JPC Racing Single Turbo Install On Our 2011 Mustang GT

In the last six months we have gone down the road of transforming our 2011 Mustang GT, Project Wild E Coyote, from a simple street car with a variety of bolt-on parts, to a hardcore street machine, taking bigger steps towards those goals of 10-second time slips and 1.0g on the skidpad.

We’ve already detailed the build of our new Coyote engine by Rich Groh Racing Engines, with help from JPC Racing and others. Now we’re taking the next step, upping our game with one of JPC’s new Coyote turbo kits for 2011-current Mustangs. Since we’re dealing with a built engine, we’ve taken a few steps to upgrade our turbo system from what normally comes standard with help from Turbonetics, Turbosmart, and Heatshield Products.

We’re using the plumbing and fan from the JPC Turbo kit. We’ve changed things up for the rest of the system with a custom Spearco intercooler, Turbonetics GTk-1050 turbo, and boost management parts from Turbosmart

JPC Turbo Kit

We wanted the system to make the most power, with the least amount of boost, proper management of back pressure is key to doing that. -Justin Burcham, JPC Racing

It should be no surprise with the amount of research and development for late model Mustangs that JPC performs that they developed their own turbo kit for the Coyote platform. JPC Owner Justin Burcham tells us that the JPC kit was designed to fill a void in the Coyote marketplace, “At the time we began developing our kit, there was only one other kit for the Coyote engine, so we wanted to fill a void in the marketplace for a high-quality system for the Coyote.”

Each part that JPC includes in the kit was carefully scrutinized to ensure not only high quality but also precise fit and the most efficient operation of the turbo system possible. The location for the turbo in the system was chosen so that a scavenge pump would not be needed to return oil to the engine. The downpipe was designed with sweeping bends to provide better flow and reduced back pressure.

The JPC kit includes this trick low profile aluminum fan shroud, and high-flow fan. These are necessary for the kit to fit properly, and an easy replacement for the stock fan while the radiator is out of the car for our install.

Back pressure was an area closely monitored by JPC in developing the turbo system. Each component and its location were carefully planned to manage back pressure in this turbo system as best as possible. This again is where JPC’s years of experience and attention to detail came into play. “We wanted the system to make the most power, with the least amount of boost – proper management of back pressure is key to doing that,” says Burcham.

Ground clearance was also taken into consideration. Since many Mustang owners often lower their cars and swap around various wheel and tire packages, it was important that the piping was tucked up as high as possible. Providing a turbo system that wouldn’t interfere with the car’s ability to cruise around town or through the neighborhood was also important.

Top: The JPC Turbo system features stainless hot-side pipes, with sweeping bends to maximize exhaust gas flow, and aluminum cold side pipes for lighter weight. Bottom: We test fitted a few pipes, then installed the radiator with our new fan and shroud in place to make sure we get everything in the proper position the first time.

The JPC system uses all 2.5 and 3-inch 304 stainless steel hot pipes. All of the clamps are high quality T-bolt clamps to ensure they stay in place, and silicone couplers are used throughout for high temperature durability. The cold side uses 3-inch aluminum tubing. The exhaust pipes step down to 2.75-inches to match the factory over-axle exhaust pipes, ensuring no special adapters or exhaust customization must be performed. Catalytic converters are not included in this kit.

JPC includes a Precision Turbo 76mm HPS ball bearing turbo, with .96 A/R in their kit. They also utilize dual 46mm Precision waste gates. Burcham tells us they also spent months testing intercoolers until they located the right part that satisfied their criteria.

Another nice touch is the custom aluminum fan and shroud included in the JPC kit. This piece allows for adequate clearance for all of the turbo plumbing since the original factory fan will not clear the new turbo parts.

To improve performance of our turbo system, as well as reduce underhood heat, we wrapped all of our hot-side pipes with Heatshield Products Lava Wrap.

For those looking to buy this kit, Burcham recommends having professional installation and tuning performed. “We include a base tune to get the car running, but a professional needs to perform the final tuning on the car to ensure everything is set up properly,” says Burcham. On a stock Coyote engine, Burcham says the JPC system, on a stock engine should allow the car to make 600 hp to the rear wheels, with 5-6 psi of boost, and conservative timing.

Wild E’s Turbo

With our built Coyote engine we’ll be using the plumbing and fan from the JPC kit. The JPC system is also designed to utilize the stock exhaust manifolds, which neck down into a single tube, effectively choking exhaust flow in high powered engines. This may be ok for a stock engine, but with our built long block, we need more exhaust flow. As such we’re using JBA short tube headers to feed the hot side of our turbo system. This not only provides better exhaust flow for our engine but should also feed our Turbonetics turbo as well.

