First Look: S650 Mustang and 2021-2023 F-150 Tuning Finally Unlocked
Lund Racing and Evolution Performance reveal to HOT ROD how the future of Mustang and F-150 performance is being redefined with HP Tuners.
Three years ago, theS650-edition Mustang roared into reality with familiar underpinnings, a new powertrain, and updated body cladding. Fans reveled in the fact the OEM delivers the standard 5.0L option with 480 hp and the Dark Horse edition jumps up to 500 hp. Ford bragged about the technological integrations led by the new, large digital displays. However, it wasn’t all celebration and congratulations across the Mustang universe. Ford built its new ECU with a high level of security designed to lock out the aftermarket.
The ECU lockdown has slowed the release of popular aftermarket upgrades and regulated the market to just bolt-on parts. At press time, Whipple-based superchargers, including a few private-labeled versions, are the only power-adder systems available in both base and competition versions that are CARB-compliant. ProCharger has been working on its CARB-legal kits, but these haven’t been released to the public yet.
HP Tuners Software and Hardware Advancements for S650 and 2021-2023 F-150
“We’ve been able to see the tune and map it since [the 2024 Mustang GT/Dark Horse] was released in 2023, but we haven’t been able to load anything into the ECU,” said Jon Lund II, one of the lead calibrators at Lund Racing. Today, that has all changed as HP Tuners’ engineers have the calibration software to customize transmission and engine functions and now offer the ability to successfully load it into the ECU through a device.
“We knew what the issues were, and we had to keep taking steps,” said Eric Brooks, vehicle engineer at HP Tuners. “Some of them were forward, and some were backwards. We face this challenge on so many other platforms, so we’ve had experience in dealing with the issues.” For the optimists in the crowd, we knew it was only a matter of when, not if.
Lund told HOT ROD that his team has recently—and successfully—accessed the ECU using HP Tuners’ MPVI3 device, acting as one of the HP Tuners’ field testers for their new hardware and software upgrades. Lund said the RTD4 also has this ability, making just two devices capable of communicating properly with the S650 Mustangs. According to Brooks, the RTD4 is designed for end users, like handheld devices from yesteryear, but this one works off Bluetooth and your cell phone.
“This is huge for Evolution Performance and its customers,” said Fred Cook, director of operations at the late-model speed shop. “It will give us the ability to go further with our Whipple supercharged cars and work with other power adders to serve our clients.”
Lund and Cook were quick to point out that there isn’t a lot to be gained in naturally aspirated trim when running pump gasoline. They told us Ford delivers the new Mustangs with aggressive calibrations from the factory, and theGen 4 Coyote has a 12:1 compression ratio, making it dependent on the quality of the fuel in the tank. Lund Racing is beginning testing immediately on its in-house test vehicle to develop new calibrations and learn more about what the S650 Mustangs like and don’t like from a calibration perspective. As other shops rush tunes to the market, they have opted to test and evaluate the new tunes before releasing them to the public.
This is the first time aftermarket tuning companies have had a chance to study the new engine combination with its dual throttle bodies and speed density (closed loop) fueling. Cook estimates that when all is said and done, an E85 conversion should see a gain of 25 to 30 rear-wheel horsepower, and the transmission calibrations will be a welcome enhancement for automatic-equipped S650s. Of course, we expect to see an increase in new releases from the cold-air kit segment with this newfound ability to access the ECU. And we can’t forget the booming F-150 sport truck market; that segment will have full access using the same devices and software. In fact, the speed density system has been used on the F-150 platform since 2015.
What’s Next for S650 Performance?
Right now,Evolution owns the S650 record with an 8.65 at 160 mph pass using Sunoco E30-R and a host of other drivetrain and suspension modifications. Despite the locked ECU, at the time, Evolution and Lund Racing developed a few workarounds with the base Whipple calibration and as-delivered fuel injectors.
Basically, the trick is to increase the fuel pressure in the port injection side of the fuel system to increase the fuel injectors’ volume. For the uninitiated, fuel injector sizing relies on fuel pressure settings. Most OEM injectors are rated using 39 psi of pressure. Increase that pressure to 50 psi or much higher, and the flow rating increases. In this case, the Whipple-supplied 55 lb/hr injectors flow considerably more with the higher fuel pressure and meet the demands for the 1,230-rwhp combination. Despite today’s news on the coming capabilities to tune these vehicles, Cook kept the fuel pressure reading under wraps. We will say that the fuel pressure increases do reach a point of diminishing returns, and it’s always good to have your injectors flowed to map their capabilities.
The team also added long-tube headers and larger exhaust, along with the typical suspension modifications to control wheel hop and aid weight transfer to plant the drag radials. The boost was upped to 22 psi with a smaller supercharger pulley. That is double the boost of a base Whipple kit, for reference.
Also helping the Gen 4 Coyote operate properly is Sunoco Racing Fuels E30-R. Due to the inability to add a traditional return-style fuel system, using a fuel with 30 percent ethanol helps keep the proper amount of fuel needed to keep the 1,230 rwhp in a happy place.
The first major modification on the list with the HP Tuners S650 tuning capabilities is to change over to a traditional return-style fuel system and move to the new ethanol-based Sunoco EPX. This fuel is designed to compete with other competition versions of E85. The team will then swap the pulleys for even greater output. The Whipple Gen 5 rotor package has been proven to deliver over 1,700 hp in Ford Performance’s Cobra Jet racing program, meaning there’s plenty of room to grow for Evolution’s in-house Mustang.
As the sun begins to rise on the S650 Mustang 5.0, thanks to HP Tuners, we look forward to the market growing and new performance achievements by a wildly enthusiastic group of Mustang racers and tuners. And with Ford recently announcing favorable finance terms and lower pricing, could this be the spark the new Mustang needs for its sales slump?
Additional photos courtesy of Evolution Performance/Sean Divine
I’ve been fortunate enough to blur the line between career and hobby/passions for over 25 years, and it has been a rather unusual pathway to my current role as the Network Director of HOT ROD. Naturally, cars have been a large part of my life since I was a young kid—complete with car posters on the wall and a chest full of toy cars. As time marched by it was R/C cars and trucks until finally, into the big leagues when I turned 16. By that time my life was heavily influenced by magazines like HOT ROD and Car Craft, and it was the 5.0 Mustang that piqued my interest thanks to a heavy dose of the local car scene that I experienced through my two older brothers. I was fortunate enough to grow up as the Fox Body Mustang scene began to flourish, however at no time did I ever imagine a media career in the automotive-enthusiast aftermarket. Life after college was spent behind the desk as a stock analyst, but every other waking moment was occupied by Mustang drag racing. It was a friendship that changed my life from the rat race to the drag race, I was given a chance to contribute to a fledging new title for a quickly growing racing organization, one that focused on my true passions—Mustangs and street-legal drag racing. The opportunity eventually turned into a full-time gig in the early 2000s, despite no formal journalism degree or photography courses. By 2003, I was offered the dream job of joining the staff of Muscle Mustangs & Fast Fords, which was the bible for the late-model Mustang movement that was taking over the world. One thing led to another, and I ended up back at the drag racing sanctioning body in which I had started my career as the content and marketing director, a role I occupied for a decade. In 2022, I was offered a chance to step into the network director role for the largest automotive-enthusiast aftermarket brand, the revered and legendary HOT ROD.
Read More