Horsepower!

2,500hp, 330CI, Twin-Turbo, 5.4 Modular Ford Engine

Mark Luton owns Modular Mustang Racing in Camarillo, California. Mark and driver Greg Seth-Hunter had been racing cars for more than 15 years before they decided to step up to a tube chassis. Following a lead from RacingJunk.com, they flew to St Louis, Missouri, where they found a ’07 Jerry Haas GT500 body, stuffed it onto a rented U-Haul truck and brought it home. MMR has engine programs in place, so putting together a 5.4L modular engine that makes 2,500 hp was simple. The car currently races in the NMCA Pro Street and PSCA Pro Street classes and just came off a Pro Street win at the NMCA race in Bakersfield, California. Check out the Wally at modularmustangracing.com.

Turbos

The big Garrets are 88mm GTX4718Rs with billet compressor wheels and ball bearings. The AR is 0.96 and the turbine is 108mm. The car leaves at 5,600 rpm, making 15–18 pounds and 35–36 pounds at the top.

“Everything on the car can be purchased for the street.” - Mark Luton

1. Intake

The intake was fabricated in-house by MMR. It has sixteen, 225-pound injectors to run on alcohol and a cable-driven 105mm Accufab throttle body.

Fuel

The pump is a Waterman Big Bertha that is good to 4,500 hp.

2. Heads

The heads are factory four-valve-per-cylinder GT500 castings from Ford. They have been dry decked—meaning there is water in the heads—but it doesn’t flow into the block because the decks are welded closed. The titanium valves are from Manley. The intakes measure 38mm and the exhaust measures 32mm. The heads also have a Stage 3R port job that Mark says he does for street cars as well. The cams are Stage 3R MMR turbo grinds with racer-type undisclosed specs.

Block

The block is a Ford Racing aluminum 5.4 that is block filled to the top, making it waterless and O-ringed for a copper head gasket. The bores are 3.582 inches and don’t use sleeves.

3. Intercooler

Inside the box is a Garrett core filled with water. The trick is that there’s no pump on the chassis. Instead, water is circulated though the core in the pits using an external pump, reducing the car’s overall weight.

Trick!

Instead of a standard crank thrust bearing, the 5.4 uses a MMR Thrust Bearing System (TBS) that uses roller bearings to locate the crankshaft, preventing the converter from pushing it out of alignment. This problem appears at about 1,500 hp.

Rotator

The 4.165-inch stroke crank is a custom billet job from Crower. The rods are 6.658-inch billet I-beams with ARP 2000 bolts. The pistons are Manley flat-tops that sit 0.080 below the deck. The compression ratio is 10.5:1.

Computer

The engine is run by an ACCEL EFI fully programmable stand-alone controller.

Speed!

The GT500 has seen 6.48 at 220 mph.