Like many Mustang owners, Mark Kauffman comes from a family of racers. Unfortunately, they also happen to be diehard GM fans. So when Mark decided to purchase a Pony car sporting the Blue Oval logo, you can imagine the heckling he received from his Bow Tie-loving relatives. "When I said I was going to build a Mustang, they all told me I was crazy and that I should just work with Chevys because I'd never make a car that could hang with any of theirs," Mark tells us. Of course, this just made him more determined to build the ultimate Mustang that he lovingly named ChevyKiller.
Mark's car started life as one of the very first Roush Mustangs built in 2005, delivered in Stage 1 form. While many changes have been done since then, a few of the original Roush components are still on the car including the four-piece body kit, white face gauges, and aluminum pedals. "I had originally planned just to supercharge the car and take the stock motor to about 500 rwhp, which I did for the first year," he says. It didn't take long, however, for the urge to go faster changed his mind. "I quickly became obsessed with more power and began plans to build a street car that I could drive to and from the track in full factory trim and compete with trailered race cars," says Mark, who was more than up for the challenge.
To make the power he was looking for, Mark knew he would have to make some serious changes underneath the hood. He turned to Adam Montague of ST Motorsports in San Bernardino, CA, who cooked up a recipe for some serious horsepower. He started with an order from the Ford Racing Parts catalog, replacing the stock aluminum block with a cast iron Boss 5.0L unit (M-6010-BOSS50) that maintained identical deck height. The new block allowed for an increase in bore, and it eventually yielded a total displacement of 330 ci after Montague was finished with it. The internals went in next including a Kellogg forged steel crankshaft, custom Diamond forged aluminum pistons, and Manley H-beam forged steel connecting rods. A set of Comp Cams XFI SPR cams were installed after that, followed by a set of Livernois ported and polished heads with titanium springs and retainers.
Forced induction was next on the list, but Mark wasn't exactly sure which direction to go. He had previously tried two different turbo setups utilizing a single large turbo and was happy with the power, but found that it wasn't practical for street use. A twin-screw supercharger was needed to achieve more linear power delivery, and Mark began searching for the system that could handle the most horsepower. His answer came in the form of Whipple's W210HPR supercharger capable of compressing 3.4 liters of atmosphere per rotation. The only problem is that kits were only offered for the '03-'04 SVT Cobra and the 5.4-liter V-8 in the Shelby GT500. Unabated, the crew at ST Motorsports fabricated a custom intake tube, intake manifold, and lower manifold to make the Whipple to fit.
At this point Mark determined it was time to start adding some show to the go. "I decided to take the car to Galpin Auto Sports when I committed to make a truly unique show and drag car," says Mark. "Their quality and craftsmanship and ability to help construct my vision of unique features made them the logical choice for doing the work here in Southern California." The crew at Galpin essentially gutted much of the car and built it up from scratch, making sure that everything was done to show car standards. A custom sheetmetal rear seat delete housing a nitrous bottle adds a nice touch to the interior, as does a Momo steering wheel to match the Sparco race seats and Cageworks full rollcage.