Package Appeal
Livernois Motorsports took Anthony Kujawa’s S550 from bolt-ons to boost
By Steve Turner
Photos courtesy of Anthony Kujawa
When you catch the Mustang fever, it just never really leaves you. In fact, it tends to get hotter the longer you carry it with you. That’s definitely the case for SVTP member Anthony Kujawa. He started in the game with a Mustang that makes your scribe jealous—a 1981 T-top Fox coupe—and worked his way up through a string of Foxes. Along the way those cars got faster and faster, culminating with a X275 racer with a big single turbo.
Anthony didn’t remain exclusive to the Fox Mustang, however. On the street he stepped up to the modern ’Stangs as the came available. In the heat of the S197 era, he grabbed a special ride and added a few bolt-ons.
“I bought a white 2008 GT/CS from Varsity Ford. It had headers, a CAI and a generic tune for the motor. I lowered it with the Ford Performance Racing Parts track kit—springs, shocks, struts sway bars—with billet lowers, an adjustable upper, and a Panhard. It rolled on 20-inch TSWs. It racked up 17,000 miles from 2008 to October 2014.â€
As you might know, that’s just about the time that the 2015 Mustang was hitting the streets, and for Anthony that meant it was time to step up again.
“That’s when I traded it in and ordered the 2015 GT from Varsity Ford. I picked it up in November, and dropped it off at Livernois—with 100 miles on it—to get tuned! There was a night and day difference after getting it tuned. It gained 22 horsepower, but it drove better all-around. I grabbed a JLT cold-air intake next and picked up another 13 horsepower on the Livernois’ dyno.â€
Next he added 1 7/8-inch headers from Stainless Works and a cat-back from Gibson, and returned to Livernois for more tuning. Suffice it to say the snowball was running down hill.
Here are the results from Anthony’s naturally aspirated bolt-ons…
“Performance upgrades are sometimes compared to an addiction. Sometimes this comparison is 100-percent accurate, as is the case with Anthony,†said Livernois in its description of his videos. “This is the third phase of upgrades to his 2015 Mustang GT, and each time we add another round of modifications we become more and more impressed with this great platform. Adding over 50 horsepower and 60 lb-ft of torque from an engine that only displaces 5.0 liters is amazing. We can’t want to see what he does next!â€
What he did next is a pretty natural step in the progression. He added boost! Having had turbos and other centrifugal superchargers on his prior Mustangs, Anthony was looking to try something new. Eventually, thanks to the advice of some friends—Dave Hopper, Mark Schaffer and Mike Ike—he decided on a ProCharger for his latest Mustang. After consulting with Dan Millen at Livernois, a Stage 2 system was on the way. The Livernois team installed it and tuned the new combo with some nice results. You can see the fruits of their labor here…
“Dan and the team are still working on getting 110-percent drivability, which was way more important to me than the current trend of racing dynos. The car still has stock oil pump gears, 8-pound pulley and 93 octane. Sure Dan could have put E85 or MS109 in it, cranked up the boost to 12-15 pounds and installed 1000cc injectors…†Anthony said. “To what end? Making 800-plus horsepower on a lower end that’s good to 650? No thanks. I’ll let the shop owners find the limits of the ’15 Coyotes. My credit union account isn’t interested in that! Six hundred and fourteen horsepower is more than enough for a street car.â€
That doesn’t mean that Anthony is done modding his 2015, however. He’s planning to upgrade the halfshafts with 1,400-horsepower-capable units from The Driveshaft Shop, rounding out the suspension with some gear from BMR Suspension, and bolting on a set of drag radials. Then he’ll hit the drag strip and enjoy that horsepower.
The Mod List
Powertrain
Block: Stock Coyote aluminum
Crankshaft: Stock
Rods: Stock
Pistons: Stock
Camshafts: Stock
Cylinder Heads: Stock
Intake: Stock
Power Adder: ProCharger Stage 2 supercharger system
Fuel System: Stock
Exhaust: Stainless Works 1 7/8-inch long-tube headers and Gibson cat-back
Transmission: Stock MT-82 six-speed manual w/ Shaftmasters one-piece aluminum driveshaft
Rearend: Stock
Electronics
Engine Management: Stock Tricor with Livernois Motorsports custom tune via a Livernois Motorsports MyCalibrator tuner
Ignition: Stock
Front Suspension
K-member: Stock
A-arms: Stock
Struts: Stock
Springs: Steeda Sport
Sway Bar: Steeda
Brakes: Stock
Wheels: 20×9.5-inch Eagle Alloys
Tires: Nitto
Rear Suspension
Shocks: Stock
Springs: Steeda Sport
Sway Bar: Steeda
Control Arms: Stock
Brakes: Stock
Wheels: 20×10.5-inch Eagle Alloys
Tires: Nitto
Love the look of the front end.