Home / Lethal Performance 2013 Shelby GT500: Snow White
Lethal Performance 2013 Shelby GT500: Snow White

Lethal Performance 2013 Shelby GT500: Snow White

 

 

Ahh, the 2013 Shelby GT500. The first year for the Trinity setup. The new 5.8L bottom end topped off with a bigger, better TVS. Of course we had to get one!

 

We picked up our 2013 Shelby GT500 on June 4, 2012 (holy crap that was a bit ago!) and it was an instant attraction (although, isn't every new Mustang better than the last??). 

 

 

First thing we did was a baseline dyno, so we had a good starting point to base oour future mods on. The car made 590rwhp/ 612rwtq. NOT BAD AT ALL for a stock car off the showroom floor (at least, in 2013... the new 2020 Shelby GT500 is just a beast). NOW IT'S TIME FOR MODS!!

 

 

We worked (as we always do) with Lund Racing on the tuning of the car over at Power By The Hour Performance's dyno. First we installed the custom tune by itself, putting down 624hp to the rear wheels. We also threw on our Lethal Performance Offroad X-pipe and bumped that number up to 640rwhp. We wanted to see what these gains would net at the track so we headed up to Palm Beach International Raceway.

 

10.92 @ 130mph was good enough for us with just a tune & X-pipe on some M&H Drag Radials. We wanted 9s though and the quickest way to get there? Nitrous!!

We installed a Wilson Manifolds/Nitrous Pro-Flow 150shot onto the car and it jumped from 640rwhp to 763rwhp, a massive 173rwhp increase from stock. WOO.

We also installed a McLeod RXT clutch kit so that Jeremy Martorella could row the gears with a little more piece of mind.

 

 

Time to run it!

 

 

With the Lund Racing tune, Lethal Performance offroad X-pipe and the Nitrous Pro-Flow 150 shot the car went 9.77 @ 148mph. FLYING. That 150 shot rocketed us down the strip a whole second faster.

 

But what about the rest of the bolt ons available? Not everyone wants to run nitrous all of the time and we had so many options to choose from for bolt on parts. BACK TO THE DYNO!

 

We were able to do a dyno run for each part we installed onto the GT500, from just a custom tune to a JLT cold air intake to the American Racing Headers longtubes & X-pipe. Here's the rundown:

 

2013 Shelby GT500 Bolt-Ons | Dyno Numbers

Baseline (Stock): 590rwhp / 611rwtq

Lund Racing Custom Tune (93 oct): 624rwhp / 627 rwtq | +34rwhp, +16rwtq from stock

Lund Racing Custom Tune and Lethal Performance Offroad X-pipe: 640rwhp / 638rwtq | +50rwhp, +27rwtq from stock

Lund Racing Custom Tune, Lethal Performance Offroad X-pipe and JLT Big Air cold air intake: 643rwhp / 640rwtq | +52rwhp, +29rwtq from stock

Lund Racing Custom Tune, Lethal Performance Offroad X-pipe, JLT Big Air cold air intake and Whipple monoblade throttle body: 684rwhp / 655rwtq | +64rwhp, +44rwtq from stock

Lund Racing Custom Tune, Lethal Performance Offroad X-pipe, JLT Big Air cold air intake, Whipple monoblade throttle body and Innovators West 10% Overdrive Balancer: 722rwhp / 710rwtq | +132rwhp, +99rwtq from stock

Lund Racing Custom Tune, JLT Big Air cold air intake, Whipple monoblade throttle body, Innovators West 10% Overdrive Balancer and American Racing Headers 1 7/8" longtubes with offroad X-pipe: 740rwhp / 726rwtq | +150rwhp, +115rwtq from stock

 


 

 

Now that we had the numbers needed for the bolt ons to give our customers the info (as well as to make some awesome power packages), it was time to step up our game with a Whipple Supercharger (I mean, are you surprised at this point?). 

We dropped the car back off at Power By The Hour Performance for the supercharger installation. While the 2.9L Whipple Supercharger had become a popular option for the Shelby GT500 guys, we live by the "go big or go home" philosophy here sometimes and we made the leap to Whipple's [massive] 4.0L supercharger. After the blower was on, we tossed the car onto the dyno. We tried to pulley the car down to a 3.50" pulley but Jake and Lund noticed that the car wasn't picking up any power. They chased the issue and found a broken balancer which in turn took out the crankshaft (oof). 

 

 

We decided it was time to build the motor (do it right!). The shortblock was built by Tim Eichorn of MPR Racing Engines (Custom Diamond Pistons, Manley I-beam Rods, ARP Hardware, 10.3:1 compression). The heads were done by Kris Starnes of Kris Starnes Racing (Stock heads ported, Manley springs, Ferrea Valves, Custom Bullet Racing Cams).  Time to make some boost.

 

 

 As seen in the video, we also installed a Lethal Performance/DivisionX triple pump return style fuel system so that we knew we would have the fuel to support ALL the horsepower. 

We pulleyed the car to roughly 24.8 psi using a 3.50" Whipple supercharger upper pulley and an ATI 15% overdrive balancer. With this setup, the car put down 1106rwhp and 1000rwtq, a HUGE 516rwhp increase from stock. We almost DOUBLED the horsepower! 

 

 

That meant it was time to see what the increase would do at the track. We had already been 9s with the 150 shot of nitrous, but we wanted to be DEEPER into the 9s with the new blower setup. And it was a SUCCESS.

 

 

 

We became the world's quickest 2013 Shelby GT500 that day, running a 9.39 @ 147mph. A little more boost and we could go 8s... but what about a little more supercharger?! 

Yep, not too long after our testing with the Whipple 4.0L supercharger, Dustin let us know that he had wrapped up their new 4.5L Whipple Supercharger and we had to have it! 

 

It was back to Power By The Hour Performance to swap out the blowers. 

 

Whipple Superchargers: 4.5L on the left, 4.0L on the right. Crazy what a difference the half liter makes!

 

With the 4.5L on, we left the same pulley setup. We upped our American Racing Headers to the 2" primaries for a little more exhaust flow.  We added in a Thump Racing tensioner, too, but we still had a tiny bit of belt slip (where was GripTec when you needed them?!). The car still managed to make 1236rwhp / 1102rwtq, a 130rwhp increase over the 4.0L. 

 

 

We didn't get a chance to take it back to Palm Beach International Raceway BUT we DID get invited to 5.0 Mustang & Super Fords magazine (RIP) King of the Street shootout! The shootout consisted of street driving, dyno runs and track times to see who came out on top.

 

 

And guess what?? WE WON!! It was great to be chosen as the winners among an awesome pack of beastly Mustangs, for sure.

 

Snow White: The 2012 5.0 Magazine KOTS!

 

The car was sold shortly after (we miss you, Snow White) to make room for our 2015 models (not just a GT this time, but also the new EcoBoost!). 

 

Here is the list of mods used and other GT500 parts.

 

2013 Shelby GT500 Final Mod List:

 

 

 

<< Back to Vehicle History Page | Jump to 2015 Mustang GT >>