By Steve Temple

Photos courtesy of Factory Five and Edelbrock

In Looney Tunes’ classic Road Runner cartoons, the hapless Wile E. Coyote used all sorts of fanciful contraptions from the fictitious Acme Corp. in his futile efforts to make a tasty meal out of the speedy bird — aka Accelerati Incredibilus. He might have had more success ordering performance components from Edelbrock. After all, this firm has offered speed parts since 1934.

The latest is an E-Force Supercharged Coyote engine, specifically designed for a variety of Ford-powered project vehicles, such as Factory Five Racing’s MkIV roadster shown here. 

When FFR began building Cobra replicas back in 1995, the firm initially drew from the 5-liter Mustang as a donor vehicle. In stock form, its pushrod V8 produced about 225 horses. While not extraordinary by current standards, that’s still plenty of beans in a lightweight roadster.

Today, a 5-liter Ford V8 is still being used, but the Coyote version is a wholly different creature, despite the similar nomenclature. In naturally aspirated form it delivers 412 hp at 6,500 rpm, and 390 lb-ft of torque at 4,250 rpm. 

Those figures are nothing to sneeze at, but Edelbrock’s supercharged version pumps out a ferocious 785 ponies. That’s equal to two Ford Racing’s 302s (340 hp each) — plus another 105 horses. Or 3.5 times as much power as the original 5-liter! More than enough to chase down road runners of all types, either the feathered or automotive sort.

As a testament to the sturdy engineering of the FFR MkIV, dropping in 660 lb-ft of torque doesn’t require any chassis mods for a solid hookup on launch. The only minor adjustment is using the max setting for anti-squat on the three-link rear end.

It’s not just about horsepower, either. The core of this engine is a lightweight aluminum block built for high-performance applications with a forged and balanced crankshaft, forged Manley H-Beam connecting rods and Mahle forged aluminum pistons. They spin at a 9.5:1 compression ratio to handle the pressurized induction from the blower, so no special race fuel is required to prevent detonation — just 91 octane pump gas.

All told, this literal boost in power is an astounding leap in performance, as noted by Factory Five’s Dave Smith: “For 22 years we’ve succeeded by collaborating with our customers. Our success is based on the cars they build,” he observes. 

“Well, that philosophy doesn’t end with customers, rather it extends to our suppliers and partner companies,” he points out. “Working with Edelbrock is a ton of fun and the car really shows it! Maybe 785 hp is a bit too much for a 2,100-pound car. But it sure is a heck of a lot of fun!”

Well, when it comes to Cobras, the old hot rodder’s saying is still true. Too much is just about right.

EDELBROCK BLOWER TECH OVERVIEW

Improving air density with extra cooling is key to forced induction on Edelbrock’s supercharged Coyote. Featuring a DP-3C “Dual-Pass Three Core“ design, the intake air charge passes through the intercooler twice, as implied by the name. The first pass is upwards from the Eaton TVS 2,300 cc/rev rotors, through the center core. Then there’s an additional pass when the air charge goes down into the runners. 

Enhancing this double cooling is the 45 percent increased surface area of the DP-3C intercooler in comparison to Edelbrock’s previous design. Achieving lower intake-air temps results in more air density for improved power output.

When installing this high-performance mill, Edelbrock recommends pairing it with universal heat exchangers. Also, this engine will require an EFI-compatible fuel delivery system with a minimum pressure of 75 gph at 60 psi. And a fuel-pressure regulator with boost reference is required. On this particular car, FFR’s technicians installed a tank fitted with a Granatelli AN pickup and an Edelbrock inline fuel pump.