GT500 - Big Air = POWER

Photos by RPM Staff & Mason Villamere

We install the JLT 123mm BIG AIR Intake system with pulley on a 2013 GT500

you want the best bang for your buck, but you also want to install a quality designed, engineered and built product – one that fits and works the way it should. The problem: offshore junk that flows into this country like water, and less than credible (read “fake”) online reviews to back them up. The best There are a lot of things advice we can give is ALto consider when you are WAYS consider the source adding bolt-on perfor- of your products and remance parts to any car. views. There are a number First, and most obvious, of great products designed here and made offshore,

but there are far more that just won’t live up to your expectations, let alone provide any type of post-sale support.

It’s a safe bet that when it comes to reviews, good companies that have a reputation to protect will not feed you a line about product quality, fit and performance. For example, here at RPM we have reviewed many products over the years, however, a number of them never see the pages of the Mag – they just didn’t live up to their hype after

Performance Centers Throughout Eastern Canada

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we installed or tested them.

Companies like JLT Performance make our job easy though, they have quality products that are made in the USA and they back them up with facts and support. So follow along as we take our pristine 2013 GT500 and bolt on some good ole American horsepower. Oh, and be sure to visit www.Jlttruecoldair. com to check out their full line of products and check out the dyno pull for this install online at www.rpmmag.com

THE SETUP

Best dyno pull following the exhaust install in 2015: 629.57 HP / 613.45 lbs torque, a 44.63 HP gain and 40.22 lbs torque over factory.

THE GOODS JLT Parts & Numbers: 1. JLT 123mm BIG AIR Intake for the 2010-14 GT500 SKU: CAIPGT500-10 - $349.00 Options added from JLT: 2. METCO 2013-14 1 GT500 2.4” Supercharger Pulley SKU:MI-MSP2.40 $169.99 Car owner Brad Villamere 3. METCO Auxiliary Idler has added subtle custom Kit with Double-Bearing badging to the car dash Idler Pulley SKU:MI-MSIand front fenders to es90D - $219.99 tablish it as a Silver Snake.

Additional Equip: The wicked silver with fire 4. SCT X4 Power red stripes color combo is Flash Programmer, extremely rare.

SKU:SCT-7015 - $399.00 5. JLT Performance Oil This 2013 GT500, AKA Separators 3012P-B & “Silver Snake” is a rare 3012D-B - $298 collector car (particularly this color combination) THE INSTALL with 9,434 miles on it and Installing this kit and our goal is to increase HP pulleys is as easy as taking as much as possible with- time to follow the instrucout getting into changing tions, that is, unless you are blower size, engine inter- working on a 2013 GT500 nals, fuel system etc. We like we were. really want to stick to fairOne thing with our 2013 ly straightforward bolt-on that turned an hour or so parts. job into a 3 hour job, was It is a stock engine car the fact that the 2013 pulley with full Stainless Works is, well let’s say “unique”. Of exhaust installed in 2015 (in RPM MAG). Rear Wheel HP Dyno numbers for the car are as follows: Our baseline dyno before any mods to the car in 2015: 584.94 HP / 573.23 lbs torque.

2 Our lineup of parts associated with the JLT Big Air laid out on the work table. course, if you were in the shop during the install you might have heard a more colorful description of it.

We were warned though, so it was not a total surprise. The instructions state clearly “The interference fit between the pulley shaft and the blower pulley is nearly twice as tight on the Shelby GT500 then it is on the Cobra or Lightning.”

The instructions go on to

say that you can expect the original pulley to be damaged, and you will need help, this is not a one-man job.

In addition to the instructions we were also advised by the good (and very experienced) folks at JLT that sometimes with the 2013s you have the odd one that just won’t come off with pullers in the traditional manner. Yep, that

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4 This should be a short hour or so install, right? WRONG!

5 Jay Misener (left) hooked up at the RPM install shop with Scott Foster (center) and car owner Brad Villamere. First step is to read through the instructions and get things organized. was ours.

Aside from this, the install was very straightforward.

Noteworthy items for the install: 1. This car is operated on 91 octane fuel, so that is what we kept in the tank for all the dyno runs.

2. This system does require custom tuning after install to maximize power gains, and we did have that done.

3. We used the post-exhaust install dyno run done in 2015 as our baseline. We learned, after our install of course, that most likely created an inconsistency in that Misener completely updated his Dynojet software last year and we’ve been told that the new software is “not quite as generous with horsepower numbers”.

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they could have been had we completed a recent dyno pull to establish a baseline with the new software.

THE EXPERT ADVICE

Pre-install we were advised by JLT that “a base file is loaded on the tuner for startup, the file can be driven on but the car needs to be driven easy. No heavy throttle entering boost before we have a chance to datalog and dial it in.”

Enter BJ McCarthy from Venomous Tuning post-install to get us tuned up and dialed in.

“Venomous Tuning takes a boutique approach to power,” McCarthy explained. “We don’t sell parts (other than tuning devices and really cool swag) and we dedicate 90% of our business to the 07-14 GT500 clientele. We’re different because every tune

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is custom. Each one begins with a foundational base file and the datalogging begins there. A ‘final’ file is sent once fueling is as good as it can possibly be and timing is appropriate for the fuel used. As the owner of one of the first 500 GT500s built in June of 2006, we understand that these cars are get-

ting older, changing owners; many have unknown mods and are a minefield of little issues that require expert diagnostics, calibration and communication. We’re not for everyone. Nor do we want to be. We strive to be the best for those who demand it.”

