Retro 5.0 Makes Over 800 horsepower With A Vortech

Last month, we brought you Project Retro 5.0 and its naturally aspirated story arc. A simple Trick Flow 11R top-end kit with a Stage-1 camshaft and Holley SysteMAX intake manifold netted way more power than the top-end kits of yesteryear advertised. So, it should come as no surprise that when adding a supercharger, the numbers would be equally impressive.

Back in the heyday of the Fox body, it was often a question of “heads, cam, and intake” or “blower”. However, if you opted for the former, you were usually going to end up adding the latter, because — let’s face it — there is no such thing as enough, especially after you’ve gotten used to your newfound power. So, in that same vein, we did what any Mustang enthusiast would do in the ‘90s. We called up Vortech Superchargers.

The Venerable S-Trim And Its Successor

For a brief history lesson, let’s look at the infamous S-trim blower from Vortech. This is important because it is the bar that most power adders were measured by back in the day. The original V-1 S-trim blower was advertised as having a peak efficiency of 72 percent, and could be spun to 50,000 rpm, moving 1,000 cfm of air at 20 psi, for a rated maximum output of 680 horsepower. While looking at those numbers today might not seem all that impressive, back in the 1990s, it was a beast.

There have been several successors to the original S-trim over the decades, with the latest being the Si-trim impeller design. The new compressor design bumps the maximum impeller speed up 2,000 rpm to 52,000 rpm. Maximum boost pressure is now listed at 22psi, with a maximum efficiency of 78 percent. All of those efficiency improvements add up to a new listed peak airflow of 1,150 cubic feet per minute and a maximum horsepower of 775.

More than just a compressor upgrade, the Si-trim supercharger is available in both V-2 and V-3 gearcase designs. The V-2 is an improved version of the original engine-oil-fed V-1 gearcase, while the V-3 is Vortech’s latest self-contained-oiling gearcase design. The self-contained design makes installation incredibly easy and straightforward. There is no performance difference between the V-2 and V-3 on the airflow side, it’s simply differences in the gearcase.

The V-1,…