| Project V6: The Story of the New Take Off Mustang We took a mild mannered V6 Mustang and gave it a total overhaul. The end result is our Project New Take Off V6  The Project Heretic is a prime example of a Mustang built to create controversy. The Heretic name came from our non-conformist combination of a Mustang body and an LSX motor, and Project New Take Off, this V6 Mustang, follows in kind. It was the brain child of a good friend of ours, Glen Dixon, the founder of NewTakeOff.com - a company who specializes in new take off, OEM-quality parts.
Dixon does business with companies like Saleen, Roush, Steeda and others. NewTakeOff takes the brand new, "new take off" GT components and resells them through his company. They are, in essence, as good as new as if bought from the Ford dealer, but much cheaper. New Take Off has GT Mustang items such as suspension, exhaust, and even leather seat kits.
 New Take Off's web site is an easy and simple way to add
GT Mustang parts to your V6 for a lower than dealer price. |
The Vision of a V6
The vision of Dixon with Project New Take Off was to create a V6 Mustang featuring his catalog of GT upgrades, add a supercharger, and get better than GT performance for a cheaper price than the GT. While some have the idea that a V6 Mustang is a weak suck ride, that perception is from V6 and 4-cylinder models long gone. Ford's S197 V6 makes some serious power, but could was it feasible to really beat down a GT Mustang. After all, we're down 2 cylinders...Dixon told us, “a v6 mustang suits those who want the look of the Mustang, but don’t require the v8 for various reasons. A young guy who has tickets or accidents can’t justify spending the $300 a month to insure the GT.” That's where powerTV came into the mix. We agreed, and came up with an agreement to build the car and to film and cover the entire series.
The idea of a performance oriented Mustang-build missing two cylinders puts a bad taste in some mouths. The GT and Shelby cars, heck, all of Ford's heritage, is built around 8 cylinders. Why a V6? Well, dollars and cents are a great reason. The 2008 Mustang V6 is based at an affordable $19,040. Increase that price about 40% and you can have yourself a v8 GT model from factory. We'll save the 40% and end up with an equally good looking, better handling, and more powerful project.
Here is the Video we produced of an Overview of the Project
$2,958  The cockpit of Project New Take Off is refreshed with the
addition of leather. Not only does the package transform the
exterior of the car, but with the addition of interrior, the car
is given a completely new feel. | - Leather Seat Upgrade Kit
- 8.8 Mustang Rear End Swap
- Mustang GT Suspension Upgrade Kit
- 18" Ford Take Off Mustang Wheels & Tires
- Mustang GT Front Valance
- Mustang GT Side Skirts
- Mustang GT Rear Wing
- Mustang GT Rear Valance
Other companies provided the following:
- Explorer Express X-Charger
- Bamachips Tuning
- BMR Suspension Upper & Lower Control Arms
- BMR Lowering Springs
- BMR Upper Control Arm Mount
What does it take to turn my v6 grocery getter in to a GT killer?
Well, the installation of all of these parts was pretty easy. In terms of total time, it's hard for us to estimate because we were also filming and shooting photos of everything, but only the Explorer Express supercharger installation and BMR suspension overhaul took longer than 4 hours.
We did videos of each step of the installation, so we'll just give you a link so you can watch each of those episodes.
Explorer Express X-Charger Supercharger
 The famed X-Charger in the flesh. You can see that our kit
uses the stock GT airbox which is also included. | To go along with our GT exterior, it was time to add some power. Dave Vanek and his wife, Patty, are the owners and operators of Explorer Express. We installed an Explorer Express X-Charger Supercharger, which is custom designed by Vanek using an Eaton Supercharger as the main compressor. This kit was just a touch over $4,000.
We selected the California-spec kit with the Diablosport Tuner. Basically, the Cali-spec X-Charger uses a stock Mustng GT air box with a 80mm Mass Air. “We started out manufacturing, designing, developing performance parts for Explorers. One thing led to another and now we build supercharger kits. Its really the product we’re most proud of. It works great. It’s a substantial improvement to a really nice car,” Dave told us.
Along with very detailed and easy to follow instructions and set-up, Bama Chips offers an option as an addition to the X-Charger to make it easier to plug-and-play. Doug Studdard of Bama Chips explains, “We spent a lot of time dyno testing and researching this tune to insure that you do not have to have anymore dyno time for this kit.”
At the end of the day, we made 273 rwhp which was an improvement of about 100 total horsepower than where we started with. Seat of the pants improvement is spectacular.
Some basic information on the Explorer Express kit:- The X-Charger comes with the Eaton/Magnuson MP90 supercharger. This is an OEM-style supercharger design which actually is supplied to X-Charger through Magnuson.
- X-Charger comes with everything you need to install. Instructions, brackets, belts, tuner, accessories, fuel injectors, etc.
- X-Charger claims that their supercharger can produce "stock-like" fuel economy, that is, if you stay out of the throttle. That is unlikely, because the throttle feels too good.
 You get a custom serialized dash plaque. This is pretty sweet. Since
the X-Charger works so well, this will make you feel extra special. |
- Why an X-Charger and not a centrifugal? There is no good answer for this question. Both definitely have different torque curves and power potential. We chose the X-Charger because we had never installed one before and wanted to test it out. We have done some work with Vortech V6 cars and they produce excellent results as well. X-Charger does claim that their kit produces more boost at lower RPM, which we verified. This can be felt in the seat of the pants. However, it also resulted in lots of tire smoke!
- What about the noise? We found the X-Charger to be fairly quiet at idle, but when you get on the throttle, it sounds like an SVT Cobra.
