SEMA 2008 Tuesday Coverage

[mark@stangtv]

Today was the first official day of SEMA. Crowds of dealers waited patiently outside the doors for the 9 A.M. entry. We covered some of the hot new products from the show, and will continue all week long.

You can fast forward to coverage of the show each day here:

• Tuesday New Products & SEMA Cars - Click here
• Wednesday New Products & SEMA Cars - Click Here
• Thursday New Products & SEMA Cars - Click Here
• Friday New Products & SEMA Cars - Click Here

We also shot over 30 videos during the SEMA show below is the list of videos shot today:

• Mickey Thompson Tires debuts New Bead Lock Wheel - Click Here
• SCT Flash debutes new Xtreme Wireless Tuner - Click Here
• Moser's New Economy Braking Kits Make Stopping Affordable - Click Here
• Ford Racing Debuts New Cobra Jet Mustang - Click Here
• Edelbrock's New S197 Mustang Supercharger, the E-Force - Click Here
• Edelbrock's Newest Big HP Ford Crate Engines - Click Here

Ford's New Cobra Jet Mustang is Released, and You Can Buy It!

****** Watch the VIDEO at SEMA 2008 as we interview Brian Wolfe, Director of Ford Racing.



The rebirth of classic muscle cars in modern day trim has been a trend that US automakers have brought to reality. Another, is the production of a factory backed race car. Today, Ford released the all new, Cobra Jet Mustang. The new Cobra Jet is a Ford back, ten second, quarter mile punisher. “We wanted to build a turn key car that will run tens and is NHRA legal”, remarked Jesse Kershaw of Ford Racing.



Though this Mustang is an off road use only vehicle and meant to compete in the NHRA Stock and Super Stock Mustang. NHRA tech officials have worked closely with Ford in making this Mustang safe and competitive.



The engine in the Cobra Jet is a Mod Motor, available with either a manual and automatic transmission combination. Inside the car you will find an array of necessary gauges that sport the Ford Racing logo. Ford hopes for a November certification and to have the cars in competition by the 2009 Winternationals in Ponoma.

Specifications include:

• 5.4L Tall Deck Supercharged Modular Engine with Cobra Jet Cold Air + Upgraded Throttle Body
• No A/C
• 6-Speed T6060 Manual or 3-Speed Automatic
• Long-Tube Race Headers
• Aftermarket 9-inch Rear End
• FRPP Control Arms & Drag Spring Kit
• Cobra Jet Race Wheels (Skinnies)

Visit http://www.fordracingparts.com for more information

[mark@stangtv]

You heard it right. Vortech has teamed up with Lysholm in Sweden to develop new, positive displacement, twin-screw supercharger kits. Lysholm originally developed this blower seen in the photo above for the late-model Ford GT super car. This is a major change for the company, as it has concentrated exclusively on centrifugal compressors.

The blower's twin-screw design pulls the air in from the top of the compression screws, actually compresses it, and discharges out the bottom. “A lot of people have been asking for a supercharger that creates bottom end torque. Truck owners care more about bottom end then they do on the top end”, says Director of Sales, Gil Cormaci.

***** VIDEO: Vortech's new VL-Series Twin Screw *****



The twin-screw design means Vortech will be building intake manifolds for the VL-series. This is a whole new thing for Vortech. The parts on their vehicles display were the first made prototypes. Vortech feels that their reputation will lead people to believe in their new twin-screw blowers.

The kits will come with bypass valve, air/water cooler, and Diablosport tuner with a custom Vortech tune. These superchargers will be capable of producing over 20 PSI. The LS based kit will ship the first quarter of 2009, offered in 2.3L and 3.3L kits, with the tuner kits possibly shipping a little earlier. The GT500 direct replacement blowers will be available around the same time.

Visit www.vortechsuperchargers.com for more information

[mark@stangtv]

Unless you buy a function built external tank, it is hard to have a stable fuel system. Fuel sloshing from side to side can starve the fuel pump on a sump fuel system. Aermotive has come out with a new weld on sump kit they call the "Stealth".

Inside the sump includes your choice of a A1000 or Eliminator fuel pump. Also inside is a pre-filter and a cam lock cover that allows you to service the pre-filter without draining your fuel tank.



The pick up for the pump sits a fraction of an inch from the bottom of the sump, which only requires only a half-gallon of fuel to operate properly. The fuel return is opposite of the pick up to keep the warm fuel from being pumped back into the motor. For Fox body applications, Aeromotive includes everything from the fuel cell to the rails, with all fittings and lines.



Visit http://www.aeromotiveinc.com/ for more information

[mark@stangtv]

Fuel pumps need 12 volts to work properly. Most people over-fuel their fueling system with hopes of improvement. What that means for large pumps, is that you can cycle your fuel cell in three minutes. Constantly heating up your fuel as you drive will lead to vapor lock.

To control the fuel pump flow, Aeromotive came out with a fuel pump controller that will help limit your fuel flow on low load by turning your pump into a solenoid by pulsing the current to it. The new controller is half the size and allows for ramping versus the older step style. You can tune the trigger off the stall or RPM to transition to the full ramp.



