By Michael Galimi
Photos by Kelly Leslie and Courtesy of Woodbine Motorsports
For the second time in the Mustang’s fifty-year history, a turbocharged four-cylinder engine has been fastened between the frame rails of Ford’s Ponycar. The Ecoboost brand of twin-turbo motors has been highly successful in vehicles in their various four- and six-cylinder packages. So when Ford announced a 2.3L version for the Mustang, we knew the market was going to be change in a good way. The rumor circulating the market was that the 2.3L Ecoboost had been geared towards foreign markets but from the looks of its interest stateside, the turbo option will be very popular at performance shops and on the drag strip.
Woodbine Motorsports dives into the four-cylinder Ecoboost Mustang market with a 12-second S550 Mustang.
One of the first performance centers to jump into the Ecoboost market is Woodbine Motorsports (WMS), located in Maryland. JJ Jones, proprietor and NMRA Modular Muscle and Coyote Stock racer, worked with SCT to be one of the first to crack into the factory ECU. Using an Xcal4 hand-held flash calibration tool, Jones loaded up the WMS tune and instantly saw a 28 rwhp (276 vs. 304) and 56 rwtq (286 vs. 342) gain over stock. On track at Maryland International Raceway (MDIR), Jones power-shift the gears of the manual gear-box and cruised his way to a 13.10 at 105 mph on a set of 19-inch drag radial tires. Prior to the tune, the S550 Mustang in completely stock trim produced a best of 13.83 at 103 mph. As a side note, all testing was accomplished with 93-octane pump gas.
The stock baseline dyno results as that compares to the tune, WMS exhaust, and Airaid cold-air induction that produced the 12.81 at 107 mph drag strip performance.
The next mods were simple, Jones turned to opening up the exhaust to let the turbo motor breath better. A WMS off-road downpipe and resonator-delete Y-pipe connect to a Ford Racing after-cat exhaust system. Peak power went up slightly but it is the 41 rwhp gains in the mid-to-upper range that grabs your attention. That kind of gain on the dyno doesn’t show up in peak power but it matters on the drag strip. The next test was with a revised tune—WMS calls a “torque tune”—and the Airaid cold-air intake. It is less aggressive than the previous ECU calibration but the peak torque readings are outstanding. Compared to the baseline stock readings, this typical milder package netted some serious gains with 290 rwhp and a stellar 393 rwtq at the peak but saw a consistent 13 rwhp and 15 rwtq gains through almost the entire rev range.
Top is the factory pipe with a catalytic converter; below it is the WMS off-road pipe that is three-inches in diameter and made from stainless steel piping.
The torque tune is fun and snappy on the street but Jones was all about drag racing his 2015 Mustang Ecoboost. In the first month, the car saw over forty drag strip runs at four different race tracks. The best performance, with the car making 310 rwhp and 380 rwtq, has been a 12.81 at 107 mph. About that time the factory clutch began slipping thanks to the extra torque and the dual-mass flywheel wasn’t designed for the abuse. WMS is working with McLeod on a new setup, once that happens the shop will develop more parts and pieces as it chases the eleven and ten-second performances in the coming months.
The Ecoboost Mustang might lack eight cylinders but don’t discount its performance thanks to a couple of turbochargers and an energized aftermarket.