- The X-CHARGER is available as a CARB exempted, smog legal California model and as a Hi-po version with higher output. California emissions requirements are not just required in California, check your local regulations.
- Horsepower gains were impressive. The V6 made over 270 rear wheel horsepower with the X-Charger, an increase of about 90 rear wheel horsepower, and an increase of 100 hp at the crankshaft. And, according to Vanek, this was less than normal due to our stock exhaust system. Imagine if we had a high flow mufflers and dual exhaust!
Watch the video of the X-Charger Installation and Dyno Test:
The transformation of your own v6 Mustang can sound like a daunting task, but I assure you that the payoff is excellent. I, personally, had the pleasure to drive around the beast today, and can vouch for the excellent torque that the added X-Charger supplies. “You can pretty much have a GT Mustang with the supercharger and have close to the same horsepower number,” Dixon told us. And he was right, as we made over 270 hp at the rear wheels, 20 hp more than a GT, and much better torque.
At idle and low throttle, the New Take Off cars felt as if it were any other car to me. No big hype. When I suddenly gave the car a meaty push to half throttle, everything came to life. I soon found gravity taking hold of my body and pushing my head in to the leather seat of Project New Take Off. As I looked in my mirrors, the cars behind and to the side of me were gently scaling themselves smaller in a two dimensional sense.
 The complete GT conversion gives a whole new take to our V6
Mustang. From the ground up, the GT wheels fit flush, the
effects fill in the gaps, and the overall car is given a more
aggressive stance. |
Not just a minor tingling - this car made power. This V6 has some balls.
As I looked down at the chrome outlined dash that Ford had ever so refined in their design, I found that my speedometer needle was pointing at close to 100 mph without a mere stutter. Mind you, I was in low 4th gear, and at 50% throttle, I had not even attempted to get to red line. I had plenty of revolutions to go. It wasn’t the Ford v8 of old, with the loud and powerful roar of a lion, but it did contain vast amounts of character with that familiar but unique wind up and intake noise. Unfortunately, as I am a tax paying, law-abiding citizen; I chose to lighten off the throttle to give my neck a break.
This car only makes 20 hp more than a GT, but it feels like 200 hp. The power delivery and torque of the X-Charger just transforms the car. And the handling with the New Take Off GT Struts, shocks, and sway bars, with the addition of the BMR suspension and springs, is just the right touch of firmness.
 The Explorer Express X-Charger is mounted on top of the motor
with room to spare. Not only is there enough room for a
supercharger mounted on top of the motor, there is enough
room to keep the strut tower bar in there. |
I found myself intrigued to the power differences between a stock v6 and v8 Mustang. Taken from Ken Bjonnes’ test of a stock 2005 GT Mustang, “The stock dyno numbers were pretty much as expected, 255rwhp.” With a test of numbers allowed by our own Dynojet in-house dyno, we found that with the addition of the X-Charger, we had turned the stock 185rwhp of the v6 to an overly impressive 271rwhp. That, by my count, is 16 MORE horses at the rear wheels than a v8 GT Mustang. So, what did it all cost?
The grand total for this complete exact conversion we had done to Project New Take Off is $6,940. If you can recall, a brand new GT Mustang costs about $26,656 as a full stripper model (no leather!) making the GT Mustang cost over $600 MORE for LESS power. Buying a used V6 Mustang out of your local newspaper or off of our local forum seems more enticing than ever when you sit down and think about the possibility of 270 rwhp for less than $20,000 plus an awesome suspension platform. Even more impressive, the all around benefits in terms of expense of having a v6 Mustang on paper far outweigh that of owning a new GT.
I guess I can say we did build a GT killer, in every sense of the word. The last thing we need to do is take it to the track and challenge a stock GT. We will, so stay tuned.  The front bumper is fitted with a New Take Off GT bumper with
grille giving the economical v6 Mustang a whole new look |
(one last thing)...
Ford is making more V6 Mustangs than ever
Here is some food for thought. The Ford Motor Company is cutting back on the production of the v8 Mustang. The 2004 numbers show that Ford was equipping 52% of their Mustangs with the 4.6L v8 that we are all familiar with. The numbers are expected to change from a strong 52% to a mere 30%. Yes, that means that 70% of newly produced mustangs will be equipped with a v6 motor (Ford to cut back V8 Mustang production). This equates to a few different challenges we must face in the future. For one, we can expect a substantial increase in the price of used v8 GTs. Another expectation is that the rarity of these legends will also increase. Double whammy.
VEHICLE SPECIFICATIONS - PROJECT NEW TAKE OFF
DRIVER/OWNERS, AGE: Glen Dixon
HOMETOWN: Fort Wayne, IN
OCCUPATION: Business Owner
OWNER: Glen Dixon
CREW: Non-needed
CLASS/TYPE: Street Car
CAR WEIGHT: 3,700 lbs.
BEST E.T./MPH: We'll know soon!
ENGINE/SIZE: 4.0L V6 Ford
CYLINDER HEADS: Stock Ford
EXHAUST: Stock Ford
CAMSHAFT/S: Stock Ford
CHASSIS: Stock Ford
FRONT SUSPENSION: BMR Springs, GT Springs & Struts, GT Sway Bars
REAR SUSPENSION: BMR Springs, BMR Upper/Lower Control Arms, GT Springs, Struts, Sway Bars
TIRES & WHEELS: Ford/New Take Off 18-inch
REAREND: New Take Off 8.8 with 3.73 Gears
TRANSMISSION: 5-Speed Ford OEM
EFI/CARB: Stock, Tuned ECU by Bamachips
FUEL SYSTEM: Stock
POWER ADDER: X-Charger HO Kit
SPONSORS: New Take Off Sources:
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