We knew we were in

6 Seems we had “that one in 100” 2013 GT500 where the pulley had to be removed from the blower in an alternative manner, despite trying with first 2, then 3 people to manipulate the pulley off using the proper puller. We even called in some favors and borrowed other pullers specially designed for supercharged Fords, but no go.

7 There’s no way we were cutting it off on the car, so the blower was removed and taken to a pro, Darryl Chatterson, who removed it and installed the new pulley for us the following day. Although the car owner shed a tear or two, he knew it was the right choice, plus the supercharger is a simple 15 minute removal. the right hands and sure enough BJ worked closely with Jay Misener of Misener Motorsports by phone on our dyno day at the shop. “I told BJ that I didn’t consider myself a tuner, but knew enough to be dangerous,” Misener chuckled.

BJ took a very unique approach and “crept up” on the tune, having Jay report on specific conditions and run the car as he requested and also pull and read plugs as needed. “I was im-

pressed with BJ,” continued Misener. “I have worked with a lot of remote tuners and he’s one of the good guys for sure.”

Between each dyno pull and subsequent updates to the tune BJ copied all parties with an email detailing everything he went through. You can check them out by clicking here:

ish wise, let’s just say the system fit like a glove, and looks killer! JLT obviously takes the time to test fit/ install prototypes before the manufacturing process of their products because it couldn’t have been a better fit. In the RPM shop we always say; “it should look like it belongs there”.

In other words, a quality product should first and foremost work well, but it if it looks like it “should” THE RESULTS Engineering, fit and fin- be there or as if it is OEM,

then it is a true high quality piece. Don’t take our word for it, have a look at the before and after photos and judge for yourself.

Dyno’d at Misener Motorsports, we ran a best HP of 665.38, that’s a gain of 35 HP to the wheels with stock throttle body and on 91 Octane fuel! Unfortunately, due to a slight error on our part, we don’t have our top torque number recorded but it exceeded our last recorded run of 632.56,

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As per JLT, we installed NGK TR6 plugs gapped at .028.

Once the blower with the METCO 2013-14 GT500 2.4” Supercharger Pulley # MI-MSP2.40 was re-installed we installed the METCO Auxiliary Idler Kit with Double-Bearing Idler Pulley # MI-MSI-90D. Not only does it far outperform the stock part, it is an amazing piece of highend auto bling and a steal for the price! www.rpmmag.com

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10 Here, Brad installs the JLT Heat Shield after we carefully transferred 2 hole locations from the factory shield

onto it and drilled them accordingly. The large vacuum formed JLT shield lets in lots of air while blocking heat at idle and low speed. It has a weather strip that seals to the hood, and incorporates the fresh air inlet from the grill. The JLT oval shaped foam air diffuser (seen in photo 02) was inserted into the shield to help control the idle (this was removed during our dyno pulls).

From here, the rest of the equipment should take minutes to install. Before long we had the JLT intake tube with molded in 123mm MAF housing installed to the throttle body via the supplied silicone coupler and HD clamp and the 5x7 S&B Powerstack Air Filter clamped in place.

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12 Next up was a 10 minute install that ads to the total package in both horsepower and looks. Oil from crankcase ventilation ends up in the throttle body and intake charge and will rob horsepower without you even knowing it! Don’t believe us, just pull off your intake tube and have a look! It’s ok though, JLT has you covered with their JLT 3.0 Performance Oil Separators 3012P-B & 3012D-B (passenger and driver sides respectively). As described by JLT; “The JLT 3.0 Performance Oil Separators are a multi stage filter system designed to collect the finest of vapors and drop them into the easily removable bottom while allowing clean air to pass through to the intake”. They are billet 3oz capacity filters with OEM style quick connect PCV fittings.

13 We had dyno time booked with Misener Motorsports a few weeks later where we connected with Venomous Tuning’s BJ McCarthy by phone.

14 Jay Misener explains the various steps to the car owner between each dyno pull.

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First the SCT tuner was interfaced with the car and updated and then Jay connected with BJ. This was done for each step in the process.

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A pull is made after each update from BJ is downloaded into the car. Here you can see the results of the first two.

These are made at lower than optimum RPM so it’s a bit unnerving to see lower numbers here, but rest assured it’s the steps of the process that must be done to get the correct final outcome. so we’re over a 20ft. lbs gain in torque, too!

Check out our dyno pull here: Now consider this, without doing anything other

than complimenting our new JLT BIG AIR kit and pulley with a simple throttle body swap and good 93 fuel McCarthy said, “You would have seen 680 to 690…even through the cats.” That’s 15 to 25 MORE

BEFORE

AIR hits a solid homerun with RPM! Top-shelf American made products that do what they say (and THE look amazing doing it), CONCLUSION Bang for the buck for need we say more.

RPM bolt-on parts, the JLT BIG

AFTER

JLT Performance www.jlttruecoldair.com 757-335-1940

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horsepower! It’s safe to say we definitel know what’s next for the Silver Snake!

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SOURCES: Venomous Tuning www.venomoustuning.com 352-800-4407

Misener Motorsports www.misenermotorsports.com 519-757-1200

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