Providing our boost will be this new Turbonetics GTk-1050 turbo. Featuring their new HPC compressor wheel, this 76mm turbo has a .96 AR and should match up nicely with our high-winding Coyote engine.

One Fast Snail

Billet or Cast?

There’s a trade off for using a billet compressor wheel. In our particular application we can make good use of one, but as Wynn tells us there’s some misconceptions about billet compressor wheels., “One common misnomer is that a billet turbo will spool up faster than a cast turbo. Unfortunately this is not true.” The lighter weight billet wheel does not have the mass of a cast wheel, causing it to take a little longer to spool up to create power. Much like with a billet flywheel, the trade off is higher-rpm, and more power on the top end, while sacrificing a little on the lower end.

Our turbo of choice comes from Turbonetics in the form of their new GTK series turbo. Our turbo is part number 11593, and features the new HPC 76mm billet compressor wheel and .96 AR exhaust housing with a three-inch outlet.

“The HPC compressor wheel is made from forged billet aluminum, which in itself will out flow and out perform its cast aluminum counterpart. The HPC wheel can still make horsepower at higher boost pressures where the cast wheel taps out,” says Reggie Wynn, Sales Manager for Turbonetics.

That higher boost pressure and RPM capability is exactly why we chose to use the HPC compressor wheel. With our RGR built Coyote engine capable of screaming well past 7,500 rpm and we need our turbo to match the engine’s capabilities.

Intercooler

Our intercooler comes from Spearco, a division of Turbonetics. We ordered a custom built model, with a 4-inch outlet and custom mass air flow housing. This ensures accurate readings for our mass air flow sensor by providing it with smooth, straight airflow.

All Spearco intercoolers are built with Spearco’s WAVE technology (wide area vane effectiveness). This method maximizes the heat dissipation of the intercooler by spreading it out over a larger surface area. This is done using a network composed of vanes rather than the traditional tube and fin design. Spreading the heat out over a larger surface area gives more air-charge cooling capacity space, maximizing the intercooler efficiency. These intercoolers are also incredibly durable. Pressure tested to over 225 psi, and tough enough to withstand the rigors of most debris we will encounter on our daily commute. We shouldn’t have to worry about a loss of boost pressure due to minor road debris, and we know we’re not taking the boost to anywhere near that 225 psi mark.

Left: We're using a Lava Turbo Shield from Heatshield Products to keep heat out. This should also speed up exhaust gas flow through the turbo enhancing performance. Right: We're using this front A-arm support brace from Granatelli, part number GM-ASB0507, to allow for adequate clearance for all the turbo plumbing.

The HPC compressor wheel is made from forged billet aluminum. Which in itself will out flow and out perform its cast aluminum counterpart. -Reggie Wynn, Turbonetics

Our custom built intercooler uses a 20×15.6-inch core, with a total width of 30-inches, and a thickness of 3.5-inches. We are using a 3-inch round inlet, and a 4-inch oval outlet.

Gates and More

Our wastegates come from Turbosmart. These beauties are cut from billet aluminum, in-house at Turbosmart. Part number TS-0506-1002 is a dual 45mm unit. These are the smallest, lightest, and highest flowing wastegates of their kind, on the market according to Turbosmart’s Marty Staggs.

When designing the new gates, Staggs says “We had to take into account the shrinking and narrowing spaces within modern engine compartments, which makes it necessary to engineer parts smaller.” Being light is just a side effect of the quality and size as well, “Racers will spend thousands at the professional level to shave a few pounds. We take that same approach, constantly fine tuning our products, our R&D department is working on parts for two years from now,” says Staggs.

Our high-tech boost management solutions come from Turbosmart, and include their Hypergate 45mm dual wastegates, Race Port Blow Off Valve, and Eboost2 gauge-style boost controller.

The wastegates are designed for quick adjustments as well. Changing the springs is what effectively changes the available boost pressure. Turbosmart’s wastegates are designed so that the spring can be removed simply using the included spanner wrench. Staggs says that changing the spring takes less than a minute from start to finish.