Visit www.aeromotiveinc.com for more information

[mark@stangtv]

Comp Cams Pro Magnum steel rocker design is a quarter century old. Comp realized this and came out with a modern design. The new Ultra Pro started with a clean sheet of paper.

***** VIDEO: Comp Cams Pro Magnum Rocker Arms & Comp Valvetrain ***

The CAD designed rocker, moves all the weight to the center, reducing the amount rotating weight. Also the rockers are stronger, making them more stable at higher RPM. Ratios vary from 1.52 to 1.7. Not only do they look trick, but they'll rev at the higher RPM with a lower "effective" weight on the valve.

Visit www.compcams.com for more information.

[mark@stangtv]

We recently covered an EFI system from Professional Products, the Powerjection 3, which makes Carb conversions easy and simple. FAST now has entered the game with their EZ-EFI. FAST has a new budget EFI system, called the EZ-EFI Self Tuning Fuel Injection System. The kit is designed after the 4150 and will even accept the stock linkage. This is a nearly plug-and-play system for those wanting to swap from carb to fuel injection.

**** VIDEO: FAST New EZ-EFI System ****

The display asks a few simple things, such as desired idle speed, cam size, and cubic inches. The EFI system does the rest with an integrated wide band 02 sensor. This is a non-tunable kit that will support up to 550 horsepower for naturally aspirated combinations. It takes a four-wire connection to get this new system up and running.

Visit www.fuelairspark.com for more info

[Chris DeMorro]

Swapping the heads on your engine is a common way of cranking up the horsepower on any project car, and the guys over at Air Flow Research know their way around heads. Longtime builders of aluminum heads, AFR offers a wide range of products from mild to wild for just about any engine. Currently, AFR is currently developing a set of serious race heads for the small-block Ford.. Instead of the standard 20 degree angle to the head, AFR is making one with a 12.5 degree angle which offers much improved low-end air flow and “explosive power” according to sales representative Jerami Patrick.



But AFR isn’t just developing heads, and of more interest is their Pro Flow Lite Manifold for the Small Block Chevrolet, a fiberglass plastic composite intake manifold which they claim outshines the competition. In addition to being 7 lbs lighter, the Lite also provides more horsepower and torque along the entire power curve and produced a maximum gain of 12 horsepower over the leading competitor. Will they offer one for us Ford guys?

For more information, check out www.airflowresearch.com.

[Chris DeMorro]

Baer Brakes is a well known name when it comes to stopping power, and their booth at the SEMA show had on display all methods of coming to a quick and controlled stop. Not only are their brakes the best at bringing you to a stop but they are also a stylish addition to any classic or contemporary car and Baer is constantly expanding their braking line. Their most recent addition is a 6-piston two-piece caliper designated “6P” for classic Mustangs and Cougars.

These calipers were designed to be track friendly as well as aesthetically pleasing, and the two-piece design eliminates a crossover tube and employs only a single bleeder thanks to internal fluid crossovers on the top and bottom. Stainless steel pistons are standard and reduce thermal transfer to the brake fluid, and 6-crossbolts that plug in from behind keep the look clean. But as complicated as this all sounds, the 6P calipers employ the OE brake pads from C5 and C6 Corvettes, which means pads are readily available in nearly any kind of race compound. To truly complete the feel Baer even offers the brake pads stamped with the iconic “Shelby” brand.

For more information check out www.baer.com

[Chris DeMorro]

SEMA is a spectacular place for new upstart companies to display innovative products that have the potential to revolutionize the automotive industry. ABACO Performance is one such company, and their new DBX Mass Air Meter, the only digital meter on the market today. They say that this meter offers unparalleled ease of use and configurability.

The ABACO Digital Mass Air had been available for Ford vehicles all during 2008, but now the GM offerings are also available.



ABACO says, thanks to the DBX’s unique design these meters can better filter out camshaft reversion and pressure surge, providing a much more accurate air reading and sending the right calibrations to the computer. But it is the plug and play capability of the DBX meters which ABACO says set them apart from other MAF meters on the market today. While other meters need to be re-calibrated by the manufacturer, ABACO claims the DBX can hold up to ten different calibrations at any one time.

If ten calibrations isn’t enough, you can use the free software to download and set any calibration you might need. Even if you don’t have a DBX yet, you can go on to their website at www.abacoperformance.com and play with the software for free and check out all of the available calibrations. Currently ABACO is making the DBX for multiple GM and Mustang applications.

Visit www.abacoperformance.com for more information

[Chris DeMorro]

Driveshafts are an important but oft-overlooked part of any high performance vehicles, but when they fail the results can be both spectacular and catastrophic. To this end The Driveshaft Shop came to SEMA with a slew of driveshafts and axles to keep your high horsepower reigned in.

But big power isn’t the only enemy of driveshafts, as harmonic vibrations can wreak havoc on the undercarriage of a car. 2005+ Mustangs are particularly notorious for vibrations, and the stock driveshaft weighs nearly 40lbs, in addition to the 9lb damper that Ford put on to balance out the shaft. Instead of building a single piece driveshaft to solve the problem, TDS came up with a two-piece Chromly/Aluminum driveshaft that is proven up to 1000 horsepower as well as using strengthened input splines made from aircraft-quality 300m steel, the same steel used in landing gear.



Visit www.driveshaftshop.com to see all their available axles and driveshafts.