The Mustang Shelby GT350 is a perfect example of form and function packed into one. Powered by the most powerful naturally aspirated road-going engine in Ford’s history, the 5.2L Voodoo V8 produces 526hp and 429 lb.-ft of torque and is one of the best sounding V8’s ever produced. It’s no wonder why Tony Janko set his sights on a brand new Magnetic Metallic GT350 earlier this year.
Janko’s original plans were to leave the GT350 100% completely stock and enjoy it, but that didn’t last long at all. When he picked up the car in Austin, Texas, back in January of this year, he already had parts waiting for him by the time he made it back to Indianapolis.
The first round of modifications, installed by Fathouse Fabrications, was just your basic bolt ons including headers, catless x-pipe, fuel injectors, JLT Intake and E85. The car put down 525 horsepower to the wheels and after a few months, he knew he wanted more.
When Janko brought the car back to Fathouse Fabrications for an oil change in March, the option of possibly adding some boost to the car came up. “Fathouse has done all the work on this car,” says Janko. “I have always been a carb guy and when I saw what they were doing with fuel injection, I knew I should let the experts handle it. We never really set out to break any horsepower mark. The GT350 is a fairly heavy car, and with headers and tuning, we got her to 525 horsepower at the rear tires naturally aspirated. I knew she still needed more, probably not 500 horsepower more, but more. We started talking superchargers and turbos and figured out that a proper turbo setup would be the next step.”
Janko’s GT350 went under the knife for the next few months at Fathouse, going from a naturally aspirated V8 to a twin turbo monster. The GT350 is now equipped with a set of Precision 6266 Dual Ball Bearing turbos, Borla ATAK Active Catback exhaust system, ID 1000 Injectors, Tial Sport Wastegate and BOV, Custom Trans and Diff Cooler, McLeod RXT clutch, full BMR Suspension. Of course, with the added ponies they needed better stopping-power and installed the Shelby R Brakes. To top it off they installed Forgeline Wheels wrapped in Michelin tires.
Using HP Tuners and the factory PCM, the guys at Fathouse set the car up on Flex Fuel so Tony can run both 93-octane and E85. With only 8psi of boost, they were able to put down 836hp on Ignite E85. Come to find out, the Voodoo engine loves boost and when they did a custom dyno tune by Johnson Tuning on Ignite E85, they smashed the Voodoo stock motor record and put down 1056-horsepower on 12psi.
“The great thing is with a boost controller, I can turn her down to what the track and tires can hold,” says Janko. “We have several presets on the controller that are specific to what type of event I’m running. After seeing some supercharged GT350s near or surpass the 1000HP mark, it gave me confidence that the stock bottom end would hold and I knew Corbin wouldn’t push her past what she could handle, and before we I knew it, we were well past the 1000Hp mark! It’s amazing how stock this car still feels, until you put your foot into her.”
With everything in working order and a little more horsepower than before, it was time to test out the setup at the Revvolution Shift S3ctor Indy Airstrip Attack in Marion, Indiana this past month. First time out with the car, Janko ended up hitting 173.1 miles per hour at about 8,000 rpm in 5th gear. “This car performed great!” says Janko. “Once we figured out the traction control was kicking in just prior to going thru the traps at 7500 rpms, we pulled the main fuse and ended up increasing the miles per hour. I was thrilled with the speed and how stable she was at speed. There was virtually no grip thru 1, 2nd and most of 3rd but once up to speed and in 3rd and those turbos hit, man…that’s an adrenalin rush! Those huge Brembos did a great job slowing her down, too.”
As far as future plans for the GT350, Janko wants to hit the road course and prove some of the other GT350 owners wrong that think you can’t road course a turbo car. “I plan to take her to a couple local road course tracks this spring and see how she does. I plan to prove those guys wrong, this car is going to be a blast around the road course. I’d like to do some drag strip events as well. She is still a great car to drive every day/night to the local cruise in and events, and I intend to take her to as many as possible with my daughters…and hopefully, get them into cars too!”
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Photos by: Trevor Flora/TF Images – Fathouse Fabrications