Lighter, Smaller, Better

We had to take into account the shrinking and narrowing spaces within modern engine compartments, which makes it necessary to engineer parts smaller. -Marty Staggs, Turbosmart

Also machined from billet aluminum for quality and weight, is the Turbosmart Race Port blow-off valve. This valve is the evolution of the original Turbosmart Race Port BOV that hit the market around six years ago. This one is 26 percent smaller than the old unit, and 46 percent lighter. It also outflows its predecessor in-spite of the smaller size. We installed Race Port BOV part number TS-0204-1102 on our turbo system.

Boost Controller

Boost control is all the rage these days, and with a high horsepower daily driver, like Wild E. Coyote, having boost control from the cockpit is important. For that we turned again to Turbosmart for their Eboost2 controller, part number TS-0301-1003.

Left: Our Turbosmart Hypergates installed underneath the car. Center: We carefully routed the vacuum lines for the wastegates and protected them with wrap from Heatshield Products. Right: The JPC turbo system includes 2.75-inch pipes to tie into the factory Mustang over-axle pipes.

The Eboost2 is a gauge type controller, with no additional modules or sensors needed. It is machined out of a single piece of billet aluminum bar stock, and as Staggs told us, “We try to offer boost controllers that have a factory look.” The Eboost2 allows us to adjust boost instantly from the cockpit. This means that while we’re in commuter or even road-trip mode we can dial back the boost, and conserve fuel, as well as make things easier on the engine. While rainy days aren’t common here in sunny southern California, they do happen, and we can also dial back the boost for less power and a safe drive home.

At the track,we can fine tune our boost level for conditions, all from the driver’s seat of the car. Sticky track conditions will allow us to turn things up, limited traction – no problem, we can dial it back down. The Eboost2 makes things easy, and to the untrained eye just looks like another nice gauge in our array.

Left: We modified the driver's side ac-vent to create a mounting location for our Eboost2 controller. Right: You can see the controller looks right at home installed in the dash.

Holding Back The Heat

Perhaps one of the largest downfalls to turbo systems are the heat they generate under the hood. Keeping that heat in the hot side of the system helps with the turbo system’s efficiency. It also takes strain off of a variety of engine components and lines. Turbo plumbing too often routes near vital components not originally intended to withstand high temperatures. To combat this issue we turned to Heatshield Products for some of their Lava wrap and other products.

Since our intercooler is a custom design we had to weld mounting brackets to it to secure it in place.

Lava Wrap

Made from volcanic rock, this wrap is real world tested to withstand up to 1,200 degrees continuous usage, and 2,000 degrees intermittent exposure. By keeping the heat in our exhaust system we reduce the exhaust gas density, and increase the speed of the flow. This can help move exhaust gasses to and through our Turbonetics turbo faster, and increase exhaust gas scavenging. It also should significantly lower our under-hood temperatures keeping nearby hoses, and wiring protected.

Lava Turbo Shield

Keeping heat in the hot side of the turbo and away from everything else is the idea behind the Lava Turbo Shield. This product doesn’t conduct heat, it helps contain it, and according to Heatshield Products can reduce under-hood temperature by as much as 60 percent. It’s rated for up to 1,800 degrees continuous usage and 2,200 degrees intermittent exposure.

Left: JPC provides silicone couplers, and T-bolt clamps to make strong, durable connections. Right: The view from underneath with our system installed. The Heatshield Products Lava Wrap won't mold or mildew, making it compatible for our daily driver environment.

Hoses

We also shielded our lower radiator hose and oil return line using Heatshield Products HP hose shield. Like the Lava Wrap the HP shield can withstand 1,200 degrees of continuous exposure. Since these parts were in close proximity to the hot side of our turbo plumbing, we decided it would be a good idea to protect them from the heat.

Install

We started with a conservative 91 octane tune for daily driving at 8.5 psi of boost. Cunningham Motorsports had air/fuel ratios set at 10.8:1 and timing set at 12 degrees. With that we put down 608.2 hp and 519.6 lb/ft of torque. Stay tuned when we really start to turn this thing up on race gas!

This many parts to install at once is a daunting task. We needed the use of our lift, and our skilled Power Automedia tech crew to get everything in place properly. While a well skilled enthusiast could do this at home, JPC recommends a professional install their turbo kit. We also recommend having a tubular K-member as the one we recently installed from Kenny Brown Performance made getting all the parts in place a much easier job.

Article Sources

About the author

Don Creason

Don Creason is an automotive journalist with passions that lie from everything classic, all the way to modern muscle. Experienced tech writer, and all around car aficionado, Don's love for both cars and writing makes him the perfect addition to the Power Automedia team of experts.
Read My Articles

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