power can be made with a completely streetable combination. This car is one of the ultimate 2011-current S197s on the planet and does everything well. It makes killer power, handles like a beast, and still rides pretty darned close to stock. We’re going to miss you. Wild E. It’s fitting that your new home is off in the hills of California, where your new-found power can scare off unsuspecting predators with ease.

Wild E. Coyote has turned out to fulfill its promise as one of the most capable S197s anywhere - it makes big power, stops, turns, and rides well, and looks great in the process. We're going to miss our Coyote.

Wild E. Coyote has turned out to fulfill its promise as one of the most capable S197s anywhere – it makes big power, stops, turns, and rides well, and looks great in the process. We’re going to miss our Coyote.

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About the author

Jason Reiss

Jason draws on over 15 years of experience in the automotive publishing industry, and collaborates with many of the industry's movers and shakers to create compelling technical articles and high-quality race coverage.
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