Tork Tech Kit Finally Installed!

I'm sure some of you remember my thread I created a week or so ago about finishing up the Tork Tech installation.

Well, last night, I finally finished clamping, wiring, plumbing, filling, and bolting, and fired her up for the first time. As Murphy would predict, I was greeted by a lovely yellow "Service Engine Soon" light. As it turns out, I forgot to plug in the cam position sensor on the driver's side bank.

Anyway, I sorted that out, and took her out on the road. It snowed (again) last night, so I didn't have a chance to see what she could do. I still drove 15 miles through the 4-6 inches of snow! The car is my daily driver and only vehicle, and it's well-equipped for the white stuff, but it's still kinda cool to brag about daily driving your supercharged Mustang in Central Pennsylvania winters

This morning, I was running some errands before work, and took a detour onto the highway (which was the only place I knew would be cleared) and let 'er rip. Let's just say, WOW! My 245/45R17 snow tires are no match for the positive-displacement "insta-torque"! I didn't even attempt using first gear with an appreciable amount of throttle, but second will spin anywhere between 50-75 mph. The power is brutal, loud, and scary, but in a good way! I still haven't felt what full throttle with traction is like, but I imagine it will be pretty amazing. I'll hopefully work up the cajones after work to find out

The thing I really like from a daily-driver's standpoint is that it makes the car so much easier and more pleasant to drive. The car now effortlessly accelerates at whatever rate I wish, regardless of hills and other impediments. I've never driven a big block, but everyone always compares positive displacement superchargers to them, and my butt now understands what they were referring to.

The kit was not easy to install. I'm just putting that out there so that others can know what to expect if they choose to purchase the Tork Tech kit. It is very well-engineered and well-constructed, but I swear some of the components were engineered in CAD so that there would just be "light showing" between them. In other words, much of the installation difficulties stemmed from having insufficient clearance for tools and/or my gorilla hands. I also had another set of hands to help me, which others may not have access to.

That being said, it was definitely worth it. I have never installed a supercharger before, so I can't say whether the Tork Tech kit is easier or more difficult than other positive-displacement kits. Tork Tech claims a shop would be able to install it within a day, and I say that would be a monumental task. I tend to take my time when working on things like this, but I'd estimate I have about 40 man-hours into the project.

I know y'all will ask, so I'll try to get pictures and/or videos of the car, but I don't own either a camera or a camcorder, so I make no guarantees.

Sorry for the rambling post!

It depends on how you define "Proper". The "complete" kit from Tork Tech comes with a 4-bank SCT chip. Since I already have a SCT XCalibrator II, I just asked them to email me a conservative tune that I could use until I get it on the dyno. I know a guy who owns a Mustang dyno, so I'll be using that for my "proper" tune.

I've never heard a stock cobra, so I can't compare. It's pretty loud with my Magnapacks and catted X-pipe. The blower itself is also quite loud inside the cabin.

CobraRed_96_GT said:

Okay, definitly need a vid inside and out now. Cuz i have magnapacks and catted x. Too relevant

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Where do you think I got the idea for my exhaust setup?

Well, as an update, I've gotten some full throttle 2nd and 3rd gear pulls, and it's pretty sweet. It still spins in 2nd if I'm not careful, but 3rd sticks when the roads are dry.

I had a bit of a scare today when I hammered it on the highway. I looked in my rearview mirror and saw a huge white cloud behind me! At first I thought it was a head gasket, but then I remembered that these cars don't typically blow head gaskets. I pulled over when it was safe, and popped the hood. As luck would have it, one of the coolant hoses that runs to the thermostat had blown off. Luckily, I had several gallons of coolant in the trunk, and extra hose clamps. So a potentially bad night was turned into an "interesting" one.

I also now have a strange noise that sounds like it's coming from the accessory drive system. Sometimes, it's a screeching noise, and other times it's a knocking noise. I think it's one of the idlers. Coolant probably got into the bearing and now it's not lubricated correctly.

I first thought the knocking was a rod or bearing, but the car still runs great and starts easy, and I've given it hell several more times since the knock showed up and it's been fine. The knock also isn't consistent (i.e. it disappears for a while, and is replaced by the screeching noise) so I have a feeling it's something else. Any ideas?

My car also has a bad exhaust leak somewhere which makes it difficult to diagnose noises.